We had a long chat with versatile midfielder and perennial fans’ favourite Tom Dodds, and you can find part one in last Sunday’s matchday programme and on our website. We are pleased to share the second half of that conversation with you. It’s over to you once again, Doddsy!
Looking into 2023, I would say the morale in the camp is still holding up, and there are still positives to take even in the midst of our current difficulties.
I definitely think even when times are tough, the very nature of Guernsey FC – all the travelling for example and how it’s such a unique club – I think that helps to ensure we always have a great team spirit. Obviously when you’re winning and doing well it’s even better, but I think we always feel that we’re in it together. Hopefully if we can get some players back and get a settled squad – and we can – then we do know that we can do a lot better than we have been doing. I guess it’s just about finding a bit of confidence, and putting a run together. The table doesn’t lie, of course, with where we are, but by the same token we haven’t been outplayed in many games this season, and hopefully we can soon start climbing that table again.
In terms of position, it’s got to be one of our lowest spells as a football club, although looking back, there were certainly spells where we were losing game after game even when we had a full deck of cards almost, and you looked around and thought, how are we going to get a win? But the positives here are the fact that we know players are returning. Even when we’ve been really low on resources, like against Tooting, we’ve shown we can compete. It’s about keeping that level head but also not being complacent, knowing that we are in a fight and hoping that we can get a bit of momentum going now.
There’s no hiding from the fact that we are now in a massive relegation scrap, and we need to pick up every point that we can. We said before the Thatcham game that although it’s still reasonably early in the season, it had almost taken on that guise of being a “must win”, but unfortunately ultimately we didn’t manage to do that. I’m not about to make excuses as such, because we still should have done better, but there are nevertheless reasons I think for some of our performances recently. It has been extremely tough with so little in the way of resources, so hopefully we have people coming back soon, and that also includes some longer-term absentees maybe coming back in the next few weeks. I think that then does give us grounds for new hope. Certainly, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be confident that we can soon have the ability to put a run together.
We saw Ben Acey play against Tooting and he had a good impact on that game. You can see how he’s stepped up his game since moving to Bristol. I doubt we’ll see him again this season unfortunately, but it was nice to have him playing. You could see his quality straight away. I think he helped us get on the front foot a bit more than we have been able to do of late. He’s the kind of player who picks up the pockets; he’s just so comfortable on the ball and it really helped us even though it was just for one game, His return definitely gave us all a lift and hopefully he can kick on at Bristol. We all know he’s got undoubted quality and can make a career for himself there, so good luck to him.
Another player with a great year to look back on is Alex Scott. It’s a “pinch me” moment when you think what he’s done with England U19s and what he continues to do with Bristol, and even reading some of the transfer rumours and seeing our Guernsey boy linked with places like Leeds, Wolves, Tottenham, Leicester, the list goes on – it shows how well he’s doing.
Everyone knew the quality he had almost from the minute he started training and playing with us. His meteoric rise has been amazing to watch. He deserves all the praise he gets when you look at the performances he puts in, and I think it won’t be long before he’s on the move again. All of the Premiership clubs seem to be certainly aware of him and maybe even looking at him, so hopefully he can get that move. I think he’s the sort of person that, even with all the success he will hopefully get, I do reckon he’ll always remember where it all started for him. It’s great to see that he’s getting all this attention but is still very humble and grounded, so I wish him all the best and it’ll be great to see him maybe one day in an England shirt.
Talking of humble and grounded, another player who is doing amazingly is Maya, now at Manchester United. I remember an interview with her on the local ITV news when she was 14 and she said her focus was to play for England and play professional football. Now she has become a Lioness and it looks like her career should go from strength to strength, so again that can inspire many boys and girls in Guernsey.
Grounded, humble but also so driven to succeed, you can see those qualities in both of them. Al and Maya are both doing so well and yet still show that passion for Guernsey where it all started. That’s got to help people want to follow in their footsteps, and it shows as well that although it can be difficult, that pathway is there for the people that are good enough. Full credit to them both and hopefully they can keep performing like this at the very top level.
Both Maya and Alex recently visited the Aztech training centre, Alex in particular was there I think six or seven hours practising and using the different bits of equipment and I know Maya also stayed there a few hours and was determined to try and beat Alex’s scores!
I think even when you’re ridiculously talented like they are, it’s almost impossible to get to the top level without making lots of sacrifices and being fully focused on it, so the fact that they were over here on holiday and still came down and stayed practising for hours, it shows the mentality they’ve got, and also shows the quality of the facility that we have over here now. It’s not just the run of the mill thing that you find at all these top clubs, it really is a state-of-the-art top-quality facility. We’re lucky to have it and hopefully it’ll be well used.
A lot of our lads like the passing station because it’s relevant to everyone. For me especially when I’m playing in midfield, it really is the perfect relevant drill for me, so personally that’s the one I’ll be using the most, I think. I’d encourage any footballers to head there and see what the facility has to offer.
