Forging my own path

[Dazz19]

As a child I loved football. I was taken to my first game aged just five and I was hooked. Like all young kids who are obsessed with football, I dreamt of playing for my country, scoring the winning goal in a cup final and representing my favourite team.

Unfortunately, my ability didn't match my enthusiasm for the game. I was the last picked for games at lunch time, the other kids didn't even try to hide their disappointment when they end up on my team on P.E. lessons and the day I missed an open goal from six yards confirmed to me that no matter how hard I practised I would never be a footballer.

I was determined to have a career in football though and that left me with two options. Option one, become a referee. That was never going to happen. So that left me with option two, become a manager. It took a while due to college and university commitments, but by the age of 29 I held my National A License and felt I was ready to take the first steps into management.

I decided to target four countries to make my breakthrough. England and Scotland were obvious choices. Being English I had a wealth of knowledge of both league systems. I'd also decided to focus on Holland and Belgium as I didn't want to limit myself to the British Isles. These two seemed the safest options as my girlfriend is half Dutch and could help with settling in in either country and also help with the language barrier.

I was realistic though. There were only four jobs available when I gained my license.
Barnsley in the Sky Bet League One
Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League
Stenhousemuir in the Scottish League One
RMP in the Belgian Pro League
If I'm honest I thought all these sides would laugh me out of the building, but I applied on the off chance just to see what would happen.

Unsurprisingly, all politely said no.

I wasn't deterred though and stayed positive. It was tough to stay positive though. Kidderminster, De Graafschap, RKC and Newcastle all said no, before finally, Cheltenham offered me an interview. Unfortunately Nick Barmby beat me to the job. And so it continued, Bristol Rovers offered me an interview, as did Harrogate, Royale Geants Athois, Eupen, RW Walhain, Stranraer. All of them said no. Finally after nearly six months of interviews, Tamworth offered me a job. I snapped it up and my career had begun.

 

[Dazz19]

So I headed to the club for my first day in charge. After a highly productive meeting with the chairmen and my backroom staff I met up with my squad for the first time. Given that they were being introduced to a 29 year old rookie manager with no experience what so ever they seemed to at least give the impression that they were going to give me a chance.

I'd been given the challenge of getting us into a mid table or higher position at the very least, and some challenge it was going to be. With roughly half the season gone we were 16th and just five points away from the relegation zone. On the plus side we were also just nine points off the play-offs, so a decent run would soon see us rocket up the table. Or at least that was the plan.

And so it came to my first game in charge, on only my second day in the job! We travelled to Gloucester City, a team just one position and one point below us. I decided to listen to my assistant manager regarding team selection as I was still unsure about the players I had. By half time I was regretting the decision as he'd gone for the same set up that had the club in the position it was in. We'd dominated the game but went in 1-0 down. I made a couple of tweeks at half time and it paid dividends. The lads went out and ripped Gloucester to pieces as we ran in a 1-3 victory. The clubs biggest away win of the season. Hopefully this was the start of the run we needed to get us back where we wanted to be.

 

[Dazz19]

December 2015

After that first win against Gloucester I started to mould the team into the shape I wanted it. The day after the Gloucester win I signed Sam Livesey on loan from Preston until the end of the season. At 18, he seemed a bit young, but he can play as a striker, something the team needed, but also on either wing and just in behind the strikers, so he seemed a viable risk.

Harrogate -H- 0-2 - A spirited display from Tamworth in my first home game in charge was unfortunately spoiled by an inept display of refereeing from Matthew Bristow. A highly controversial penalty decision after just six minutes gave Harrogate the lead and centre back Dan Preston a yellow card. Preston was then later booked again and subsequently sent off, despite a clear dive from the Harrogate forward, they scored the resulting free kick.

Solihull Moors -A- 1-4 - A change of formation in this game. I moved away from the 4-4-2 the previous regime had employed and went for a 4-2-3-1 approach. Goals from Martin and Livesey in the first nine minutes put us on the road to an easy win and a late brace from Thornton put the result out of reach of Solihull. The result left us in 16th position, but now with a ten point cushion the relegation spots and a seven point gap to the play-offs.

Worcester -H- 2-1 - Goals from Purdie and Mettam ensured that we ended December on a high. It took us going 1-0 down again before we started playing, which is something that will definitely need to be addressed in training. The win moved us up to 14th, just four points off the play-offs.

December, the month I became a manager and won three of my four games in charge. Hopefully, this wasn't just beginners luck and I could carry on this fantastic start. Next up, I had to negotiate the transfer window and I already had an issue with my captain, Paul green, declaring he no longer wanted to play for the club as we weren't playing at the level he thought he should be playing at.