BATER’S BETTER FOR HIS SETBACK
PHIL BATER has accomplished more than most in football – and promotion with Larkhall Athletic would be the icing on the cake.
In his playing days, the Welshman notched up more than 300 league appearances for Bristol Rovers in two spells and also played for Wrexham, Brentford and hometown club Cardiff. He also represented Wales U21s.
When his playing days came to an end, Bater served Rovers in a number of capacities, including caretaker manager, assistant manager, first team coach and director of youth.
Then came spells in charge of Clevedon Town and Mangotsfield United before he returned for another crack with Larkhall in early 2017.
Ironically, he replaced his son Geraint, who had had a short stint in charge, when he took the reins at the Larks.
Now 64, Bater senior is loving life with the Bath-based club, who were enjoying a superb 2019-20 campaign before the coronavirus crisis brought the season to a sudden halt.
They were third in Southern League Division One South and looking good for the play-offs.
“We are quite a small club, but we’ve got a lovely ground in a wonderful place and I love it here,” he said.
“We got hammered in one of my first games and I thought ‘oh my god, what have I come to?’, but we have gradually got better.
“We’ve tried to build a side and it’s taken three years to get there. It was disappointing for us the way the season ended, but it was the highest position the club has ever been in and everyone is staying on except Lewis Powell.
“He’s a prolific goalscorer and he’s done well for us, but he’s decided to leave and we’ll miss him. Everyone else has decided to stay and we’ll have another go at it next year.”
Sustainable
Although resources are limited, Bater, who has had his own landscape gardening business since his playing days, believes the club would be eager to try their hand at Step 3 football if the chance came about.
“The committee are all ex-players and they’ve stayed with the club,” he said. “That’s what this club is like.
“They give me a budget and it’s sustainable. They don’t say ‘we’re out of the FA Cup and you have to take a cut, Phil’.
“What they give me isn’t great, but it’s sustainable and I can work with that.
“They want to go up, it would be another pinnacle for the club. It wouldn’t be ‘it might be tough’, they’d say ‘let’s deal with it when we get there’.
“I think we were a good third last season, we weren’t just hanging on in there. Let’s try to improve a bit again and see where it takes us.”
To help him do that, Bater knows he can call on son Geraint, who turns 40 later this month, to play his part.
“He’s still on the players’ roster and can come on and sit in midfield,” he said. “He’s a good player who can still do a job.
“Mind you, his legs are rubbish, but they were rubbish when he was 18 – he’s probably quicker now!”
Bater himself can look back on an excellent career in the game.
“I was a jobbing footballer,” he said modestly. “I didn’t make any money but I had 20 good years, played roughly 500 games and I enjoyed it.
“I was lucky enough to finish off at Cardiff City, my hometown club. We got promotion in the league, won the Welsh Cup and played in Europe. After that, I said ‘I’ve had enough now, I’m going!’
“Now I love Non-League football. There are down-toearth, nice people and I love the honesty of it. It’s like when I began, and I don’t want it to be corrupted by big money.”