A Conference club in everything but name Mariners are looking up
SOUTH Shields are a Conference club in everything but name according to striker Gavin Cogdon, and he believes its professionalism can get them there very soon.
Tomorrow’s FA Vase final against Cleethorpes at Wembley is the chance to put the cherry on the top of a season which has already brought two cups and promotion to the Northern Premier League.
With a former Premier League striker, Graham Fenton, in the dugout and ex-top flight player Julio Arca running the midfield, the Mariners were certainly not poor relations in the Northern League, but 33-year-old Cogdon thinks the way the club is run should ensure the success is long-lasting.
Joint managers Lee Picton and ex-Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers player Fenton are assisted by former Sunderland midfielder and Hartlepool United boss Martin Scott.
“They’re A-Licensed coaches so when you look at the sessions put on, the way they set you up for games, we potentially could be better prepared than some of the league clubs out there,” says Cogdon, who scored for previous club Spennymoor Town when they won the Wembley showpiece in 2013.
“We do video analysis and although it might not be for some lads I’ve learnt more in a year than I probably have in 10.
“I wish it was 10 years ago and I had another 10 years of football to play because you learn so much in every game.
“I’ve watched some professional clubs where managers win games and these two (Fenton and Picton) win us games.
“When we played Sunderland RCA (in March), the half-time team talk won us the game because we were 1-0 down, went down to 10 men and won 2-1.
“That half-time team talk could have gone either way.”
In the build-up to Wembley the Mariners announced a new academy for 16 to 19-year-olds, and fulltime contracts for the managerial duo, who previously worked parttime at Monkseaton High School.
“Every week it seems to grow,” says Cogdon. “That’s the important thing.
“I look at the amount of children who are here and if you judge it on that, it tells you it’s moving in the right direction.
“I think the big thing they’ve got to get right and keep is the community aspect.
“There was one club, I can’t remember which, won a lot of promotions and got into League football but they didn’t have the infrastructure from under-eights, under-nines and whatever.
“This club seems to have thought about it for the next 10 years, which is important as well. This club has invested in 10 years and I think
they’ll reap the benefits hopefully for many years to come.”
Strike partner Carl Finnigan is even better placed to speak about professionalism having started at Newcastle United’s academy before playing professional football in Scotland, South Africa and Botswana.
“Picton and Fenton have instilled this professional, hard-working mentality and given the squad a complete understanding of how the game should be played and that is absolute credit to them for the way they’ve set us out to go on this unbeaten run,” he says.
“It’s not luck, it’s not by chance that you win 32 games in a row, get to three cup finals and win the league. It’s because you get things right.
“Naturally that comes from the management but the players have to buy in.
“From day one the players have bought in to the way we work.” Owner Geoff Thompson has his sights sets on the Football League, where the original club was before moving to Gateshead in 1930. “Speaking to the likes of John Shaw who have played at Conference level and above, you look at the fanbase,” says Cogdon. “If there are people coming in that helps the income and makes the club self-sufficient because that’s what it needs.
“For me it’s a Conference club now. That’s the marker we should be aiming for, then see where it goes from there. I hope to be part of that.”
And while lofty dreams are all well and good, non-league football is all about the game’s roots. Cogdon says the club’s success this season is as much down to the volunteers who were at the club long before Thompson started sinking his money into it.
“Every club I’ve been at you always have one or a few,” he says. “You can see people here and tell they’ve been through the bad times and they’re loving every minute of it. But they just continue doing their thing.
“It’s almost like nothing’s changed but we’re winning more games now and more people are coming.
“It’s really good to see them here just hopefully feeling part of it. We’ve got to remember these are the people who have got the club to where it is now and we’re hopefully moving it forward in a better direction as well.”
It’s not by chance you win 32 games in a row, get to three cup finals and win the league Striker Gavin Cogdon