Hi Liam, All well our end. We’ve not had anyone in our families get poorly which is the main thing. In general we’ve been really busy, more so than normal. Kelly is a full time A&E deputy ward leader at Kings Mill and I work in food retail with the Co-Op so we’ve been like passing ships the last few months. Poor Isla, my 8 year old has been at school too so our routines haven’t changed much.

In my downtime, me and the club have been busy looking at a range of things that hopefully will show improvement on the pitch and at the club as a whole.

Are those things you mentioned in their infancy? Have you missed the football then? We’d have obviously been in the off season now but it’s going to be a much extended break for us all.

Yes it’s still early days for those! I’m missing football. The lads, Dave, Lee and all you guys that keep the club running. Keeping in touch with the lads is key but so is our thoughts on what we will look like, how to set up, what was good last year and what didn’t work, how we can evolve as a team and how do I. Football is a simple game but there’s always something to learn and get better at.

Plus we’re seeing what lads may be doing next season. Of course we aren’t naïve enough to believe what gets promised now will still be the case when the season starts. A few of our lads have been approached, as they should, we’ve got a good bunch. I’d be wrong to say I’ve not spoken to a few new lads myself, it’s the nature of the beast.

Do you worry about those lads potentially leaving or targets being enticed by a better offer?

We understand we can’t compete with 90% of the local teams on a financial front but Ollerton is a good club that I honestly believe, with a few tweaks, could finish top 8. Off the field we are trying to secure funding to help the club and the team but it’s a difficult job. Every other team around us is doing the same. It’s relentless but I enjoy it.

You touched on it there but as someone on a management team, how difficult is to plan for next season given that we still could be months away from any sort of restart?

We have a plan so we will stick to the plan but times and dates may differ. We’ve got teams lined up for pre-season but you’re right, it’s tough not being able to have it set, very much like what life is like for everyone at the minute.

We’ve put a plan in place to get training underway using social distancing measures which will be different but we cannot sit and wait. Maybe it’s the opportunity to get ahead of other teams, maybe it’s a waste of time. One thing is we won’t be ill prepared. Our ability to change to new ways of working will potentially determine our success next season.

You spoke about assessing the team and how we did last year. When we’ve been doing these interviews, one word that keeps coming up is “consistency” and our lack of it when it comes to results. Is that something you’d agree with? What else do you think we can improve on when we get back out there?

Yeah I totally agree but that’s across all the different areas; team selection, player availability, shape, line up, work rate etc. The list is endless.

We are always learning. Last year we played some great stuff, created lots of chances but didn’t take them which then damaged momentum and confidence. We knew if we conceded we would find it tough to get back into games. Is that a dig? Maybe, but not just at the lads up top, it was everyone. Again, I look at myself. Did I give Higgo the right pre-season? I let him do his own thing when I should have set the tone. Did I get to know Ben enough? I didn’t get to know his game so I allowed him to play in the wrong areas. I should have done better and that’s the opportunity for us and the management team for next season.

So would you perhaps say we were too easy to play against at times?

I’ll be able to say the team talk for every manager in the league against us; “Be physical, stop them playing, get in their faces and you’ll break them down. Be patient and they’ll give you a chance”. It’s the basics that killed us at times. We have to do better at the ugly side of the game, win our battles and our football will win us games.

Our defensive record on the whole improved but you obviously touched on the issue of putting goals away. We lost Gav King last summer which would be a big blow to any side at this level. How do you think the team did filling that void? It felt like a more even spread rather than an over-reliance on one person.

We were defensively good and having a goalkeeper that didn’t miss a game helped the defenders settle and I’ve said many times how much I rate Levi and if anything, we had a pretty settled back four or five and those lads were probably our most consistent performers all season.

You look at our stats and we struggled for goals. We have to look at getting them from all over the pitch, plus be better with our set pieces. It was Ollerton all over to lose Gav to Maltby and then lose Higgo to injury. From there we lacked a focal point until we signed Fouldsy who since coming in has been great for us. We’ve missed that type of player since Ludlow a few years ago. Ben, Higgo and the younger lads will benefit from having Sam around (hopefully) next year but as with anything, we will look to increase numbers up top, just in case we lose a player to another club or through injury.

Is there any progress on that?

We’ve spoken to someone and he’s one of the main three targets this pre-season and will add competition.