Ricketts reflects on good times
Former player and manager looks back on cup heroics
On 10 March 1991, Tony Ricketts began a five-year reign of Bath City which included some of the club’s most memorable moments.
While ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ by The Clash was at number one, the Romans decided to part company with promotion winning boss George Rooney following a 1-0 loss to Stafford Rangers, which left the club in trouble at the wrong end of the table.
Defender Ricketts, then 31, was given the task to steer the stripes away from an immediate return to the Southern League.
“Ray Stock [former chairman] rung me on the Sunday to say they were letting George go,” recalled Ricketts. “I was shocked and he asked if I was interested in taking on his position.
“I was coming towards the end of my playing career and George got me involved in a bit of the coaching.
“The players and I had a lot of time for George but the chance to manage your home city club doesn’t come around very often so I took it on.
“All of a sudden I went from one of the lads to being the gaffer. That transition was one of the most difficult things I had to deal with. I never liked being labelled the gaffer, it didn’t sit easy with me. I was still ‘Rikko,’ that’s the way I wanted it.
“We were extremely lucky that the Bath City I was involved in always had great team spirit. That goes back to when I first joined as a player in 1979.
“I’d arrived from Clandown which was run on a similar basis of camaraderie. Throughout my time as manager of Bath that was always something that was important to me.”
Ricketts became City’s sixth permanent manager in three years. It was his second spell at the club having joined arch-rivals Yeovil for £7,500 midway through the 1985/86 season, only to return in November 1988.
By early 1991 his appearances had dried up after a recurrence of a knee injury sustained with Yeovil.
“We had quality players in Chris Banks and Richard Crowley as centre-halves when I took over,” said Ricketts. “At that stage of my career I wasn’t going to replace either of them.
“I made a few appearances when needed. Peter Aitken was my assistant so could oversee things when I was playing, and Dave Palmer after him. But it was getting towards the time for me to hang my boots up.
“We didn’t think we were going down, that belief started before I took over. We were working hard in games, we weren’t getting battered.”
Ricketts brought back Graham Withey for a fourth spell and the forward netted in a 1-1 draw at Sutton United in the manager’s first game in charge. Three defeats in the final 14 games saw the Romans stay up, three points clear of the Surrey side.
There were no fears of the drop in 1991/92 as under Ricketts and new assistant Palmer, City finished ninth, their best finish since 1985, despite a lack of transfer activity in the summer.
“It was difficult to change what we had having got 20 points from our final 13 games, which I think was my biggest achievement at the club,” Ricketts claimed. “There was a belief in the squad that we were better than second bottom, the position when I took over.
“I had a fantastic response from the players we had. It was the continuity that we were looking for.
“Martin Boyle offered a threat in terms of goals and keeping competition for the other strikers. We also brought in Grantley [Dicks] from Paulton who did well for us.
“Dave Palmer alongside me was my steadying influence,” Ricketts said of his former assistant, who sadly passed away aged 49 in March 2011. “When I was playing bad cop he was playing good cop, and vice-versa. I wouldn’t have been as successful as I was at Bath without him.
“I need to give tremendous praise to Peter Aitken as well. He was my first assistant and resigned when the budget was cut which let Palms come in as player-assistant.
“I can’t speak highly enough of Dave as a player, coach and a man. I still miss him.”
A memorable FA Cup First Round win over Cardiff City was the highlight of 1992/93 with substitute Deion Vernon slamming home the winner, but Ricketts missed out on the party afterwards.
“A guy came to me after the Cardiff game and they asked if I’d be prepared to come to the Match of the Day studios,” said Ricketts. “They had a taxi waiting outside.
“I didn’t have time to celebrate, I just got changed and off I went. I had a few messages later from the players to say it was a good night out, I was absolutely gutted to miss it.
“Deion was a lovely lad. He was an impact player – whenever we started him he didn’t produce the goods.
“Soon after that Cardiff game I took him to Leeds when Howard Wilkinson was the manager. I thought we might have made some money from Deion but it didn’t happen. I wouldn’t say his career petered out but for a lad with his pace and ability, he probably should have done better.
“The FA Cup is still the most passionate competition. We were so fortunate to have so many good results in it during my time in charge.”
Having kept a steady squad for 18 months, Ricketts rolled the dice in the summer of 1993 and released Withey, Dave Singleton and club legend Paul Randall, recruiting a trio of Pauls – Adcock, Batty and Chenoweth.
“I was fortunate to sign Paul Adcock,” said Ricketts. “I was recommended by my coaching mentor, the late Dave Burnside. He was involved with the England coaching setup and he told me to look at this young lad being released from Plymouth.
“He did a fantastic job for us. We thought we’d sell him at one stage, I know the board turned down an offer from Lincoln.
“In the end he left us because he
had a few groin injuries which carried on from his time at Plymouth.”
Adcock netted in FA Cup wins over Cheltenham and Molesey to set up a round two tie with Hereford United, live on Sky. City won 2-1 to earn a trip to Stoke in the third round, with some physicality from Ricketts’ side not appreciated by a Hereford defender.
“The biggest thing that stuck in my mind was an interview at halftime with Kevan Smith,” Ricketts recalled. “He was not best pleased with Adie Mings, who had absolutely battered him. He had a right whinge.
“Paul Batty scored a worldie to win it. We brought him in from Yeovil, he fitted in well for us. He brought guile and craft to our midfield.
“It was nice to celebrate it in the players’ bar this time with the supporters.
“Heading to Stoke we were as confident as we could be. We decided to park the bus and play when we could. They had the Icelandic international Toddy Orlygsson in midfield, we got Nick Brooks to man-mark him. He didn’t leave him alone, we nicknamed him Toddy after that.
“I’ll never forget the Stoke fans giving us a standing ovation after we held them to 0-0. I’m not sure how many fans we had but it was incredible, they made so much noise. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand even now. One of the highlights of my career, that’s a certainty.
“I can remember Joe Jordan [Stoke manager] saying to me after the replay that we gave them a scare in the first game.
“I knew he wasn’t happy after it because he didn’t speak, but he was chatty when they turned us over 4-1.”
In Ricketts’ first four full seasons in charge, City finished ninth, seventh, 12th and 12th in the Conference. After nearly 300 games in charge, he left in July 1996 following an 18th place finish. His departure coincided with the end of Bristol Rovers’ ten years at Twerton Park as they moved to the Memorial Stadium.
“We probably over-achieved with what we had,” he said. “We were the best non-league team in the south west.
“We were better than Cheltenham and Yeovil. It does bug me a bit that they both progressed to the Football League. I sometimes think with a bit of investment we might have made it there too.
“Bristol Rovers were always going to move back to Bristol. We were very fortunate that they brought revenue into the football club while they were at Twerton.
“When they were leaving, Ray Stock said to me we were going to cut the budget. I turned around and said: ‘look Ray, we will get relegated with that budget.’ I couldn’t work miracles. I decided to walk and unfortunately we did get relegated.
“The economics of football have never changed – unless you’ve got a benefactor ploughing money into it, the club has to break even.
“I look at Bath City now and think they’re being well run, they’re not overspending. There are a lot of people working extremely hard to raise that money.”
Ricketts’ last job in management was an 18-month stint at Paulton Rovers which ended in April 2017. He’d previously enjoyed stints with Brislington, Bristol Rovers (women and under-18 sides) and Westonsuper-mare.
The 61-year-old is now head of education & lifeskills at Sporting Chance Project in Kingswood, which uses sport to help vulnerable people aged 13-24 meet educational, employment and lifestyle needs.
“I’m very busy with work at the moment, it’s flat out,” he said. “I haven’t got the time to run a football team properly. I still miss the buzz, the banter of the dressing room, even when you’re the manager.
“The game itself has changed – you adapt with the times. It’s now more possession-based. There’s a lack of tackling and physical contact and sadly it’s now a skill to cheat and dive.
“That didn’t happen back in the day.
“Some of these changes are for the better, some not. I’d rather watch a game without VAR than with it nowadays.
“Flair players get more protection. Rather than having centrehalves like me going through the back of them you have some protection from referees.
“Technology has moved on and there’s video analysis. We’d sit back and watch highlights from Screen Soccer but it’s a bit more advanced now.
“I’ll be back to watching a couple of games a week when we can.”
Ricketts still keeps an eye on his former side, particularly with Jerry Gill in charge, who made almost all of his 218 appearances under the former boss, leaving just before Ricketts stepped aside.
“People like Jerry and Rob Cousins lived and breathed football,” he claimed. “I wasn’t surprised that Jerry went into management.
“He wanted to play central midfield. I always said to him he’ll be a Football League player at full-back. He went on to play many games there for Birmingham and other places.
“He had that engine, a bit of pace to get him up and down the pitch all day long.
“I’m glad he’s doing so well with the club now and I wish him and them all the best.”