FANIMO READY TO TURN ON BURNERS
MARGATE’S budget may be 70 per cent of last season’s, but manager Nikki Bull isn’t complaining. He’s just signed a player who is statistically faster than Ronaldo and Gareth Bale!
The Gate boss isn’t at all bothered by the huge cuts imposed after benefactor Bob Laslett stopped writing the cheques for the National League South club.
Bull has had to work harder to attract players and has been on the road so much this summer talking to potential new signings that he may soon need a new car.
But the Hartsdown boss has landed himself a player with the engine of a Ferrari – and the speed of one, too.
Matthias Fanimo certainly knows how to step on the accelerator.
He is faster than Ronaldo and Welsh wonder Bale. When at West Ham two years ago, he equalled Antonio Valencia in the precise speed tests untaken by all pros and he holds the joint crown as the fastest footballer in the world.
Full-backs, consider yourselves warned. Bull said: “He is lightning, absolutely lightning.
“I’ve had to spend most of the summer on the road meeting players, but I actually saw clips of Matthias on the internet, so I didn’t really need to travel.
“He uploaded videos of himself with a personal trainer. If you’re that committed to working on your game that you’re paying someone to help you improve when you aren’t being paid yourself, then that’s the kind of person I want in my dressing room.
“For every nine or ten players you meet, you sign one. I insist on faceto-face as you get a clearer picture of the person you are signing. The downside is that I am at the petrol pump nearly every day!”
Comfortable
Margate seemed on the road to nowhere once Laslett pulled the plug, but Bull is at ease with the situation. “I’m massively comfortable with it,” the former Aldershot keeper, 34, said. “For the last few years, the club were not getting value for money and now they will be. I prefer it this way and I am happy the budget is 70 per cent less. We will now have younger players with a point to prove.” They could, however, have one old boy making the place look untidy.
Bull, who retired when he replaced Terry Brown officially last Christmas, added: “The gloves are edging out of the bag! I haven’t played since I became manager but it’s been demanding getting the right keeper.
“I attended a goalkeepers’ training camp in Portugal last week to get myself back in the groove. I may have to play for a while in pre-season while I continue my search, though I’d rather be on the sidelines!”