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Web exclusive interview with Rob Dunion
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The new manager spared a few minutes
to talk to rothwelltownfc.com, you can read
it here over the weekend over three parts
- the other two will be added Saturday and
Sunday. So check back for the concluding
parts as Rob speaks about his plans for
the club.
rothwelltownfc.com: So,
we had the RTFC Roadshow last night at the
Holiday Inn – who we welcome as new
sponsors of the club - can you tell us the
purpose and intention of this get together
and how you think it went?
RD: The intention was
to try and focus on the whole club rather
than just the First Team, and in my first
3 weeks at the club I’ve spent a lot
of time with the Academy and I’ve
spent a lot of time with the new Youth managers;
and trying to get to know what Jim McInally’s
role at the club was as well.
I think it was important to bring parents
along, from the Youth side so they knew
what we were joining into and the First
Team to see what we bringing to the table
for this season. Obviously the idea of pulling
the two sides together from a Youth Development
to a First Team was difficult – was
it going to work or wasn’t it –
and I thought the evening was mostly a success.
I think it gave people an opportunity to
see who the new management group were and
basically where the club was and what the
situation was with the club.
rothwelltownfc.com: Just
touching on the backroom staff that you’ve
got, could you just run through who you’ve
got with you and what they’re going
to bring to the set-up?
RD: Certainly yeah, in
terms of the structure - you go from myself
as a First Team Manager with a dotted line
into Jim McInally. Jim becomes the go-between
between the board and the First Team and
oversees the whole of the Academy right
down to the Under 14s – so you’re
going to have managers reporting to him.
From the First Team perspective, there’s
obviously myself…I run with two assistants
– Des Elliott; who brings a lot of
experience with him. He also has his own
goalkeeping school that he runs at the Academy
and we’ll be using that in the future
as well.
We also bring Gordon Kyle with us –
who again, comes from his Corby days with
me – we basically called him Jack
Of All Trades cos he can do anything from
the physio side to the management side.
In terms of that we’ve also got a
sports physio – a guy called Neil
Berrett – who is full time in Kettering
General Hospital as a physio and also works
part-time for Leicester City Academy, so
if anyone’s injured Neil will look
after them.
In terms of Fitness Coach, we’ve
got a guy called Steve Walker who’s
been with me for 5 years or so and obviously
a Soccer Coach in Gary Kennedy who just
brings vast Southern League experience with
him and is still able to play. So it’s
quite a big backroom staff but they’re
all very experienced and it’s a strong
team.
rothwelltownfc.com: So,
bearing in mind the Reserves have had to
fold, you’ve outlined the structure
that the Academy’s going to have in
the club. Can you just say a little bit
on the opportunities the Academy and the
Youth side of things can provide for the
young players. How can these lads look to
progress and feel a part of the club, and
potentially a First Team player ultimately?
RD: My philosophy is that
if they’re good enough they’re
old enough. I’ll certainly be governed
by people like Anthony Owen who runs the
Academy at the U17/U18 level and also by
Jim McInally. If these guys put players
forward then I’ll certainly look at
them, and in pre-season some of them will
be used.
My concern is that obviously you can’t
promise them the world because a lot of
them are very good at Youth but when it
comes to adult football it’s a mighty
mighty step – from Academy to Southern
League football is huge – so not having
the Reserves is a shame but understandable
because of where the club sits.
However, you’ll also get an opportunity
for players to train with the First Team
– I think that’s important.
Players who are showing the same commitment,
and become stronger as they train, will
join us and they will get their opportunity
to play. It’s in its early days really
but the whole Youth thing has to follow
a procedure, it has to be ‘Play in
the Youth Team, show what you’ve got
in the Youth Team and then be selected in
the First Team – there’ll be
no favours, certainly no favours for anyone.’
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