When John Dempster went up against Luis Suarez
GOOD, BAD AND THE UGLY: JOHN DEMPSTER
IN The Football League Paper’s version of this Good, Bad & the Ugly feature, one name kept coming up when talking about funny players and funny incidents: John Dempster.
So it seemed only right to speak to the man himself about his career that started in the plush surroundings of Rushden & Diamonds in the boom long before their bust.
Defender Dempster went onto win the Conference North with Kettering Town and has two Conference title-winning medals with Crawley Town and Mansfield Town.
His wit has always shone through, but there is a serious side to the 33-year-old as he explains his ambition to now carve a reputation as a respected youth coach.
Here he remembers the standards set by Brian Talbot at Rushden, the training ground skills of a Diamonds team-mate, and a chilly bus journey home with Crawley.
FIRST CLUB
I came through the youth ranks at Rushden & Diamonds. I didn’t do a YTS, like most players. I stayed on at school to get my Alevels and then signed when I was 18.
Midweek evenings I would train and then on a Saturday I would play with the YTS boys. I also played with them in the week and would be taken out of school.
The facilities at the club back then were first class. Championship material.We had good coaches too. Terry Westley, who is Academy manager at West Ham now, and Steve Spooner, who is head of coaching at Birmingham City. So it was a great place to learn your trade.
We probably didn’t realise how good it was until we moved on, even at a higher level. It was out of this world. When we came in from training we’d put our dirty kit in the laundry bin and put on our own individual robe!
I made my debut in the old Division Three away at Carlisle United. I played the last ten minutes after coming on as a sub for Ray Warburton.We were 3-0 down, it was a cold Tuesday night, but it was great to get out there. I’d been travelling with the first team from the age of 16. It was a real eyeopener and great experience.
It was what I would call an old school squad, who enjoyed socialising but as soon as they went in the dressing room it was like a switch was flicked and it was down to business.
BEST MANAGER
Brian Talbot. He gave me my first professional contract and gave me my Football League debut. He was a football man, ultra professional and I learnt an incredible amount from him. About how to be a professional. The standards of the club were set by him. He demanded high standards on everything. I remember one time at training we were warming up. There was this young groundsman on the next pitch just forking the turf feebly. He ran over, jumped the fence, grabbed his fork and started doing it for him. It was funny. But sub-consciously it also sent a message, ‘If that’s his attitude to that, then we better be the same’.
BEST TEAM-MATE
Phil Gulliver.We were each other’s best man at our weddings, and loyal partners on and off the pitch. He’s working for British Gas now but we often meet up.
He’d done his YTS at Midddlesbrough and was released before joining Diamonds. He moved to Corby, where I live, and I took him under my wing. I haven’t been able to get rid of him since. He was an old school centre half – head it and kick it. But he was a very good defender, had a decent career and probably could have played even higher.
Andy Burgess had a lot of ability as well. I witnessed him nutmeg the same player three times in a row in training once. It was Rob Gier and Burge nutmegged him, turned back and did it again.The rest of the players were nearly on the floor with excitement. Giero went to smash him and he popped it through his legs again. It was unbelievable.
Andre Boucaud, who I played with at Kettering, is an unbelievable footballer as well. Playing with Matt Tubbs at Crawley was great too. I thought he was a fox in the box player, but he had unbelievable work-rate and movement. One of the best finishers I’ve seen.
FIRST PROMOTION
Division Three with Rushden & Diamonds in 2002-03. I played about 20 games that year. We had a number of players who had dropped down to a level they didn’t need to. We had a big Jamaican up front called Onandi Lowe. On his day he was unplayable and, along with a number of older pros, he led the charge.
We won the title against Hartlepool on the last day at Nene Park – they finished second and went up on the same day – and the club took us to Marbella for a relaxing break.
Something that stands out from all five of the promotions I’ve been involved with at Kettering, Crawley and Mansfield is the belief and momentum. It’s scary how far the confidence of winning games takes you.
FUNNIEST PLAYER
Scott Shearer. He has proper Glaswegian ruthless banter, but he’s a good guy at heart. He’s outspoken, opinionated, brash, but he’s someone you want on your side on a Saturday when you’re trying to win three points. He keeps spirits high and he can take a joke himself.
If things were tense he’d be the first to crack a joke.You need that because when you’re going for titles it can be a pressure cooker.
FUNNIEST INCIDENT
Crawley Town was one of the best dressing rooms I have ever been in. The spirit was incredible. We won the title away at Tamworth. For the coach journey home I’d say 80 per cent of the squad were b ***** k naked. The chairman and directors were on the bus and didn’t know what to do with themselves.
That was the mentality of that squad. Absolutely bonkers. As soon as one did it, others followed. Before you knew it, 18 fully grown men were naked on the bus. It wasn’t the type of group where you could put your clothes back on. It’s a long trip back from Tamworth too – especially with the air conditioning on!
They took us to LA for four days after we won that title. I don’t know whether the money was cut, but the next year when we won promotion from League Two, they took us to Magaluf.
BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT
Any time you win the league or get promoted it’s special, for different reasons. But I have to say my proudest moment has been winning the league this year with Mansfield Town U18s.
Although at this level it’s not all about winning – it’s about developing players and getting them into the first team – because it was year one and we knew how high the standard was, we were just hoping to compete and see the team grow.
So to see them turn from boys to men and win the league was a real achievement. When you’re playing football for a living and you have so many spare hours in the day, you don’t realise what else goes on.
It’s a lot more hours, a lot of paperwork and there are a lot of issues you have to deal with throughout the week. But I love it.
LOWEST MOMENT
Relegation into the Conference with Oxford United. I didn’t play as many games as I would have liked and there were quite a few changes of management.
We got relegated on the last day of the season against Leyton Orient. They needed to win to go up and we needed to win to stay up. They won. That reality kicks in that you’ve been one of the worst teams in the
league.You have to use that experience to drive you so you don’t have it again. Fortunately for me it didn’t.
It’s sliding doors in football and eventually led to me signing for Kettering Town halfway through the following season, where I enjoyed some of my favourite times of my career.We won leagues, played Leeds United and Fulham in the FA Cup and did well in the Conference. Special times. There isn’t one ground that stands out but I had a horrendous record when I went back to my former clubs.The worst was probably my Oxford debut. It was at Rushden & Diamonds and I got sent off. Not a great start.
There were times when individually I played quite well at an old team, but I just never seemed to win. They must have all been pleased to see me. ‘Here he comes again!’ When Mansfield played Liverpool in the FA Cup, Luis Suarez came off the bench and scored the winner.It was a controversial goal because he handled the ball before scoring. But his pace and movement is scary.
It was a shame in a way, because I’m a Liverpool fan and we were a goal away from playing at Anfield which would have been a dream.
We’d been warned by the manager Paul Cox that we weren’t allowed to ask for shirts until the end of the game. But when Luis Suarez came on I thought, ‘I can’t gamble here’. So I asked him. He didn’t speak great English but he agreed. About 20 seconds later he wandered over to the other side of the pitch. I caught my centre-half partner Exodus Geohaghon asking the same question. Unfortunately for Ex I got their first and Suarez kept his word. I played in teams that always seemed to do well at Luton. The pitch was normally in good nick and you were guaranteed a big crowd. Teams looked forward to that and that’s probably why they found it so hard to get back up. People ask me if I miss playing, and I do. But my passion lies in seeing young players develop and improve. That gives me a bigger buzz than I ever got playing. I’ve got my A Licence now and I’ll look to do other courses that will improve me.
I still enjoy the lads competing for three points on a Saturday but there is a bigger picture with youth football.
I mentioned Terry Westley and Steve Spooner earlier and I’d love to have the same reputation they do as a coach.