Today we welcome Hemel Hempstead Town to the Mangata Pay UK Stadium. May I wish their Directors, Manager, players and supporters an enjoyable stay with us and a safe journey home.
Well, first of all it’s only correct that I get the hello’s and pleasantries out of the way, as we say hello to two very good friends of mine and this football club, in legendary ex Wood Manager Mr Ian Allinson who won two Play-offs and two promotions with us and his son, ex-Wood player Lee Allinson, who also helped us win a Play-off during his time with us. Ian and Lee now head up Hemel’s management team, though Lee is now an ambitious young manager in his own right and Ian is now the ‘old head’ assisting his son and it’s clear they are doing great things together over at Hemel Hempstead.
They are a close family who I’ve had some incredible times with having holidayed with them, attended or hosted them for weddings, anniversaries, funerals, birthday parties and all things in between. In truth I’ve known them all for a very long time, so I also know that this afternoon’s encounter is more than just a game for them, for me and for our families and that makes it personal.
Why? Because we are competitors and winning is in our DNA, so no matter what the relationships are prior to the game that goes out of the window come 3pm this afternoon as we will want to go out there and give it to each other for 90 plus minutes. Only when the game is over can our friendships take over once again, can the win at all costs mentality dissipate and then the beers and all our stories of yesteryear can flow.
Trust me, I know Ian and Lee will greet me with a warm handshake and an assassin’s smile haha. I also know they will want to kill off our Play-off aspirations and in truth I would expect nothing less – all of which makes today’s game more personal as it comes complete with local pride, local emotion, bragging rights and the real danger of us dropping out of the Play-offs.
A week though is a very long time in football and over the last week or so I feel we might have just started to turn a bit of a corner, as Luke tweaked a few things formation wise last Saturday and I feel he also possibly tweaked his own and some other people’s mindsets. If I’m honest I feel the changes Luke made were much needed, I feel it certainly got a good reaction and that, along with Luke getting a player back from suspension and a few lads back off the treatment table, also helped enormously with the formation change.
Based on last week’s performance, I think even a few of our younger lads are finally starting to understand that now is the time for them to be brave and hit some form. I feel they are only just starting to understand that it is how they perform week in and week out in those pressure moments of a season, that will give them a real career to look back on in the future with no regrets. Whether it’s a last-ditch tackle, a final ball or getting on the end of something, it’s now all about them being able to produce those magic moments in the big games that lay in front of us over the coming month…. I accept for all young players there will be setbacks but trust me the mentally strong in football deal with them and get stronger.
As such I now need our manager, our senior players, our youngsters to be brave by freeing themselves of any fear of failing and let me deal with the pressure of what league we’re in next season, what next year’s budget might look like and all the boring stuff in between that the dressing room need not concern themselves with. Now is the time for our dressing room to enjoy each other, enjoy training, enjoy the big games by being brave, showing real belief, showing their strength and by being confident in their own ability and quality, as they search for their own success and magic moments.
I want them to know that this club through me, my staff and what we’ve all built, is strong both mentally and financially both on and off the pitch and they need to free their minds up in terms of any fear of failure and simply picture what glory and success might look like.
No more doubting themselves, just trust in the Club, trust in Luke and in each other and let me and only me, worry about next season and what division we eventually end up in. The truth is really simple, the worst thing that can happen to us is that we wake up in May and we’re still in this division and when the doubters and keyboard warriors pipe down, the bookies will open up their betting lists and we’ll be one of the early season favourites to go up next season.
As such, promotion pressure is just not something the dressing room needs to worry about, as I’ve already done my sums, I’ve already got a plan, I’ve already got a budget in place to compete and I’m more than ready to make tweaks and changes to improve us and go again.
I just want my staff and our dressing room from top to bottom, to see the Play-offs for what they are, they are a winner take all, 2 or 3 game cup competition but in our case, it is a complete free hit…. Why? Because having won them twice as an underdog club, I know how difficult they are to win if you burden yourself with unnecessary pressure, if you burden yourself with over- the-top expectation and if you create an unnecessary favourites tag. As such I’ll leave that to the likes of Torquay United and some of the other bigger fan bases.
That said, I know that the Play-offs will be pressure no matter what we say, but it’s a good pressure, it’s also the most exhilarating way to go up and I have fortunately experienced that feeling twice, and those memories trust me will never leave me…….
Firstly though, we must focus only on today, as we must get ourselves to the Play-offs, which means we must re-focus on one game at a time, we must get our mindsets right, we must get our running stats up and we must understand you cannot win football matches or the Play-offs if you have players that cannot run, tackle and compete for 90+ minutes and we must maximise this very talented squad.
Talent in my opinion though will only take you so far, it’s then more about your manager and your dressing room knowing who they are, it’s about them showing the right attitude, discipline and desire and it’s about them having a winners mentality and being brave. I believe if you show those attributes, if you work hard and have a bit of Lady Luck along the way, then your collective effort and belief will do the rest.
Last week’s 3-0 win, admittedly against a tired looking Salisbury team who were made look very poor, gave me renewed hope, as we ran the legs out of them and in truth it should have been 5 or 6, as we also missed a penalty and wasted a sack full of chances and numerous good goal scoring positions.
What was clear from last week’s performance, was that we had legs back in the side and they operated further up the park, the players were making forward runs again and those forward runs were made with real intent and not going down cul-de- sacs. It was also clear that our players and supporters were again enjoying the team’s work rate, the tempo of the game and the players played with a freedom both as individuals and as a collective that we hadn’t seen for a while.
As a Chairman I am always as supportive as possible and as honest as you can be with Luke, my inner circle, my staff and the players in this new woke world. As such, in light of our recent slide I asked to address Luke, our associated staff and the players in person eight days ago and Luke very graciously allowed me to do that. I simply spoke to them about life, about my expectations, about keeping things real, I asked them to accept personal responsibility at times and to be brave. I asked them to clear their minds in regard to their own perceived pressures and I asked them to simply work hard, to support each other and to run – we also covered a few other things in an honest way but my words were hardly rocket science.
To put some perspective on why I wanted to address this young group of people, Luke had told me of his proposed formation tweaks earlier in the week and had asked me to give him some very honest feedback that involved my thoughts on him bringing one or two players back into the starting Xl, which I was very happy to do.
In business terms though, Luke was in fact being brave as he was restructuring his own beliefs/business plan on the field of play, based on player availability, on injuries, on form and on a loss of form, and doing it with just five games of the season to go is a gamble. As such, as an experienced older head, I knew if it went wrong then we had young players and young staff who needed to know prior to these changes that there would be no repercussions or a blame game culture played out, certainly not from me.
As such I just felt that with the formation change coming and some of the team changes being proposed, that any unnecessary pressure felt by the players and staff, must be alleviated at the outset and our clubs work ethic and ethos must be explained to some of our newer, younger players and staff. My feedback to Luke was, as always, measured, as I would never tell him who to pick, but do if asked occasionally offer up simple observations or messaging. Only simple things that we all know you must do in this league, in that you must have legs, you must be able to run, tackle and compete. You must be brave all over the park both in and out of possession and you cannot play fear football by being afraid to lose a game.
Draws and being fearful will not help us in our situation and I would much rather we go all out for a win than play for a draw and if we lose a few games along the way going for it, then so be it. For me credit where credit is due, as I felt Luke, his staff and the dressing room got it spot on last week as we ran, we were brave, our boys covered the ground, they tackled, they competed, they excited the crowd and of course I know it’s just one game but any unbeaten run has to start somewhere, so long may that bravery continue.
Luke will this afternoon hopefully have one or two of his experienced older heads back from injury in Kwesi Appiah and Femi Ilesanmi and that is more good news for the dressing room, as we now have 19 fit players to choose from for the run in, which just leaves Chris Bush, Josh Hare and David Agbontohoma in the treatment room.
Chris after his heart issues is doing remarkably well and through expert consultants, expert advice and expert treatment, we are now expecting the big fella to be available within the next 10 days or so. Please remember that Chris’s “back to play” date is just a guide, and we’ll need to see how he deals with full contact in training and how things might develop on the mental side of things.
Josh Hare however is not such good news, as he suffered another concussion in the Maidstone United game and got a nasty cut to his head into the bargain. As such with the protocols regarding head injuries, Josh will not be ready to play again until at least the first play off game if we get there. That said it’s an area thankfully where we do have great cover.
David Agbontohoma is another defender who in reality has had a disrupted last two seasons here due to a variety of injuries. He rolled his ankle in training a month ago and is still around a week away from being available, but again on a positive note he’s now not that far away.
So, as we enter the final two weeks of the normal season our promotion ambitions are still alive, our squad is starting to get back to full fitness at just the right time and It would be nice for Luke to have some of our big guns returning as the Play-offs come ever closer.
If we make the Play-offs, then I expect some of our big players to deliver in those big moments, it’s where those magic moments do happen for someone each and every season. I believe that others are now quietly writing us off, but I say they do that at their peril as this squad does have quality, we still have a great cup pedigree under Luke and the desire is most definitely there.
So, if we can gain some momentum in the last four games starting today, if we can remain positive going into a winner take all, 2 or 3 game cup competition, then in truth who knows?
Can I finish by thanking the players, staff, sponsors, supporters and partners of our club and community, for making our upcoming Gala Dinner and Players Presentation evening a SELL OUT. It’s always a great club night and it gives me a chance to thank so many people for their incredible efforts and sacrifices over a long, hard season and trust me if you own a non-league football club you genuinely do have plenty of people to thank.
Lastly, whoever you support let’s hope for an open, attacking game and may the best team win.
Take care,
Danny
