‘Best-case scenario? We push to make the play-offs’
SOME combinations just work well together: Think Clough and Taylor, jelly and custard, Saint and Greavsie, fish and chips, Morecame and Wise – and Graham Westley and Stevenage.
Last Sunday came the news that Westley was returning to the Hertfordshire club to take charge for the fourth time. To be honest, it didn’t come as a great surprise.
Boro have struggled in League Two this term. Westley’s former right-hand man Dino Maamria paid the price in September after they bagged just three points in their opening seven games following a tenth-place finish last term.
Former England Women’s coach Mark Sampson stepped up from first-team coach to caretaker-manager, but victories still proved hard to come by. Heading into the weekend, Stevenage were second bottom with just two wins from 20 games and only a point above Morecambe, who occupied the sole relegation spot.
If the timing was right for Stevenage to call on Westley, who led them to back-to-back promotions in 2009-10 and 201011 and FA Trophy success, it was perfect for him too. Since a miserable short spell in charge of Barnet in early 2018, the 51-year-old has been on the outside looking in.
With more than 900 games and 20 years’ management experience under his belt, the at times abrasive Westley has had to bide his time for another chance in the hotseat.
The FLP columnist returns refreshed and with the same zeal and hunger he’s always had.
“I’m so excited to be back, I feel so energised,” he told The
FLP. “The last couple of years have been a chance for me to learn and make adjustments – you are never too old to learn. I’m coming back humbled by my time away, no one was rushing to bring me back in. I’m determined to make a really good fist of it.
“I love the club and I know so many people there. I want to give them some great times and I’ve got a real determination to make that happen. Everyone is trying to do well and so will we. The chairman has a vision – he wants entertaining, attractive, attacking football and he wants success. That’s what I’m aiming for.”
The former Preston, Peterborough and Newport boss is typically upbeat about his chances of turning Stevenage’s fortunes around. Currently down among the strugglers, he believes they can rise again – and hasn’t even ruled out a charge for the play-offs.
“The immediate priority is to build on the good work in the last ten games, the good work in blooding a lot of youngsters in the early part of the season,” he said. “They didn’t quite get the right results, but they showed how much talent they’ve got. Evolving
“There’s been a recovery with a steady number of points and now it’s about icing the cake, turning draws into wins and pushing up the table. We want to get top half as soon as we can, but I’m also going to look at the best-case scenario – pushing for the top seven. However, we aren’t going to run before we walk.
“My motivation has always been driven by my love of winning. At any moment in time, whatever I’m doing, I love winning and hate losing.
“Sometimes that’s not a very good trait to have – you have to be able to pick the bones out of defeat, change and evolve if you are going to win.
“It’s difficult for me to cope with the feeling of losing – nothing in my life has taught me to feel good about losing.
“What I do know is that you are always proving that you are learning, evolving and adapting.
“For example, you have to be able to understand the level and mentality of young players. These days they may not have as much of a grounding in the art of defending.
“At their academies, they may focus more on the technical and tactical side. You have to teach them to have a passion for defending.” Westley doesn’t officially take charge until tomorrow, but has already seen signs that Stevenage can flourish in the second half of the season.
“At the start of the season, the team got four points
in ten games,” he said. “When you look at the players at the club, their histories, their reputations, their capabilities, you know there must have been something not quite right for them to get that tally. Quality
“There was a bit of a freak spell in terms of injuries. No one wants to look at that as an excuse and success is about being good when you are using your 1 to 11 or 12-22. However, the one time you can’t afford to have injuries is when you have brought in new players. If your established players get injured, you are falling back on players who are learning the system.
“Mark, (his assistant) Alex Revell and Co. have stabilised things. They have got good players working together. They’ve had to use lads not match fit, but that match fitness is there now. They have been able to field some of their bigger players and they’ve picked up 12 points from the last ten games. Of the last six, they’ve only lost one.
“I have already seen some really high quality football in training. This is a very good group of players in League Two. Ben Kennedy was being looked at by bigger clubs, Paul Taylor was at Ipswich, Scott Cuthbert is a very good leader and Elliott List will go on and play at a very high level.
“That’s four players, but we’ve got a lot of players who have played League One and higher, and have plenty of energy and desire. I’m very excited about what this team can produce.”
It was eight years ago that Westley ended his second – and most successful – spell in charge of Stevenage. They were in and around the playoffs places in League One when he couldn’t resist the lure of joining their third tier rivals
Preston, who were mid-table at the time. “I had left with the club contending in League One after back-to-back promotions,” he recalled. “People felt Stevenage were on the brink of a third successive promotion and they felt let down – I understand that now.
“I went back there off the back of a job pretty well done at Preston on the one hand. I achieved the financial objective but didn’t get the team winning as consistently as needed and a poor run of form cost me. It was a shame because I loved it there, it’s an amazing club. “When I came back to Stevenage last time around, I almost came back with my tail between my legs. I wasn’t right and the team wasn’t right, and we eventually went down to League Two. Then after I got the club to the League Two play-offs, Teddy (Sheringham) came in (as manager). “I understood it – the chief executive wanted to bring in someone of his status and build around it. I didn’t like it, but the chairman was honest with me and we parted on good enough terms that we could work together in the future.” Now chairman Phil Wallace has brought Westley back for another spell. “Given our current league position, this is not the time for us to experiment with managers,” said Wallace. “I need someone I trust and I trust Graham.”
Westley, too, is glad to revive the partnership.
“We’ve worked together three times before and we both appreciate each other’s skills, and we’re both older and wiser now,” he added. “The chairman and manager relationship at a club is absolutely fundamental even through the structure at clubs is changing these days. “At Stevenage the job of the manager is to be progressive and modern, and they give you the freedom to do your job. It’s one of the things that appealed to me.”
It’s difficult for me to cope with losing. Nothing in my life has taught me to feel good about it Graham Westley