Michael Richardson
The talented attacking midfielder is heading into his third season with the Hornets. A fans’ favourite, in this interview Magic Michael talks about his love for the FA Cup, hoping to make dreams come true in the Vase, and the strangest preseason of his football career. Q: After what I am guessing was the longest preseason you have experienced in your football career, how keen are you to get going again tonight? MR: It has been a strange time for everyone in football at all levels. Having a season end early and not knowing when it was all going to start back up is something that we have never experienced before. Now we have some dates we are all looking forward to getting back out on the pitch and playing some football again. Q: Preseason results could not have been much better, going unbeaten with five wins out of six including facing some higher league opposition. But can you really draw too many conclusions from those results? MR: Preseason is used for many different things and every team does it differently. When you’re looking at what you aim to get out of those games, results are probably bottom of the list of importance. But at the same time whenever you play teams from leagues above your own, you know it will be a tough game no matter what side they put out. So we are happy with the way we competed in those games first and foremost. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to get positive results, but it means nothing at this stage. It’s all about making sure we are improving in our style of play both in and out of possession.
“The FA Cup is massive competition. The players want to play against the best teams possible and the further you go, the more chance you have of coming out of the
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draw against a big team 10 || @HebburnTownFC /HebburnTownFC 10
Q: How big of a blow was it when last season ended prematurely? Especially considering how well the team were doing to put the club within the hunt for promotion and in the semi-final of the FA Vase. MR: The season stopped when we felt that we had started to click really well as a group. It was gutting that the season had to end that way but obviously there were bigger problems in the world which made football relatively unimportant. We’re all raring to go and we will be aiming to start the season flying. Q: The FA have made the decision to complete last season’s Vase with us in semi-final action away to Corinthian at the weekend. How pleased were the lads to hear that their incredible work in the competition was not going to come to nothing? MR: The Vase has been on everyone’s minds for months because it’s such a big thing for non-league clubs around the country. We were so close and to have what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for most of the players and the fans to get to Wembley possibly taken away from us was a heart-breaking thought. We have a massive game next week. It’s a tough away day but the group are excited to go there and get the job done and give the town of Hebburn a day out to look forward to.
