A SLAM DUNKING SUCCESS
CHAMPION boss Simon Haughney is hoping inspiration from top basketball coach Doc Rivers can help Hanworth Villa become Invincibles.
Haughney saw his Villa clinch the Combined Counties Premier North title this week with a 20th consecutive victory, over fellow high-fliers Southall, securing Step 4 status for the first time in their history.
And now the Middlesex club are just four matches away from going the whole season unbeaten after a quite remarkable campaign.
Haughney’s men have dropped just six points all season – only two at home – and kept 22 clean sheets from their 30 games up until yesterday.
They’ve scored 77 goals and conceded just 13 with eight of those coming in three games.
Haughney believes a healthy mix of youth and experience is behind his team’s success, but also points to the philosophy of top American coach Rivers, who led the Boston Celtics to their first NBA
Championship in 22 years, back in 2008.
Experience
As highlighted in the Netflix documentary The Playbook, Rivers told how his success was driven by using Unbuntu – a Zulu concept which translates to “a person can only be a person through others”.
“It’s a phrase we use regularly in the dressing room and the players have really brought into it,” Haughney, the former Walton & Hersham boss told The NLP.
“We base everything on having a strong team spirit and that’s really shone through this year.
“We were disappointed that last season was declared null and void because we won eight of our first ten games and we really felt we could challenge.
“The majority of the players decided to stay and we added some experience to the mix – players with no egos who didn’t belittle the level we were playing at just wanted to be a part of something.
Legend
“It’s been an unbelievable season but we want more. We have set ourselves three stepping stones; firstly to win promotion, secondly to win the title and thirdly to finish the season unbeaten. We’ve still got four very tough games to play so there’s work to do.
“As a manager though, you are only as good as the club you work for and lots of work is going on behind the scenes ready for Step 4. The club have been very supportive of us during the tough times so it really deserves this success.”
Haughney also revealed that Villa’s success has led to stalwart goalkeeper Terry Buss reassessing his retirement plans.
Buss surpassed 800 games between the sticks for the club this season – and has now fully earned his legendary status!
“I always told Terry he couldn’t be considered a club legend until he won a league,” Haughney joked. “He was quick to remind me of that this week so I had to call him ‘legend’. There’s no-one who deserves it more, to be honest.
“Terry was supposed to call it a day at the end of this season but now wants a crack at Step 4 so he wants to stay one more year. “He wants to get to 1,000 games and I’d be only too happy to help him do it.”