Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Management style? Let’s call it old school
PLEASE, sir – we want some more. Cray Valley Paper Mills went to Wembley last year, and deputy head Kevin Watson has got the taste for it.
Watson’s players will wear a one-off, commemorative green strip at Havant & Waterlooville tomorrow after reaching the FA Cup first round for the first time in the club’s 102-year history.
And in a throwback to their schooldays, Cray Valley’s Francis Babalola (above, front row, second right) and Connor Dymond now play for a manager who was their PE teacher more than a decade ago at Westwood College (now known as the Harris Academy).
Babalola was even part of the Westwood team, managed by Watson, that won the North West Kent Cup 14 years ago (above, second from right, and below in action for Cray Valley).
Now the boys from the Badgers Sports ground in Eltham are on march again in the FA Cup with Isthmian League minnows Cray Valley.
Th e Mi l l e r s h av e a l rea dy knocked out Maidenhead, although a schoolteacher lifting the FA Cup is old hat – after all, it happened to Gerard Houllier at Liverpool in 2001.
Watson said: “It’s not often that a club reaches the first round of the FA Cup for the first time – and two of the goalscorers who helped them make history were taught by their manager at school.
“I was a PE teacher back then, but once the students start beating you at various things you have to reassess, so I’m now the v ice-principal at th e Harri s Academy in Falconwood.
“You go into teaching to help young people develop and fulfil their potential, so to see Francis and Connor become the mature, charismatic people they are today gives me a lot of satisfaction.
“In a football setting, I’m now in a position where I get to choose who I work with, and if I’m going to spend my time away from home I want to work with good people.
“Francis is a personal trainer, he was part of the journey to the FA Vase final al and it was his goal in the dying ng moments at Maidenhead head in the last qualifying g round which completed eted our comeback ck from 2-0 down. Connor is a bricklayer, but after leaving school he went on to become a professional at Crystal Palace and, like Francis, is a wellrounded character.
“It ’s a bit dif ferent to th e student/teacher dynamic now, but they are good lads and they have bought into the ethos I’m trying to establish as a manager.
“We have the usual mix of players who combine football with their day jobs – some of them work in the City, we have PE teachers, builders and a railway maintenance worker.
“They need those jobs because football at our level doesn’t pay many bills, but we share a common bond of loving the game.”
Watson was in charge of the Millers side who went down in extra time at the FA Vase final to Chertsey last year, when they also marked the club’s centenary with promotion promotion.
“I’ve already alre had the privilege of l e a adin di n g out o Cray Val l e y at Wembley,” said Watson.
“Althoug “Although we lost in extra time, we hit the bar in the last seconds of norm normal time.
“The chances of us go going back to Wembley in th this competition are s somewhat slimmer, and w we are up against a t team who know all a about making waves in t the FA Cup, but you n never know.”
‘It’s a bit different to the teacher/pupil dynamic now, but they have bought into the ethos of the club’