Tidswell Talk: My future with Holbeach United and my plans on and off the field

Last week I sat down with current Holbeach United managers Darren Jarvis and Tom Roberts. The discussions took place on Thursday and many things were spoken about in regards to the new season and football in general.

The Tuesday prior to the planned meeting I was as surprised as everyone else to read I had already signed and agreed the post of player/coach. It was on the table but having not even discussed matters at that time, it was a little naughty to report prematurely.

The meeting with both Darren and Robbo went well and they outlined what they would want from me.
I then spoke about matters regarding myself such as my concerns, my plans on the field and off among other things.

One concern was that as a player/coach, I stressed I wanted no different treatment to the others players on the playing front. My other concern was that at the age of only 25 how would players react to me implementing how we will play.

My plans are that I have others things in my life that I want to achieve and do. So far I have put them off as all my life since the age of 7 every weekend has been football.
However, the time is right to now think a little bit more selfishly and get these things in motion and done.

Therefore, I will be representing Holbeach as a player or a coach or both when I am available.
On the football front, I am under no illusions to the level this is. It’s step 5 football and not the Premier League, contrary to what some players think. At times it’s a thug’s level where technical players are limited.

My assessment is that within a UCL game you often have five or six moments where quality matters. The rest is spent jousting for territory with constant long balls and physicality.
So the key to winning matches at this level is work ethic off the ball, winning personal battles and then getting the ball to the players with that quality of play and decision making when it matters.

Darren and Robbo are very ambitious and I like that. You should never go into a league or cup competition wanting to come second.
The players they are targeting and have already signed are very good players, whom I’m looking forward to playing with and seeing.

As far as my playing goes, we will see how it goes. I hope to feature as much as I can but I will see how pre-season goes as in reality I haven’t been 100 per cent fit in the last four years.
On the coaching front, I am excited by the opportunity and I look forward to working with the players.

For now, I am enjoying the downtime.