SAINTS AND WINNERS, WE MARCH TOGETHER
Captain Dean hails ‘ ‘extended’ family’ as Wilkin’s men reign
GAZ DEAN says captaining Brackley Town to Wembley glory was even more special because of the people he did it with.
The 28-year-old showed just why he is one of Non-League’s best defenders with a skipper’s performance as the Saints won the FA Trophy for the first time in their history.
Although their 95th-minute equaliser to send the game into extra-time came off Roger Johnson, Dean is adamant he got the final touch – but is just happy to have climbed the steps to pick up the silverware with a group of special people.
That includes boss Kevin Wilkin, who gave him his break in the Nuneaton Town team when he was 17, and who, Dean says, the players were determined to win for.
“It’s quite a rare thing to do it this way,” Dean told The NLP. “I’m back with a manager who gave me my opportunity. The way I see it, I wouldn’t be where I am without him. I could have gone down a different route if he didn’t put his trust in me as a 17/18-year-old boy. So I’m very grateful for that.
Sacrifices
“Then the actual playing group as well. James Armson I’ve played with since I was 14 in kids’ football – that’s 14 years of playing football with the same lad. Then Adam Walker is my best friend outside of football, so I got to experience that moment with him.
“Shane Byrne, Alex Gudger, James Armson – I travel in with and I’m immensely close to.
“Mark Noon (assistant manager) was my captain at Nuneaton from the age of 18, so I’ve worked with him for over ten years, and then the other boys from Solihull and Nuneaton who have followed each other.
“It’s hard to put into words. Everyone in that changing room buys into what the manager is about, what I’m about as a captain, and do it with a changing room that is almost an extended family – because we care about each other as friends outside of football – just makes the whole experience extra special.”
Dean says the players treated the game as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and wanted to give the fans in the stadium a day they will never forget – including their family and friends.
“To experience it with proud parents and loves ones, you see the smiles in the photos, is incredible,” he said. “They make a lot of sacrifices to allow us do what we do so to give something back to friends and loved ones is great. It’s memories they can treasure for the rest of their lives, not only us.
“Partners, loved ones have to accept you’re getting back late two or three nights a week. If you have children you may not be able to put them to bed, you miss certain elements of them growing up, you’re out at the weekend. You also have to make sacrifices when other people can do things like a meal or a drink on a Friday night, you have to go on holiday in a two month window out of season.
“So they make lots of sacrifices and it’s important to embrace that and also appreciate what they give. We don’t just lace up some football boots and run around, they make lots of sacrifices for us.” In the build-up to the game, Dean spoke about the strength of character inside the Brackley changing room. They finished third in the National League North, before a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Harrogate in the promotion final, but bounced back in style.
Proud
Dean says it’s impossible to be any prouder of the squad and the players who stepped up in the high pressure penalty shoot-out.
“For us it was about winning our individual battles and winning the game at all costs,” Dean said. “We didn’t care what people thought of us as players and how we play the game, whether we were resolute and dogged and scrapped out a win or whether we played beautiful football. All we cared about was winning the football match.
“I think we had a nice mix. We put our foot in, we pressed the ball and when we didn’t need to, we sat there with a nice shape.
“Don’t get me wrong, Bromley had chances to win the game as did we. In a final you need your keeper to make saves, Danny Lewis did that for us and their goalkeeper did that for them.
“Fortunately we’ve got some big characters who held their nerve in the big moment in a very difficult situation. I’m immensely proud of them as captain to show the bottle to get up there and do that. I couldn’t be prouder of them to do what they and all the boys did.”