Better late than never
Well, I eventually got round to posting up the Q&A with Coach Lakin, only a month or so late. You can find it here
Posted in interviews | No Comments
Category:
Archives:
Blogroll:
Meta:
Woohoo
We’re on a roll now, second update in a week, and fresh from the brilliant defence of their title, and ahead of the forthcoming final against Billericay, an interview with reserve team Manager, Mr Bond.
Posted in interviews | No Comments
Interview with the Chairman
Welcome back to the site that time forgot, virtually an entire season passed between the first post and the next, hopefully it won’t take quite so long for another, in fact, as long as I manage to stay alive to the end of the week, I’ve got an interview with Bondy to post up too! Anyway, on to proving why I never ended up as a journalist, as the first person wrestles with my inane questions.
Kicking off my effort to get a little bit more proactive with the site, is a short interview with Mr Barber, our esteemed chairman. A big thanks to Andy for putting himself forward and answering the questions
***************************************************************************
NB. For the uninitiated could you give us a bit of detail about your background in football and at the club?
AB. Very simple taken at approx age of eight to watch Swifts with my dad Len, thereafter supported and pestered to go to all games reserves or first team.Played locally but all I ever wanted to do was pull on the Black and White at 18 moved across from junior football to play for Swifts Reserves (problem in those days reserves did not play in Black and White) Enjoyed every moment of playing/training etcFelt I could make transition to first team football in time but only made handful of first team appearances before the then Heybridge manager told me that no matter how well I played I would not get into first team!
Time to then play for Heybridge Social sundays and try and make a living. Then someone said why not put something back into club you care about, so I joined the club committee under the chairmanship of Quaff Gill. In those days meetings where in our now away team dressing room and generally the room was full of people who both cared and took responsibility.
The rest is really just a simple case of not being prepared to stand back and see all the hardwork done over the last 45 years by so many good people allowed to be undermined or forgotten.
NB. How do you see your role at the club?
AB.To ensure the long term future of HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS FC by this I mean next 50 years plus.
NB. Do you think that the club is punching above it’s weight, or do you think that we could realistically aim for a higher level?
AB. Yes we have been for many years in my eyes proving many wrong.However I believe we can maintain at least this standard and play higher if the correct infrastructure is in place.
NB. How important do you feel local players are to the club?
AB. Have a most vital role to play however unless we provide the right standard of football for them to aspire to, along with decent coaching from a young age we will not see local lads come through of the right calibre. At this moment in time we are seeing the emergence of one or two who could serve us well for the next 5 years but they still have to prove themselves over a couple of seasons.NB. What do you see as more important in a player, skill and ability, or attitude?AB. Skill and ability to me are fundemental needs to play at our level and pure attitude is not enough although should be respected.
NB. What would be your wishes for next season?
AB. finish in top 6Confirmation of clubs long term future so we can all get behind it and take the pressure of the few.NB. What was your favourite game this year?
AB. Wealdstone away in league cup (not just because of result but circumstances that opened the eyes of many)
NB. Do you ever apologise to referees after the game?
AB. Yes I certainly do although some make it hard
NB. Who’s been your favourite Swifts player to watch?
AB. Neil every season throws up a playerHere are some names that spring to mind and apologies to those I have missed out!Dave Mathews
Julian Lamb
Wayne Adcock
Peter Hance
Charlie Clark
Tommy McCabe
Jonathan Hunt
John Boylan
Tony Moy
Mark Kipper Kane
Of course Danny Barber whom I hope to see again one day in Black and White
Note there only one defender Neil just goes to show we all want to be entertained
Posted in interviews | No Comments
Kick Off
The big kick off arrived yesterday, and whilst I’ve not really done anything with this site so far, and had a lot of stuff I wanted to add before I went live, I thought what the hell, and have written a short piece on my day yesterday. Feel free to add your comments.
This is obviously the site for the Heybridge swifts Supporters Club, not me, I’m just here to make it happen. The reason I’ve gone for a Wordpress format is that it means that anybody can log in and add their own content, and I hope that will happen. Let’s make this a vibrant place for people to air their views on the Swifts, please contact me, Neil B, via the forums, and I can set you up with access, and instructions if necessary on how to make posts.
Click here to read my thoughts on the start of the season.
Posted in Neil B | No Comments