HULL’S SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS BRED SUCCESS
BILLY Heath was just 28 when he realised his dream of making it as a pro would never be fulfilled.
“Some players never know when the game’s up, but I did,” explains the FC Halifax Town boss. “Injuries caught up with me and I knew I was on the slide. “There’s nothing worse than watching good players drop through the levels and I didn’t want that to happen to me. It was time to go.” Luckily for Heath, Bridlington’s chairman needed a manager and a berth in the back four was replaced by a seat in the dugout. Eighteen years on, the 46-yearold is a veteran of 800-plus games and promotions galore with the likes of Brid, Frickley and North Ferriby. Here the former dock worker and full-time foster carer looks back on his career and recalls a daunting first day in the job, an encounter with a 14-year-old superstar and reveals which “borderline insane” striker was the funniest
FIRST CLUB
By CHRIS DUNLAVY man he’s ever seen in a dressing room. Hull City. They were my local club and I was an apprentice. I was very fortunate with the people there at the time.
It was Tom Wilson, Dennis Booth and, of course, Brian Horton was gaffer. Tom was my youth coach and he was terrific. Ex-Millwall centrehalf, tough as they come. Big scar on his chin, probably from heading somebody’s boot.
He taught me so much about defending and about discipline. That transfer from playing for school to having all these rules and standards – I loved it.
Sadly, it also showed me how fast fortunes can change in football. Eddie Gray replaced Brian as manager in 1988 and wanted his centre-halves to play. That wasn’t in my game.
In those days, a centre-half’s job was to stop people playing. Full stop. I didn’t last long after that.
FIRST JOB IN MANAGEMENT
Bridlington Town, when I was 28. I’ll always remember the chairman called me to the office and saying ‘Well done, you’ve got the job’.
I said, ‘Thanks very much’ and he replied ‘Right, now go and tell all the players they’re taking a 50 per cent pay cut. Do you still want the job?’
We had one player leave and the rest of them stayed. They made the right decision because we stabilised that first season, then went up three divisions in three years.
That was the start of it all and I’ll always be grateful to Bridlington for giving me an opportunity at that age. I don’t think that would happen now, even in Non-League.
BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT
Again, it’s difficult to pick one. Winning the Evo-Stik League to go into Conference North with Ferriby in 2013 was huge.
The Wembley Trophy final of 2015 is always going to live with me. For a village club to get there and beat somebody like Wrexham was massive.
But getting into the National Premier – with Ferriby and Halifax – are probably the two moments that have meant most.
BEST TEAM-MATE
It’s a weird one this because I only played with him for about 45 minutes and we didn’t even know each other. But it has to be Nicky Barmby.
I was an apprentice at Hull and were we playing a practice match when suddenly this tiny little lad gets chucked in. We were all thinking ‘Who the hell is this?’.
Little did we realise that Liverpool were after him, along with Man United, Rangers, Celtic and pretty much every other club in the country.
Nick was only 14 at the time. He was giving away three years to me, four years to some of the others. But he absolutely destroyed that game.
His touch, his technique – it was phenomenal. People talk about players being on a different level but Nicky was on a different planet. The only good thing was that he was on my side, because nobody could get near him.
BEST SIGNING
This is the toughest question for me because I’ve had some really good players and top, top characters over the years.
But for the impact he made, I’m going for Liam King, pictured left, at
North Ferriby. He was actually recommended to me by Lee Morris, one of my first signings.
Liam was at Matlock at the time, someone I’d heard of but not seen. It’s probably unfair to say he’d lost his way but he was definitely in a bit of a rut. I asked him to join us and from day one he was terrific.
His attitude, his desire, his workrate. He scored massive goals at important times. Above all, he is just a fantastic pro in everything he does. He’s very modest and unassuming but when it comes to doing the business on the pitch, his personality shines through.
FUNNIEST PLAYER
Jamie Richards at Bridlington. I’ve got to be careful what I say but the fella was bordering on insane!
He was a fantastic personality. Everybody around the club loved him. And whatever was going on in the dressing room, he was always behind it. On the pitch he was as tough as they come but he never took anything too seriously. He was great for easing tense situations.
His nickname at the time was Butterbean, after the big American boxer. Why? Well, he was chunky to say the least. He spent most of preseason being sick. But he always got up and went again and he could certainly do it on the pitch. He scored some really important goals for us.
FUNNIEST INCIDENT
At Brid again. Two minutes to kick-off, I was giving a team talk and looking round the players. All of sudden, I thought ‘Where’s Gav?’ Gav Kelly was our keeper. He’d joined us from Hull City and was coming to the end of his career. I’d watched him come in but he was nowhere to be seen. So I go round the corner and he’s standing in the shower, naked apart from his boots and his socks. Turns out he’d gone to the physio with a groin problem. The physio had applied the Deep Heat a bit too close to Gavin’s important parts and he’d ended up in the shower trying to…damp out the flames, shall we say!