00:00Hi Sadlers fans and pre-season is just around the corner with the upcoming game against
00:15our church on Saturday and I'm delighted to say that I'm joined by manager James Fry and
00:25the sporting director Mark Fogarty. How are you doing today chaps?
00:29All good thank you.
00:30Very well thank you.
00:32So first to James, first pre-season game on Saturday against Corn. We all know that
00:39results are kind of secondary in pre-season so what did you feel your players got out of that
00:45getting back into action on Saturday?
00:47Exactly that really, just getting back into the swing of things really. We had 22 players to
00:55share the minutes across. We were really pleased with the first hour. Our first team boys did well,
01:02you could see the things that we've been working on and where we're working towards
01:06come the start of our season. We're really pleased with that. Not so pleased with the last 20 minutes
01:12which didn't look how we needed it to look. But again, pre-season games are like you make lots
01:20and lots of changes, change the personnel which you wouldn't normally do in a league competitive
01:28game. So taking the positives from it, we were really pleased with where we're at with our first
01:33team structure, both in and out of possession. So obviously it's going to be a bigger challenge
01:40Saturday straight off the bat but again we've got another couple of training sessions this week to
01:46start to build upon the pitches that we were seeing on Saturday and keep moving forward again
01:52towards the 10th of August.
01:54Can you say a very different challenge in the shape of Walsall, an EFL club and an exciting
02:01occasion to bring them to the Lime Meadow and get back in action on home soil?
02:06Yeah, definitely. I agree with both really. Definitely be nice to get back home, familiarise
02:13our new players with our environment. Obviously we were training at our training ground during
02:18pre-season so this would be the first opportunity for them to get familiar with our home pitch.
02:25And then like you say, an EFL club coming down to Lime Meadows, brilliant for the fans, for the
02:32club as a whole but also for the players to kind of test themselves at the moment, probably more
02:37so individually to see where they're at. We're at the start of our journey as a group this year,
02:43obviously with pre-season as I've just mentioned, but as individuals it's nice for them to sort of
02:49test their wits against Football League opposition.
02:52And this is where I'll open the floor to Mark. So one of the kind of big subplots of this
02:59pre-season game is the return of Harry Williams who had a really successful season at Alverchurch
03:05before joining Walsall in the EFL. How happy will you be to see him come back to the Lime Meadow
03:15in a Walsall shirt playing for a Football League club?
03:19Yeah, absolutely delighted to see him playing, albeit against us rather than for us. And also
03:27very proud for the football club, for Harry himself. And it's part of the vision that we
03:35have at the football club that we attract young players like Harry who've been very, very close,
03:42just needed a little bit more time really to see the progress that he made. And he went into Walsall
03:48and he did very, very well to start off with. And his season was curtailed a little bit with a
03:54bad injury. But we'll all be delighted, as will the fans. He was very, very popular. He's a really
04:00nice kid as well as a very good football player. So great to see him.
04:05And we spoke a little bit earlier in the interview about sort of new players bedding
04:10into the side and there are a few good young players. I've seen there's quite an interesting
04:14background with Conor Stanley and played with the likes of Alanga and Alejandro Garnaccio
04:21at Manchester United. There's obviously the links of Birmingham with Callum Sullivan coming through
04:26the door. So, you know, Harry Williams is just kind of an inspiration really to some of those
04:31young players that now you're welcoming through the door and firstly hoping that they make an
04:37impact for Alba Church. But, you know, there's a bright future there for these players.
04:41100 per cent. And that is, in a nutshell, that's our DNA is that the boys are coming to us. A lot
04:48of the young players from football clubs are coming to us because they've seen what's happened
04:52in the past with the likes of Harry Williams and Josh March and Jake Wakelin and people like that
04:57who've gone on to have really successful football league careers at the moment. And a lot of these
05:02lads are not a million miles away. They're very, very close. There's a lot of boys in the same
05:07boat. What we what we try and do here at Alba Church is we keep them as close as possible to
05:13a full-time environment with their food, with their S&C, and they give them a little bit longer
05:20to maybe reach the best level that they're going to get to and then see where it takes them. And
05:26in their eyes, they want to become the next Harry Williams. And this one's for James. You know, we
05:31talk about the youth in this side, but there's also a great deal of experience. Two players in
05:35particular have kind of been injected into that. This summer with Tara and Barnett, played with
05:41Matt Sadler actually when they were at Shrewsbury in 2015-16, but vastly experienced. And then
05:46Christy and Pierce as well. So how important are those two going to be to try and help guide these
05:51young players through certain situations? Yeah, they'll play a massive part in that. I've said
05:58numerous times, probably a lot of my learning as a young player came when I was playing next to
06:05some of the experienced professionals. And that's kind of part of their role, their primary role,
06:12but the two that you've mentioned, their primary role will be absolutely to look after themselves
06:16and do their own job whilst also helping to guide everybody really, but especially the centre-halves
06:24and the centre-forwards who are directly in contact in that area of the pitch. And I think
06:30it's one of those where as a manager, as a coach, as a more disciplinary team,
06:37that there is only so much that you can do. And we're just trying to tip the balance and sort of
06:44we'll do as much as what we can. We'll give them as much of a holistic approach as what we can.
06:50And that also includes having the likes of Christian Pierce and Ty Barnett, along with
06:55probably one or two others who have got experience in non-league football, to really
07:02help the football club progress some of these young players. And with Tyrone as well, alongside
07:10him would be Dan Sweeney, who also had a really good loan spell during the previous campaign.
07:18There's a six-minute hat-trick in there, I think, in Worcester's senior cup. So,
07:23you know, how much of a coup is that for the club to get him back on board?
07:28Yeah, I can't speak highly enough, really, of the work that the football club's done
07:32during this off-season. It's massive because, yes, you've got your Ty Barnett, your Ty Barnetts,
07:40and you've got your Christian Pierces. What we've also tried to do is add some sort of, again,
07:46step three know-how as well. So, you know, it's all well and good looking players from here,
07:51there and everywhere, but we've got to have a group that also know the level and know what
07:56they're walking into sort of right now. The others will pick it up pretty fast, I'm sure.
08:01So, yeah, I mean, Dan Sweeney is a massive, massive addition to our squad. He did really
08:06well in that short period. He probably, by his own accord, the injury last season, you know,
08:14chucked him off balance a little bit, started to get it back with us and never really hit the
08:19heights, you know, moving into the last part of the season. But he's as determined as I've ever
08:25seen anybody at the moment to really make this season a really special one for himself, for us
08:35as a football club. And he's sort of, the work that he's done over the summer has been quite
08:42remarkable, really. So long may that continue, because I think we're all excited about having him
08:48in our group.
08:49And I'll put this last question before we wrap up to Mark, and there's kind of the
08:56connections there. We've spoken about Harry Williams, I'm entirely sure how much kind of
09:01the three former Walsall players in Alva Church's ranks kind of helped the relationship,
09:06but how much do these friendlies go to kind of building relationships with clubs like Walsall?
09:11Yeah, they're massive, really. For us to get Walsall to Lyme Meadow is a real big
09:16coup, and that's followed the week after by Halifax, and that's on the back of Aidan George
09:21coming into us from Birmingham City and then on to Rushall and into Halifax, and that's how we
09:26managed to get that friendly. And the level of club coming to play us in pre-season this year
09:33is fantastic. It's raised a real stir amongst the supporters who can see progress, and that's all
09:39we ever want to do from season to season is make that progress, and we've certainly done that this
09:43year. And if the lads gel, and we'll find out a little bit more because we're playing a better
09:49side on Saturday, then if we do gel, then we can look forward to an exciting season.
09:56Brilliant. Thank you very much, and look forward to the game on Saturday.
Comments