Rowley : “We’ve got high hopes”

Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley spoke to Jack Killah on Friday evening covering all of the new signings at Huish Park, here’s the transcript of the chat!

JK: We knew there was going to be a big rebuild this summer. 10 new players already through the door. Can I ask you before we get into the individuals here, what is the kind of like the biology, the mindset, the person that these 10 signings represent in terms of their character?

​BR: It just something that I believe in massively. You’re around these lads 24/7, they become part of your family from meeting them for breakfast to having nights in hotels with them on away games. I think it’s really important you think about that when you’re talking to players and signing players because they all have to mesh together. Most lads have had a good upbringing in football and they’ve been through decent academies and are just good people really, but I just try to really think about how they’re going to fit in and gel with each other. They’re really good lads, I think most of them are really prime ages, they’re still on the up., they’ve got a lot of credit in the bank, but I think they’re still trying to even like grab more for their future careers. We’ve got some boys that have played in the Football League, they’ve been captains or vice-captains or top characters within their team. It’s something we’ve dived into a lot and and I’m really happy with how the character of the team’s looking.

​JK: You’ve done a rebuild like this before, previously, where I think you had like three or four on-contract players, and then you went into a summer of getting it all ready. One of the big issues we knew was going to come out was going to be straight away looking for that new goalkeeper. And I’ll start from back to front here. You’ve gone for Jos (Barker) in terms of a player you know. Talk to us about him as a goalkeeper and making the step up to the National League.

BR: Jos is a lad that I obviously worked with very closely at Walton & Hersham. He came to us from Step Five and was  bit of an unknown quantity really, we saw him a couple of times, we watched him online. He’s a really interesting goalie, he’s 6’4″, he can move incredibly quickly. He’s not really been from an academy background or been polished by anyone, he’s just got raw sort of characteristics that you could see him just climbing through the leagues really. He’s probably one of the best at coming for crosses that I’ve ever seen, he’s incredibly brave and he moves like a cat around the goal really. So, with daily training with Matt Gould getting into him every day, I think his growth should be pretty rapid and I think his ceiling’s very high.

​JK: Obviously, the ceiling’s set by Jed Ward last season, so how good do you think Jos could be? He’s only 22 years old, isn’t he?

BR: Yeah, he’s 22, I don’t want to speak for him here, but I think he’s played about 400 men’s games already albeit at a lower level, but I think that experience is priceless. You’re dealing with grown men from corner situations and he was doing that when he was 17 and he was coming out on top. He’s already been part of play-off runs, he’s been part of a, a league win this season. He’s vocal, I think he’s confident in himself, so, like I say, I’m really excited to see like how Jos does on a daily basis When you actually watch him up close he’s 6’4″ and he’s built like a UFC fighter.

When you actually watch [Jos Barker] up close he’s 6’4″ and he’s built like a UFC fighter.

JK: It’s a nice mixture of youth and experience.  You’ve got Hayden Muller coming in, Joe Gubbins as well and Jordan Norville-Williams. Talk to me about about them and their kind of profile and what you will expect from them in centre-back roles.

​BR: Both Joe and Jordan, both left-footers, so it adds real balance to the team. Joe’s capable of playing in the middle of the pitch or on the left side, which he’s done at Southend and he looks equally as comfortable on both. He’s a big lad as well, he’s really good in the air, he’s going to help from set pieces.  Jordan is an incredible athlete, he’s agile, he’s unbelievable 1v1. Jamie and I were watching him on Wyscout a couple of weeks ago and we were looking at his sort of one-v-one defending stuff, and we were probably watching him for about 45 minutes and he didn’t get beat one-on-one once against some really top wingers. He’s a brilliant defender and he’s capable of playing higher on the pitch as well.

Hayden’s a bit of a hybrid player I think he played literally 50% of his minutes at centre-back, and then the rest in centre-midfield. So, kind of like Finn Cousin-Dawson did for us last year. Hayden has got a great profile, he’s 6’1” and he has got long limbs so he can like steal the ball off people. He’s really composed, he plays with his eyes up, so he will add a lot of sort of difference and flexibility to what we can do with him. Archie Davies we got from Carlisle, who was kind of in and out of the team towards the end because of like personal reasons but he’s really exciting to watch. He’s such a good footballer. He’s a right-back by trade, but I think throughout his career he’s played in centre-midfield, on the wing, everywhere really. His skill set is really high, and a little bit like Hayden, in different roles. He might start the right side of a five, but because of his talent and his ability with the ball, you can probably have him invert inside the pitch or play higher on the on the back line.

“we want to get a group of players in that are ready to take this club where we need to get to.”

​JK: I think one you didn’t mention there was Jack Kingdon who has come in from the Cardiff under-21 setup. He’s only 20 years old, but what have you seen in him, from that made you want to sign him?

​BR: We actually came across Jack, when we were trying to get Troy Perrett last season and stumbled across some of his stuff, and he instantly jumps out. He has had two good loans at Rochdale, and he’s a really mature lad. He’s been captain of I think Man United Under-18s, and he was captain of Cardiff 21s last season and I think he’s desperate to play in front of a crowd and in a men’s game. Things that jumped out with Jack were the standard things I look for really when I’m watching centre-backs. He really understands a lot of concepts of playing out, and he’s obviously had a great upbringing at Man United at Rochdale. So he  just looks like a Rolls-Royce really. You know, he’s very comfortable on the ball. He’s good in the air, he’s a good size, he can move really well. So, he’s just another player that we’re really excited to see and he can probably play in the middle of a three, he can play in a back four, can probably play right-back. So, again, another player that can add decent flexibility to the team.

JK: You talked about adding experience to the… in the start of the conversation, and if we move into midfield, Zain Westbrooke, getting him through the doors here. A player he’s… I mean, he’s been at Rovers, he’s done… Bristol Rovers, Doncaster Rovers, Coventry… I mean, he was at Scunthorpe on loan last season as well. This is a player who… who knows exactly what to do at the top level.

​​BR: Yeah, he really does,  I’ve found myself in recent weeks, when we knew we were signing Zain, I keep going back and watching his clips because he’s just so fun to watch.
He’s got a brain that is just elite. He plays one-touch so often, which tells you that he has really good pictures and. he can also break up play.
He’s played in a team at Scunthorpe which had not loads of possession last year, they were really efficient and defensively really sound. And speaking to him, he’s added that sort of grit and sort of off-the-ball stuff that he’s enjoyed in his later parts of his career.
But, he’s obviously got immense talent, and in possession, he will be able to help us progress the ball really well and he’s at a great age. He’s 29, still can move really well. And I think he understands football incredibly well, and you could see that when you watch him play.
So, I imagine that he will be a really good voice for the young lads. And, once he understands our game model and how we want to play, I think he will be like one of a few kind of captain material that you see on the pitch, and that’s what I think he’ll bring, yeah.

“we want to show a real togetherness, we want to show a great energy on the pitch”

​JK: I was going to ask you this question later, but I’ll do it now because we’re talking about Zain. The three-year contract for him in more recent years, three-year contracts at Yeovil Town are kind of unheard of. But, it seems like you’re putting trust in quite a few of these players to give out three-year contracts, two-year contracts. Does that just a show of like what you believe the future of this football club needs to be, is just that stability and getting these players who know they’re going to be here for a good few seasons?

​BR: Yeah, I think it really helps and for this next six months, it’s going to be fun, but it’s going to see some teething problems.
You know, when you stick 10 new players together, or 12 new players together, there is obviously a bedding-in period. They need to understand each other, then they need to understand how Darren and I and Sam and Matt want to play. And that’s going to take some time.
But, what we don’t want to do is in a year’s time have to rip it up and go again. So, the idea for this is to be, you know, a two-, three-year project, and we’ve got high hopes to do really well next season. Everybody that we’ve offered multi-year contracts, two or three-year deals, they are, first and foremost, people that we believe in to be really good people around the club.
Things that we’ve really heard and dived into their personality, and they can bring a lot off the pitch, and then players that obviously can contribute and take us to where we want to get to on the pitch. So, that’s kind of the thinking behind it. We don’t want to be a club that just gets rid of 12 players and brings in 12 players every summer.
I felt like it was needed this year with the turmoil of last season and how many managers and etc., etc. But, it’s not something we want to continue to do every summer. It’s something, we want to get a group of players in that are ready to take this club where we need to get to.

JK; And a word on the front three, new players. Obviously, we got James Daly from… from last season, who was just in terrific form, but you’ve… you’ve obviously got Johl Powell who can play in that 10 position and the attacking side of it, Mason Obeng coming in as well, and then Stephen Walker. You obviously know two of those players very well. So you’ve got the trust in them that they can make the step up to this level.
And Stephen Walker is a player, I realise playing at a lower level, but my word, when he was coming up through the levels, I mean, England under-20s, he looked like an absolute machine. So, do you hope he can deliver at the National League level because he’s got really good pedigree in terms of playing at the lower leagues?

​BR: I know he can deliver, to be honest with you.
Whether it takes one game or five games or 10 games, we’ll see. But, yeah, Ste’s got immense talent, and um, the first thing I did when I knew that he potentially would be available and interested was call a couple of his old teammates. And one of… one of a good… good friend of mine that played with him at MK Dons, first thing he said was like, “Yeah, his talent is like crazy, crazy good. Like, he should be playing in the Championship if not the Prem with like what he can do with the ball.”
But naturally, with young players that get given a lot, early in their careers and that don’t maybe have necessarily great guidance or whatever—and I’m not saying he did or he didn’t, but this is just a common theme that you see with players that have got so much talent and they get given a good contract when they’re young—is maybe they go off the rails a little bit, then maybe they don’t train as hard as they could.

Yeah, [Ste Walker’s] talent is like crazy, crazy good. Like, he should be playing in the Championship

And then he’s obviously had some unsuccessful loans or maybe not given the love or support he needed to fulfill his potential. And the first thing that I spoke about with Ste on the phone, or he spoke about, was his want and need to show his talent and get back into full-time football. And you can see it in his eyes, and you can hear it in his voice, that he’s hungry and he’s ready to go. And it’s something that I’ve seen in the past working with young players.
Sometimes when you have a really talented player at 19, 20, 21, as a manager you’re never going to see the best version of them because they’re not ready to piece it all together. And what I’ve heard from Ste, everything he’s said and what I’ve heard, you know, being 25, he’s just had a successful season, he scored 20 goals. He’s been part-time. I think he’s had a little kick up the backside to go, “Look, I’m better than this and I want to go full-time again, and I want to get back in the Football League.” And, hopefully, touch wood we will see the kind of best version of Ste in the next year or two, like my friend said, I think with his talent, being able to play sort of Championship level, hopefully he can, you know, produce some wonderful moments for us.

JK: I’m sure the Yeovil Town fans would love to see that. And, I wanted to ask you a quick question on one of your current crop, in terms of Luke McCormick.
Obviously got wiped out last season by a bad injury. How is he doing at the moment? Are you expecting him to be part of the first team as you move into pre-season straight away?

​BR:Yeah, yeah, spoke to Macca a couple of days ago actually, he’s… he’s raring to go. Um, another really top character for the group. He’s coming up to 28, I think, um, during the season. So, he’s going to be in his prime. He’s, yeah, he’s fully recovered from his operation. Um, yeah, I remember the… the… the penalty against, Sutton I think it was, where he ripped his groin. He’s back, he’s rehabbed it well, he’s ready to train. Come [the] first friendly, he’ll be back and ready to play.
I think I speak for all the Yeovil supporters including all the staff, it’s a great addition really. It almost feels like a new signing because we lost him at a pivotal time when we needed him. It’ll feel like another top signing, yeah.

JK: And, when… when does pre-season actually start for you? When are you back on the grass in terms of training?

​BR: We are back in 10 days’ time. So, Monday the 29th, yeah.

JK: It’s come around blooming quickly. With all of this, I mean, the football is brilliant because the last season is wiped out, it doesn’t matter anymore. This is a brand new start, a brand new season for every team on the board. You all start at zero. I realise you are a man with like high goals and you want to push this team on as high as they can.
You’re not going to say, “Oh, we’re going to win every game,” because that’s not realistically going to happen. But, what do you hope for this team this season that we didn’t see last season when you first came in?

​​BR: Well, I mean, when I came in, I’ve still got to give so much credit to every player that played last season for me because I don’t think people understand the turmoil that I walked into being the fourth manager and, different formations, different styles, and I’m trying to teach them my style in the middle of winter when you’re playing Tuesday-Saturday, and we lost Morgan Williams to York, we then lost obviously Macca to injury, and we weren’t in a flow state at all.
We were gripping onto the walls trying to claw for every point and it was really difficult for everyone. But, what I kind of want to see from this group this year is real stability, and a togetherness, and an energy that we’ve probably not seen last season for various reasons.
I think it’s important for me and the coaching staff to be really clear with our messages and how we want to play. I mentioned this 10 minutes ago, when you’ve got a new set of players, 10, 12, 13 new players, it’s going to take some bedding-in time.
When I rebuilt a team two years ago, we were kind of decent for the first three or four months of the season.
We were sitting in and around the play-off positions, and then I think Boxing Day onwards, we only lost one game, and that was sadly the play-off game to penalties. So, not going to say we’re going to go on some crazy run like that, but that’s going to be the aim.
We’re going to take our time in the first couple of months to really embed how we want to play. Some players will accelerate through that quicker than others. But, we want to show a real togetherness, we want to show a great energy on the pitch, and we just want to run for each other and fight for every ball really, yeah.