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| So it was a fairly easy first season for you then? |
Terrible season wasn't it? It was funny though, because when I met Bill (Williams) in May or June time, he asked me what had been organised - and I said "nothing as far as I know". So we had to do everything in the space of a month. And we did. He was a good organiser Bill, and we started the pre-season very well.
We brought some decent players in, got beat the first game of the season , then we went to Basingstoke and lost to a silly, late goal and then straight away we were under pressure - especially after what had happened the season before, being relegated. Then we started to pick up some injuries, players lost form, and it just went from bad to worse.
Then the administrators came in, Bill was off, and I was left at the helm. I still talk to him regularly as well - he's a great bloke. But then we were at St Albans and from then on it was down to me. Don't get me wrong though - I've enjoyed the whole season. You learn as you go along - like anything really. You learn from your mistakes - so next year will be the test for me because it's my first full season. But we still don't know what the bigger picture is at the moment. |
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| So have you actually signed a contract for next year? |
No, but only because they haven't been able to put it in front of me yet. I want to stay, Kim wants to stay, all the lads want to stay, we've just got to sort out the CVA first. I need to know what sort of money I'm playing with too. If they don't give me much more money then that's fair enough, as long as people realise that, if I don't get much money, you're going to have the same sort of players out there.
Obviously they're all better players than they were last year, and you can do a bit of wheeling and dealing, but if we're told to steady the ship for a year, keep it tight, then we'll have to do that. If it's for the long-term benefit of the club then that's the way it's got to be. |
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| How are you getting on with the new owners then? |
| Fine, fine. Anup's here every day but Mr Khosla is looking after his other businesses. I haven't seen him that much actually. In actual fact there's not an awful lot of my work that I can do here - most of it is done on the phone. We've done almost all of the pre-season work already - we've still got the kit to do, but apart from that it's done really. |
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| What's the plan for pre-season? |
| We come back on July 2nd for training, and we've got six or seven (now nine) games lined up. But what I'm going to try and do is get some of the academy boys involved in some of them. I want to get some of them to play in the reserves, so that way you get them coming through. It's silly having twenty-four and twenty-five year olds playing in the reserves when they don't really figure in the plans, because they just hold others back. So some of the pre-season games will be a mixture of first-teamers, reserves and younger players. |
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| How about next year's squad. Do you have a list of players you're keeping? |
Almost all of them. Well, they're all under contract apart from Liam Collins, Leon White who'll be leaving the club and Eddie Duah is out of contract. The rest of them - Key, Mead, Thurgood, Hustwick, Jones, Clarke - they're all here for another year at least.
See I've been to other clubs where somebody new comes in and tries to change it all around too quickly, and it backfires on them. I needed everyone here when I took over, but now I can change a little bit here and there. Even things like getting them to dress a bit better, make them more professional. But see if you throw too much at them in one go they won't have it. See next season I'll be a bit hotter on discipline because they've learnt lots of things this year which I won't have to worry about any more. |
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| Do you have any specific high-lights, or not-so-high-lights from this season? |
Well the worst time was obviously the day all the players left and we went into administration. But I suppose the highlight was that, as soon as I took over, it's where I've always wanted to be, I was making the decisions on my own for once. It was a horrible way of coming around, but you have to take that chance. I just enjoyed the way the players responded really - I think they did really well. But that's gone now, and we all need to do better this year.
I've always been fairly successful, and even though some things went well this season there's a lot that could have gone a lot better. But I changed the team around a lot towards the end of this season because I needed to know what people could do, ready for this year. So now I know a lot more about the players and their character. But then come the start of pre-season they'll all start off with a blank sheet. They need to play the best they can, and if they do they'll keep their place until they drop off. You won't see so much chopping and changing next season. If somebody has a shirt it'll be up to the others to get it off of them.
See I already know my best team. Of the players I've got here at least. We obviously need to strengthen certain areas of the team though. I mean through the club we haven't really got a left-sided midfield player. Mark Jones can play there, but he's been playing left-back. And we definitely need another centre-half. Our strike-force isn't bad. Alright we missed a lot of chances, but in a settled side that'll be different. We've got loads of options in the midfield too.
Maybe we need another full-back - one who can play both sides. Although having said that we've got Dave Clarke who can play at full-back, and I thought Billy Mead had a good season. Considering he went from midfield to right-back I think he came on leaps and bounds. |
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| So you've presumably already been looking for new players? |
| Oh yes. We've been looking since about last Christmas actually. But I'm still not sure about the budget. That all has to wait for the CVA to go through as well, so hopefully it'll be sorted any day now. |
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| What are your expectations for next year? Or what would you like to happen? |
Well the most important thing is to have a good start. I want to go up - I really do. If you can get everyone fit, get them firing on all cylinders, we've got a good chance. But we do still need a couple more players.
See you don't know how many of the young lads will perform next year. They might go backwards, or they might take one or two steps forward. This is an important time for them, because it's always the second time around - when the opposition know who you are - that you find out what your players are all about. But that's my job to sort it out, and I want to do it because I want to go up.
But there's a lot more clubs spending a lot more money than Kingstonian. Billericay and Aldershot are both paying a lot more than we are. |
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| So what would you actually expect? |
| To be right in there fighting. There's no point aiming for the top ten is there? You need winners. But see we're actually training tonight, so that's the sort of people you've got here. They're coming in once a week over the summer, which isn't really heard of is it? Especially when they're not being paid. |
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| How did that come about? |
| Well I said to them that it's optional and I could do it if they wanted to, I got some good feedback so you do it don't you? You won't see all of them all of the time, but it keeps you ticking over. See it's different even from when I played. You come back and you're straight into it. We used to have a couple of weeks to get the weight off but you don't have time now. |
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| Are you going to watch the World Cup in your time off? |
Yes I will do. I mean I'll watch the England games but I'm not too bothered about the rest. I don't like watching football on TV to be honest. I like watching the last twenty minutes, but the first half's pretty boring isn't it?
I prefer to go and watch more live games, to find out what people are doing, but it's difficult. I watched quite a few this year, but the games I wanted to watch - at this level - have always clashed with our matches or training. We had to train them and coach them as much as we could really. I actually do more work with the players now than I did when I was a coach! I'm still washing the balls too - I need to get Kim to do that for me! |
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| You mentioned Kim - how's it worked out with him? |
| We get on really well actually. I need him too. It's good to have somebody to bounce ideas back off of you know? There's lots to do anyway, and it's good to have an extra pair of hands around. It'll be useful next year too, because I'm going to try and keep more of an eye on the reserves. We'll need them over the course of the season. |
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| I was going to mention the reserves - and the youth team. They're going into the Southern Youth League now aren't they? How will that benefit the club? |
That's the Academy boys, and some of them will be playing for us as well. You need them to come through see. You don't need to be paying people to play in your reserves. It should be made up of people who are trying to get into the first team and then it's a learning curve for the younger boys to get used to playing men's football.
People like Matt Bradford should be playing more regularly in the reserves and the first team, and if you can get five or six like him coming through you can play some, sell some on, make some money and build as a club.
My aim with Martin Spong at the Academy is to make it a better place, attract the right people and do it right. It might take longer to do it this way, but at least we won't end up in a mess similar to the one we're just getting out of. |
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| So people like Matt Bradford - will they be part of your "squad"? |
Well he's young and he'll be in the reserves, but he's learning all of the time. Those younger players need to be around the first team, because if you train with better players you pick things up from them and that's how you progress. But if you're not allowed to train with them you're going to be held back.
The youngsters really are the future of this football club. It's them who we're going to have to rely on if the money situation doesn't improve. Look at all of the clubs who are in trouble at the moment. They might end up getting rid of a load of players, they'll have to rely on their youngsters, and some of them won't be ready. |
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| With all the talk of players being released over the summer, do you see that as your chance to get a couple of experienced heads down here? |
Well it is, but the hardest thing is attracting people to the Ryman Premier. If you're in the Conference you've got a better chance. I mean when I speak to players, mostly younger ones, lots of them know me through my football, and I'm trying to paint the bigger picture for them. I tell them we're trying to do things right, they'll get a chance, and hopefully some will think "maybe this is the place to be".
Having said that we definitely do need some more experience. Those who played this year will definitely be better for the experience, but we've got no real dominant voice. Actually somebody like me, my age and experience, would be ideal. But there's no real chance of that. I've got too much to do really. If there's an emergency then I might do it, but it's not really worth me coming back for one or two games and then getting out. |
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| People like Dave Clarke - he didn't play much at all towards the end of the season... |
| He was injured, yes. But now it's up to him to come back and prove himself again. When he's been fit he's played well. But he's missed too many games. And if we have too many people like that, it might be horrible, but we won't be able to have them back. I've got to be ruthless, and I can't have people sitting out for five weeks at a time. |
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| Will that be hard for you then? To be the ruthless one? |
No not at all, because my neck's on the line. If I have to make decisions then I make them, and the lads know that. I do get on well with them, because I treat them how I want to be treated. I don't give them stupid rules, and as long as they don't try and take advantage of me there's no problem.
See I know all the tricks. I've tried them all in the past! And I said to them - if you don't want to come into training, don't come in. All you do is end up making it worse for the rest of us. Be honest with me - tell me you've had a bad day and it's fine. And if you treat players like that you get a bit of respect. |
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| You gave your player of the year award to Bash Alimi - why did you single him out? |
| Well he came in after the third or fourth game of the season, and I thought that, for someone so young, he showed tremendous strength and character. He always gives you his all, and he played nearly every game and was shattered. He needed a rest round about the time of the Woking cup tie, but we didn't have the players. Finally Craig Rocastle came along, had a few good games, and we gave him a rest and when he came back he was brilliant again. He's a great lad too. If ever you phone him he's never in - he's always out running! |
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