Behind the Scenes with Reno - Part 1 Pre-season
As we’ve reached the end of Reno’s first full season, where he and the team over-achieved their target and finished 2nd in the league, and reached a cup final, we asked him to put together a review. Neil doesn’t do things by halves, so read on for his perspective on ’the sh*t that people don’t see’."Well, I’ve had a bit of time to think and digest the season gone by and for me, it all started at 5pm after the last game of the previous season. I said goodbye to a number of players, and started to work on building a new squad.
Before doing any of that I needed to secure my number one transfer target - Brian Richardson. Brian and myself had been in talks for a number of weeks and I just wanted the golden handshake so we could build this squad together. This happened at Costa Coffee on Middlebrook retail park and we began on the new journey. Mike, Liv, Chaddy and Chappy all agreed to stay so now our attention turned to the playing squad for the 2019/20 season. I called Donners, Sharpy, Salou, Louis Myers and my captain Michael Potts to say I would be keeping them for the current season. They all agreed.
The key part to getting in the new recruits started three months before the season ended. I leaned on all my contacts from across the North West and asked them to watch games and individual players for me. I knew about the ability of the individuals but I needed to find out more. I wanted to know what their body language was like, did they recover well if they lost the ball, what was their movement like showing for the ball in possession, how did they communicate with their team mates, did they play as part of a team, did they celebrate with everyone if their team scored, etc... I needed to know everything to see if they would fit into our new dressing room ethos.
Below are the lists of players we brought in and the ones that got away:
The bits that people didn’t see are the ones that got away:
Looking back on it I wasn’t particularly that bothered - some of the above really really wanted to sign for FC United but wanted a contract, bonuses etc... My saying was that ‘no player is going to dictate to FC United’ any longer as long as I am in charge. I wished them all the best and looked forward to trying to secure the other targets.
One by one they all agreed to sign. Wave after wave the new signings arrived at the ground. Paul Haworth and Tim Browning helped me so much in this time professionalising all the signings. Paul took all the photos and secured details of all the players. Paul and Tim then put them on Twitter and other social media and message boards to inform the fans of what we were doing. Every evening for the next three weeks players would arrive at the ground, I took them on a tour, told them about the club and hopefully by the end of the hour they had agreed to sign. They would make their way into the tunnel area to be greeted by Paul, hold aloft the FC shirt and scarf and have their pic taken ....there was no going back now. A handshake is your bond, that’s how I was brought up.
The squad was finally concluded and it was time to put the ball away and get some much needed rest and recuperation... no chance, well not for me anyway. We had so much still to organise. Securing a pre-season training camp, organising pre-season games, ordering players’ travel/training kit, painting around the ground, you name it - I just wanted to be there. After the previous season I promised that the good times would return and this would require a great deal of hard work and effort. I have a saying in the dressing room...’The sh*t that people don’t see’. I took this from Joey Barton at Fleetwood who has it in his dressing room.
Over time things started to come together, we secured Oasis Academy Oldham for our new pre-season training camp, players gear arrived, jobs were being completed from everyone in the ground, pre-season games being organised...etc.
Two things still needed to be sorted: a player presentation/signing evening, and the details about the pre-season trip. I asked the club to arrange players to sign any relevant forms on the evening, issue tracksuits and training kits, have food provided etc. I wanted this evening to be extra special and this would be the first time that everyone would come together at Broadhurst Park.
I needed someone to deliver a presentation about FC United. There was one person for me that could get these points across - Paul Haworth. Paul was one of the first people I met when I joined FC United. I remember him giving me two books to read, this helped me understand about the club immediately. He talked to me all the time about FC and I just wanted to know more. Every time we spoke, I was amazed by his knowledge and passion for FC United. I asked Paul for a meeting so I could speak to him about the idea of delivering a presentation to the new squad of players before pre-season. Although they had all agreed to sign, I wanted them to know about the history and what it would feel like to be FC. I thought Paul would be perfect for this and I was right. The Thursday before pre-season started, Paul delivered a thoroughly powerful presentation on the history of FC United and what the future will hold. I remember looking around at the new squad and thought, wow....they really want this. Paul was incredible and I believe set the tone for the upcoming season. Our chairman started the evening by welcoming everyone, and General Manager Paul Smith spoke too, then I finished off the evening with a short presentation about the season’s expectations. That was it....we were ready for pre-season.
The second and final part of the close season was to finalise our pre-season trip. My chairman, Adrian Seddon asked what type of accommodation would the players like to stay in when we travelled to Enfield/Lewes. I remember thinking, this needs to be a trip that they will never forget and will share stories about on the team coach when we play away from home. I said to Adrian, please book us the dingiest B & B you can find, ideally one star and it must have bunk beds that can sleep 8-10 in a room, he just looked at me and said ’perfect! the cheaper the better’. I left it to Adrian and he did not disappoint!!
The first Saturday of pre-season arrived and the new squad appeared in their brand new FC United training gear...not forgetting Brian with his weighing scales and whistle - the whistle is a staff joke, he never leaves home without it! Brian weighed all the players, Chaddy took them for a warm up and we got stuck into the hard work. I remember Viv Ware, John England and Tim Browning all being present at the first session. They were all blown away with how organised the session was, how demanding it was, how well the lads worked, the togetherness that was shown from the first session - we were desperate to create a siege mentality. If one does it then we all do it, and if anyone is struggling then help them through it. This was apparent in all of our sessions. It was important that we got in the leg work before our trip to Enfield/Lewes. All the squad knew about this so they could arrange the time off work etc.
We all met on the Friday morning to travel down south. We arrived at Broadhurst Park and Graham had opened the stadium so the lads could leave their cars under the away end over the weekend. I remember seeing the the coach and thinking, wow, this is Premier League. The lads got a real sense of professionalism and pride when they arrived at the club and I heard them comment about the high standard of the coach, I remember thinking, ’if Adrian has got this right, just wait until we get to the accommodation!’. The lads got on the coach and we set off for a weekend to remember. We arrived at Enfield on the Friday evening, we would travel to our luxurious penthouse apartments after the game. It was a really warm evening. As kick off drew closer I remember going over into the warm up and the lads were saying, look at all the fans that have travelled, this is unreal. I had never experienced anything like it but we were all here for the football and a good time. After the game we went into the bar, it was a sea of red and white. The fans were singing and cheering and hugging all the players as they walked in. I remember climbing onto a table and singing with the FC fans, slowly one by one the players joined in and I looked around and thought ...now this is togetherness. We left Enfield and headed for our accommodation in Brighton. It was late when we arrived and the lads were tired and we had another game the following day. We finally arrived and I went to check in. Wow, Mr Chairman, you certainly took my word literally. I walked into a bar, heavy metal type of bar, with about five people in it who couldn’t string a sentence together. It was by 11pm so there is nothing wrong with that.
Hi, I’m looking for the manager, we are FC United and have a two night stay. The manager was asleep at the end of the bar, must have been tired so this random guy came round the back of the bar to see if he could help. He couldn’t really and I remember checking us all in. We left the deposits in an envelope and took the keys. I went to get the lads to tell them what rooms they were in. I said to them, On the way in lads, don’t forget to pick up your bed sheets and pillow cases...ha! No one said anything. We all walked through the bar and up two flights of stairs. Here we were, heaven....or hell!! I could hear all the commotion, lads giggling talking about how awful the rooms were etc. Well, we were here now, let’s get on with it. Thanks Adrian - night everyone.
We woke in the morning and one by one the lads came downstairs as we met on the front. Apparently the heating didn’t switch off all night, lads had been bitten by bugs, lads were snoring, generally no one had had a good night’s sleep. The rooms were tiny and slept 8-10 just as I had asked for. This was the best thing...by now lads were laughing and really coming together, it’s the best way. We set off for our second game, tired, bitten, hot, but all together. Surprising to say we didn’t win the game but again the fans came in their numbers and drank Lewes dry. That evening the club had given the players a small kitty for food and drinks. We went into Brighton and what a night we had. I’d best keep to the motto in the dressing room...’The sh*t that people don’t see’.
The night ended and we went back to our beds. The weekend was over but so many memories were made and I could see friendships developing.
Pre-season went from strength to strength. Our performances were getting rave reviews. However, the sour note was the injury to Chris Almond, our new striker. Chris had struggled with a hamstring injury since an early session and missed a part of pre-season. We played Bangor in a pre-season game and we were winning. I thought it would be a good idea to throw Chris into the action. With near enough his first touch he scored and I thought, you will do for me. Then, from nowhere, he seemed to get his studs stuck in the turf and went down in agony. This could be a bad one I thought. Chris hobbled off. Later we would find out that we would lose him for the season as he would require a major operation on his knee - gutted.
We had a couple of other striking options but just before the season started each one of them succumbed to injuries, Louis Myers - knee, Donners - shoulder. Both would be unavailable leaving us with just Sharpy at the top end of the pitch.
On the whole, pre-season had gone really well but it was now time for the real business to start. I remember looking at our first three fixtures...Grantham away, Hyde home and Scarborough at home. I only look at three games at a time, I have always done this and set a point target over three games. If we could get five points out of our first three games then we would be in a good place, bearing in mind it was a brand new squad, we had injuries and suspensions from the previous season (Tom Dean and Adam Dodd), we would be happy with that.
LOST LOST LOST....that wasn’t the start we were hoping for. Despite playing well against Grantham and Hyde we were equally as awful against Scarborough. Question marks were now being raised. I remember after the Scarborough game some negative comments being made against the squad and myself. Change your formation, 4231 doesn’t work, etc. I believed in this system and in the players...we would come through this. They are a really talented bunch and when they click there will be no stopping us. What was evident though was the lack of an out and out number 9. This would be our number one task over the next few weeks.
The next game saw us go to Radcliffe and pick up our first point of the season and the following day, our season would certainly change for the better......"
Part 2 is out next weekend but while you’re here - if you could spare a small donation it would be appreciated - click here to donate - thank you
First Posted ~ 20:37 Mon 13 Apr 2020
News ID ~ 8689
Last Updated ~ 16:00 Fri 19 Feb 2021