Notts County boss Martin Allen gives an absolutely brilliant interview
Martin Allen. Pointing.
The Spoiler loves the high life. If we’re not swishing around Waitrose in a Tom Ford three-piece, then we’re sashaying around some private beach in the Maldives with a bevy of beautiful women-folk draped around us.
However, occasionally we do like to slum it. We kick off the Gucci loafers and mingle with the proles at the local Sainsbury’s before having a pint of ‘lager’ in a ‘pub’. It’s in this spirit that we bring you extracts from a totally excellent interview given by new Notts County boss, Martin Allen…
For those of you as easily distracted by shiny things as The Spoiler, here’s the L-Down… Allen was made boss of Notts County after just three games in charge of League Two side Barnet where he was working on a non-contract basis. He won two and drew one of those games and got the struggling moving in the right direction.
Then League One side Notts County came knocking, offering him a one-year rolling contract. Here’s what he has to say about loads of stuff…
On leaving Barnet…
“I haven’t left them in the lurch. They were in the lurch when they were bottom of the league, now they have got seven points more than they did when I went there. They are in a good position now and they should stay up.”
On joining Notts County…
“I didn’t really want to go. I wasn’t sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the call. I was very happy at Barnet, everything was set up for me to stay. [...] But being a football manager is a job and my deal at Barnet was for five weeks – what do I do after that?
“I’ve got bills to pay, I’ve got to pay council tax, I’ve got to pay the loan on my car – and my tyres have just gone. My one son has just finished university, my other has been unemployed for eight months, so daddy has to pay all of these bills and daddy isn’t a Premier League manager and daddy has to earn a living like everyone else.”
On his footballing philosophy/success at Barnet…
“I haven’t done a lot. I make sure they come to work on time, we all train together in a big group, I won’t slate them in public, I know that if they play badly it’s not down to effort, nobody wakes up and thinks ‘I’m going to play badly today’. [...] When we have the ball we pass it forward and when we don’t have it we try and get it back.”
On diet…
“I banned pasta because it didn’t do them any good before so they might as well start eating. On the way back from Burton the other day we had crates of lager on the bus and everyone was happy.”
On the fans…
“What bugs me is when people say ‘you’ve got to come and support the team, you’ve got to pay all that money and come in your thousands. I don’t buy that.
“I think it’s the other way around. It’s the players who’ve got to perform and when they do, people will sing and chant – it’s down to the players.
On the future…
“My ambition is to get to the Championship and fight for the play offs like Blackpool have. You don’t need a mega budget, you need team spirit, organisation and good planning. I believe that it’s possible.”
Those are just a couple of the highlights, but it’s well worth a watch on the BBC website. He seems like a very nice man – unless you’re a Barnet fan…
1 response so far
captain obvious // April 14, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Wellhe’s at least got better reasoning on his shoulders than 90% of epl managers…
Leave a comment