HE’S THE PICK OF THE BUNCH
KEVIN GRAHAM SPEAKS TO PICKERING TOWN BOSS PAUL MARSHALL
HE’S been my gaffer at three clubs and we’ve spoken regularly in recent years but there is a lot that I, and dare I say many others in the game, do not know about Paul Marshall. The former Harrogate Town, Goole, Harrogate Railway, Tadcaster Albion and Bridlington Town boss has seen a lot in over 20 years of management.
He took Harrogate Railway to the second round of the FA Cup – the lowest ranked team to do so – masterminded Goole’s promotion into the Evo-Stik League and achieved promotion this season too by taking Pickering Town to Step 4 for the first time in the North Yorkshire club’s history.
I recently caught up with him and asked him to take a little time out from the constant workload of management to reflect on his impressive career.
I GUESS HAVING A BIG BROTHER IN MANAGEMENT CLEARED THE WAY FOR YOU TO SOME EXTENT?
I suppose so – I used to go along with Sean (former Frickley manager and Scarborough player) when I was a teenager and I learnt a lot. I even had to pull on a shirt for three games for him in the Conference during the miners’ strike! He also helped me when I was starting out at Harrogate Town when we had very little money and we managed to keep the club in the UniBond League so he certainly played his part in my career. That said, I didn’t really see myself going into management when I was a player. I just fell into it. Dougie Barnes, the manager at my Sunday side Catholic Club in Harrogate was banned for a year and I had to take over the reins as player/manager for the season. The rest, as they say, is history!
WERE YOU READY TO PACK IN PLAYING?
Well, I’d played at Pickering, Harrogate Town and Ossett Town – as well as playing in Australia (where he got paid in slabs of VB beer!) I just gradually moved into management, running the reserves at Harrogate Town before I took over from Mick Doig as first team manager. I was 35 and I was the cheap option! The club didn’t have much money so I guess it was circumstances really – it’s just how everything materialised.
LOOK AT WHERE HARROGATE TOWN ARE NOW, YOU COULD SAY THAT PERHAPS THEY WOULDN’T HAVE FOUND SUCH SUCCESS IF YOU HADN’T KEPT THEM UP...
It was some achievement and one I’m proud of. I managed to get some great players like Gavin Kelly, Lee Harper and Paul Cygan to play for next to nothing and we somehow managed to stay up with them and a load of the youngsters I’d managed in the reserves.
The year after a guy called Maurice Hammond came into the club with some money to throw at it and they felt I didn’t have enough experience so I was on my way. That’s football!
I THINK SOMETIMES PEOPLE FORGET YOUR OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS BECAUSE OF THE FA CUP DON’T THEY?
Maybe, there is something about the FA Cup for me though. We got to the fourth qualifying round against Morecambe the year before we got to the second round with Harrogate Railway which was some going, and I also took Tadcaster to the third qualifying round where we pushed Halifax really close. I guess people forget about me winning the league with Goole in my first full season in charge particularly, maybe because I wasn’t there long after that. I got sacked the season after because of a poor start – I think if you look at where they have finished since then it shows how tough a job that was. I was told before we went to Thackley in the West Riding Cup but decided to do the game anyway. We won 4-0, and then I went in and told the lads that I’d been sacked that lunchtime but wanted to say goodbye in person. I’m glad I was able to leave on a winning note.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING YOUR OWN BOSS AT TADCASTER?
Haha – we didn’t have much choice! Chairman, manager, barman….kitchen hand….you name it I did it, along with a few hardy souls, like Kevin Derry and Nobby Clarke. Every club needs people like that to survive. We kept the club going and managed to convince Rob Northfield to put some money in and that provided us with a springboard to win division one, beating Graham Potter’s Leeds Carnegie team to the title. Who, as the new Swansea City manager, has done alright for himself! It was a great journey, getting promoted and then when i2i came on board we had another great season. We just ran out of steam after the FA Vase run. It was a real family atmosphere at the club which almost made it harder to take when we didn’t achieve what we hoped for.
AND NOW MAKING HISTORY AT THE CLUB YOU STARTED AT AS A PLAYER, IT’S A GREAT STORY...
I’ve been managing for 21 years and this will probably be my last club, so to get Pickering up is pretty special for me personally. The lads deserve it because they are a really good bunch. Players these days aren’t generally the most reliable compared with years gone by but this lot haven’t let me down once.
I TRIED TO THINK OF THE BEST WAY TO DESCRIBE YOU AS A MANAGER – YOU ALWAYS BUILD TEAMS WITH THE RIGHT BLEND RATHER BIG NAMES.
I’d say one of my strengths is working out who gets on well with each other on and off the field. One bad egg can kill the dressing room but once I’ve been honest with them and moved them on, I’ve built teams where everyone pulls their weight and works together. Creating team spirit is invaluable at this level and often underestimated. It’s not all about paying for the big money players, it’s ultimately about the team ethos and the will to win together.
YOU’RE WELL LIKED BY A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE GAME – ANYONE OUT THERE WHO MIGHT NOT LIKE YOU OR ANYONE YOU’VE NOT BEEN SO NICE TO?
I’m sure there are – football is an emotional game and people have their fall outs…even me.
I did once have to make a hard decision to change my back room staff, two of my best mates in football – Mark Smitheringale and Rob Hunter. We hadn’t been doing so well at Taddy and I needed to freshen things up. I just knew it needed doing but it didn’t make it any easier. I think they’ve forgiven me now and have both gone on to do really well elsewhere. I brought in two young coaches with new ideas, Mikey (Morton) and Si (Collins) and their new coaching methods were a breath of fresh air for myself and the players. You can be nice all you want but you have to be honest with people if you want to be a success as a manager.