Ashford and Shepway Addicks are pleased to announce their first meeting of the new year, with Danny Haynes and Darel Russell in attendance for a q&a session.
The meeting will start at 7:15pm on Thursday 23rd February. We have a change of venue for this meeting. The new venue is:
The Conningbrook Hotel
Canterbury Road
Kennington
Ashford
Kent
TN24 9QR
We hope to see you all there.
0
Comments
Making sure you're awake.
Just a reminder to those of you coming that the meeting is at our new venue of The Conningbrook and not Ashford Hockey Club as per the previous meetings.
- When asked who had impressed them the most since they came to the club, Darel Russell (DR) said Rhoys Wiggins and Chris Solly. He had previously encountered Wiggins at Norwich, but wasn't aware of Solly, and stated that he's an excellent player, especially for his size. Danny Haynes (DH) said Bradley Pritchard, especially seeing as he wasn't even professional until he came here, really impresses in training, excellent engine.
- DR compared Charlton to Norwich, in terms of the support and size of the club. He clearly has an affinity with Norwich having spent half of his career there.
- DH and DR both think Chris Powell is an excellent manager when comparing him to their previous managers. They think he is capable of managing in the Championship. He comes across as very calm and rarely shouts. The players make each other aware of when they aren't performing well, so Chris focuses on tactics and tweaks much more than having to punish players. The topic of him being one of only 3 black managers was brought up, and whether they see it as a big thing. They felt that he is a huge role model, especially for younger black players who may find it hard to progress in football, especially having been there as both a player and now a manager.
- Both DR and DH see family as very important and rarely go out. They see that younger players should experience clubbing and make that choice of whether or not that lifestyle is for them or not. They both feel privileged to be professional footballers, and they tell the younger players to not take it for granted as careers are very short. They feel they are extremely lucky to be pro footballers now where the money rewards are greater, although they play football for the love of football and not money. DR stated that he said he said when he was younger he would be an architect, but football is all he ever wanted to do. DH stated that if he didn't play football he would probably be dead or in jail by now due to hanging around with the wrong crowd, but getting out of London at 16 and having his dad around helped him a lot. I think he was very brave to speak this way about his life, and excellent for being so honest.
- The whole team is focused completely on what lies ahead, game by game. There is an excellent team spirit, as if they are back at school. There is no bitterness for not making the 16 for the game, as they feel happy for the players that are making it. Healthy competition if you would.
- DR is happy to be here and would be interested in staying after his loan spell. DH is glad to be back home after 8 years, and despite other offers he chose us in January.
- They feel The Valley is an intimidating place to go and teams like Rochdale will come here to intimidate us and get that point. They say that the crowd does influence them a lot. A rocking Valley transfers into the players, and vice versa. DH stated that they see how much of a threat Yann and BWP are, even if they aren't scoring goals, and teams will play to stop those threats. But they tthink that as soon as BWP scores he won't stop.
- DH sees Charlton as a Premiership club in the wrong league, albeit deservedly here due to our recent history. We are building a new 3 storey complex at the training ground in October apparently.
- Sheffield United are seen as the biggest threat to us, but the team are concentrating on our own form. DR believes that we have a good enough team to compete in the Championship, and emulate what Norwich and Southampton have done.
I'm sure I've missed something out, but that pretty much covers most of what was said tonight.
Again, thank you very much to the Darrel and Danny for their attendance tonight and the professional manner in which they came across, and to the club for aiding us with arranging them to attend.
For me, This appears to be the crucial point in all of that. Lets get behind the team rather than boo!!
Keep up the good work.
Glad to hear money is being invested at Sparrows Lane. Also I think it kills off any idea of the new owners selling the training ground.
The current gym is very small, the press and staff offices are small as well.
Anyone seen or can access the planning application for this building? All you QSs and building engineers?
Still pleased to hear that it is being thought about