1,000 UP! DAVE SHOWS THE WAY
“LIKE MOST MANAGERS, I THOUGHT I’D IN THE BE JOB FOR ONE OR TWO YEARS” – Sholing boss Dave Diaper
THERE’S a picture taken on the Isle of Wight that, for Sholing boss Dave Diaper, epitomises what Non-League football is about.
The Boatmen were Vosper Thornycroft back then when they were crowned Hampshire League 2000-2001 champions in Diaper’s second season at the helm.
Pints in hand, the team toast their triumph. Little did Diaper know that it was only the beginning of a journey that took the club to the Southern League, Wembley glory in the FA Vase and the manager himself to 1,000 games.
“I looked like Louis Van Gaal!” Diaper says. “I’ve been ribbed about that photo. I based, and still do, things on the importance of camaraderie and team spirit. Really, that photo sums it all up.
“My players, even back then at Vospers as it was, I’ve ensured they enjoy the game. It’s a hobby and it should be kept like that. You need to enjoy it because it’s a short playing career. That epitomises my little window into football.”
Diaper points out that 1,000 games in charge – which he reached last Tuesday in a League Cup defeat to Tadley Calleva – means 1,000 team talks and with a squad that has 4,000 appearances for the club he jokes it’s not easy trying to avoid repeating himself.
Patriotic
Under Diaper, Sholing – who changed their name from VTFC in 2010 – have also won the Wessex League, lifted the Southampton Senior Cup six times, the Wessex League Cup on two occasions and finished as runners-up in the Southern League South & West.
But it will always be the FA Vase triumph in 2014 that stands proudest in the trophy cabinet.
“It was absolutely unbelievable,” Diaper says. “It’s quite funny – from the first game when we hit the post and it went in. So many times after that in Vase games we’ve hit the post and it’s gone out.
“There were two or three games we won by one goal and if I’m brutally honest we probably didn’t deserve to win those games. It’s just the manner of the performances – and stress! Ask any Vase manager. Walking out of the tunnel and lining up to sing the national anthem with my players was a tremendous feeling. I’m very patriotic as it is, but it was the icing on the cake.
“We took the players to where England take their squads, we did everything right, pampered the players and told them to express themselves.
“Going in the home changing room was special. It gives you a little bit of the feeling Premier League managers go through or any managers who visit Wembley. It’s a special occasion.”
Wembley’s hallowed turf was a long way from the roped off pitch and metal dug-outs when Diaper first took over.
But it’s not just been about the management. Diaper has also been chairman and driven the club forward, even stepping down for a period to focus on getting the ground redevelopment pushed through before returning to the hot-seat.
Ground improvements are still pending but after winning a £100k Budweiser grant through the FA, Diaper hopes they will finally get over the line.
“It’s a difficult thing (running a football club), you ask anybody,” Diaper says. “You’re going back to the sponsors every year asking for the same assis- tance. Without a new clubhouse, we’re always going to be in that position.
“Hopefully – hopefully – there might be some good news maybe in five or six months’ time. If not I’ll look where I am then, to be honest with you, because if there’s one thing that would make me retire would be the feeling of having taken the club as far as I can take it.
Longevity
“There’s been so many false dawns on the future development of the ground, I don’t think I could take one more disappointment!”
Diaper likes to see things through and takes pride in all they’ve achieved. Sustainability has always been at the forefront and they’ve twice taken voluntary relegation back to Step 5 with the determination they won’t overstretch themselves.
But did the man known at the Wessex League club as Mr Sholing quite expect to reach the managerial milestone?
“No indication at all of the longevity of it all,” Diaper, whose son Marc was part of the Vase winning side and is now assistant manager says. “Like most managers I thought I’d be in the job one or two years. But I’m very conscientious, I like to grow things, so I saw it as a lifetime project in a way. It brings pressure and stress.
“I’m very lucky to have my wife Helen who is very understanding. Without her support I would have found it probably impossible.
“That’s another thing I’ve got to look at. I’m 63 years of age now, I’m in remission of cancer, which I was diagnosed with in 2015 – time is precious to everybody and when you have a little bit of a scare like that it brings it home.
“But you get on as best you can and I’ve used football as a bit of a crutch to a certain extent because it makes me mix with young players and to see them progress through the team is something I get a kick out of.
“If we can progress players further up the Pyramid I think Sholing’s done our job – plus winning things on the way ourselves.”