Meet the management brothers - FourFourTwo February 2015

WHITSTABLE

MEET THE MANAGEMENT

BROTHERS [[1L]] February 2015 FourFourTwo.com

WHITSTABLE Words Nick Moore Pictures Leon Csernohlavek

With a mixture of sibling rivalry and brotherly love, Danny and Jim Ward are making a decent fist of co-managing in England’s eighth tier. Could this be football’s future? FourFourTwo finds out...

D

anny Ward, manager of Whitstable Town, shakes his head in disbelief. He’s trying to explain the unique perils of overseeing a youthful team in the eighth tier of English football, the Ryman League Division One South. “Check out this text I got from one of my players recently,” he says. “I doubt if I’ll be able to play this week – I was kicked by a horse on the top of the leg and can barely move it,” reads the message. “Now, how this lad got himself kicked by a horse I don’t know,” ponders Ward in his thick Dundonian accent. “I do know, however, that he’s too dense to have made that up as an excuse.

And when he came in during the week, he did seem to have a hoof mark on his thigh.”

Perfectly deadpan, Danny Ward is a funny man. He recounts several more stories of ridiculous crockings incurred by his dafter employees: one has been hurt recently while paintballing, and a “big, ugly centre-half” once tried to get out of training after burning his hand heating up baby milk. But Danny’s comic potential is not fully released until his big brother, Jim, strolls into the office at the charmingly ramshackle Belmont Ground, home of the Oystermen since 1886.

The elder sibling by 12 years at 63, Jim is slightly flustered. He was up in London watching a live John Bishop show last night.

Below “All right, own up – which one of you’s an arsehole?”

“I’ve just had an old man moment at Whitstable station,” he confesses. “I got off at a different platform to usual, and didn’t know where the bloody hell I was.

Anyway – turn that sh*te off the telly.”

On the screen, Dundee are playing Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup. Danny is a follower of the Dees; Jim favours city rivals Dundee United.

“Jim knows nothing about football, because he supports that lot,” glowers Danny. Shortly afterwards, a tussle ensues over the remote control, because Jim wants to watch the 12.50 Handicap Chase at Newbury instead.

Typical bickering brothers, perhaps. But when it comes to work, things suddenly change.

Jim and Danny are currently one of the very few equal managerial partnerships in British football – and are certainly the only duo of gaffers who also happen to be related.

Well-known and respected throughout the Kent football scene, where they have operated with great success on shoestring budgets at places such as Ramsgate and Sittingbourne, they’ve now been tasked with transforming the fortunes of Whitstable. But if they can’t agree about whether to watch Channel 4 racing or Sky Sports 5, how on earth do they stop chiding each other long enough to pick a team? Received sporting logic says that managers must be a dictator, so how do they

buck the trend and function as a democratic partnership? And why are there not more family dynasties like the Wards in our game? FourFourTwo joined the pair for the afternoon to try and figure it out.

“I didn’t shave for six weeks once. And my wife came to two games in a row and we lost, so she’s banned now”

Sporting matching managerial Movember muzzies, the Wards sit down for a pre-match cuppa to discuss their philosophy. “We were going to freak you out by shaving off half a moustache each,” grins Jim, as our photographer shows them a picture of Lennon and McCartney that he’d like to recreate.

“I’ll be McCartney, because at least he’s f***ing alive,” says Jim. It soon becomes apparent, though, that the two co-gaffers are very much in harmony when it comes to thinking about their sport.

“We virtually never disagree,” says Danny.

“We will watch a match and compare notes, and we’ll both be making exactly the same points. We work out team selection on the phone during the week, and it’s almost always identical. We have a similar philosophy. We like to see football played well when possible.”

“We have the same ideals and we trust one another,” adds Jim. “It’s nice to play good football, but the absolute key is winning.

If you pass the ball 20 times and get beaten, that’s pointless. We try to pass it when the pitches are good, because people don’t want to watch sh*te. But you must get the best out of the resources you have, too.”

FourFourTwo.com February 2015 [[2R]]

WHITSTABLE

Their golden rule when building a squad?

“No arseholes,” laughs Danny. “We don’t put up with cliques in the dressing room. If we see anyone whispering in ears, they’re out.

I’ve heard older players shouting at youngsters in the past, ‘You’d better not cost me my win bonus today’ and we eliminate that. We have a good group of boys here. It is a true team.

And that way, you get player loyalty.”

Honesty is also paramount. “If you come on as a sub and play better than the person you’ve replaced, you’re in next week,” says Danny. “That’s the way we’ve always been.”

The excellent atmosphere in the dressing room bears this out. “They are great to play for – very straight and fair,” says midfielder Scott Heard. “Sometimes I struggle with the accent, but they know their stuff.”

They haven’t always been close. Growing up in Dundee, Jim left home and joined the RAF at 16 when Danny was still young. He subsequently worked in all kinds of businesses around Broadstairs, Kent, making a fortune and going bust twice in packaging and building, and eventually buying a chip shop.

Danny worked as a carpenter before meeting a girl from Margate and also winding up in Kent.

Both have families who tolerate their endless tactical talk. Danny’s son was even involved in one of their set-ups (“He can’t kick his own arse, but he’s got good instinct”). Jim was first to get involved in management, and Danny joined him at certain clubs, first as a player, but later running their reserve sides. Eventually they realised that they gelled well as a double act. Danny’s day job is for Kent Probation Trust as a Community Payback Officer, taking felons out and about to clean the streets and paint schools. It’s a tough gig, and he seems to be the disciplinarian of the partnership.

“I’m the good cop, but we’re so similar that it’s hard to say, really,” says Jim. “We will both have a strong word when necessary.”

The Wards alternate taking the team talk, using a ‘winner stays on’ system. “If you give it and we don’t lose, you do it again the next week,” says Jim. “But we got beaten last week, so Danny is doing it today. We have a lot of superstitions. Whether I clean my shoes, shave, wear a tie, wear a tracksuit, what I have for breakfast – it all depends on results.”

“I didn’t shave for six weeks at one point,” adds Danny. “And my wife came to two games in a row recently and we lost, so she’s banned now.”

The pair are realistic about what can be achieved at their level. “Our ambition is to

[[1L]] February 2015 FourFourTwo.com

“I’m surprised there aren’t more like us. It isn’t always ideal having an assistant” steady the ship and then look upwards,” says Jim. “Whitstable have never finished above 14th in this league in their history, and have been in the Ryman South for seven years.

At this level it’s all about squad stability and money. I could tell you the exact budget we’d need to win the league, push for the play-offs, or finish mid-table. But we have young, promising players, and we’re looking to push on over the next few seasons. I’ve been at a lot of clubs where there isn’t the ambition to go up, but our current chairman would like to do that.”

“The problem is losing your best players at the end of a season,” adds Danny. “We’ve had our top-paid player offered double the money to leave – so they leave. But Whitstable can be competitive. As a pair we have never finished below ninth in this

Above Jim (right) is 12 years older than Danny (left) but as managers the Wards are very much equals

league, and we have good supporters here.

It’s all about keeping this side together.

The best teams at this level do that.”

“We’re shellfish, and that’s the way we like it”

Around 1pm the players gather in Whitstable’s cramped changing room. In line with the Wards’ arsehole-free policy, it is a welcoming environment. Midfielder Nick Treadwell is lightly mocked for his fancy new boots, fines are issued in a variety of off-colour categories (including having “disgraceful pubes” and “a fit mum”) while Aaron James – he of the horse kick – is greeted with a chorus of neighing.

Danny silences the nonsense and gives a snappy prep talk. They’ve worked hard all week on correcting the errors of last week’s defeat. “We didn’t start well, so I want to see the right attitude straight from the warm-ups today,” he says. “The pitch is OK, so get it down and pass it. Kill yourself to get in that box. Keeper, I want you to be more vocal.

Tell them what to do. And AJ, there are no horses out there, so you should be OK.” To an increasingly comical high-pitched chirping of “Oysters, Oysters, OYSTERS!”, the XI storm out onto the Belmont’s lush playing

WHITSTABLE

surface. Unmissable in the stands, meanwhile, are the Oyster Boys. Whistable’s hardcore are not quite one man and his dog; they are more 12 men, a couple of kids and their dog (a bull terrier called Levi), and they make an impressive racket. Bellowing tirelessly throughout the 90 minutes, most of their songs refer to the fruits of the sea. “We’re shellfish/we’re shellfish/we’re shellfish/and that’s the way we like it” is followed by “we swallow/we swallow” and “no one knows us/ we don’t care” – a fair enough assessment for a side that averages a gate of 191.

It’s a truly friendly set-up, however. “This is a nice, old-fashioned family club,” says chairman Gary Johnson from the sideline. “But it’s not easy to keep it running. A lot of people stretch themselves thin for Whitstable. Our president, Joe Brownett, was chairman for many years, and he’s also our groundsman. Our facilities are tired, and we need a new roof for the changing rooms. That will be £20,000. It strips what you can spend on players. But getting the Wards in has been great. They’ve created a very good dressing room ethos, and hopefully with more wins, we get more through the gate.”

As Whitstable and opponents Hastings plough into each other, the Wards patrol their

Above centre Football’s very own Chuckle Brothers, except when their team are not doing as they’re told

touchline, taking turns to bark Dundonian commands. They’re clearly passionate, and often roar the same thing. “They’re a Marmite combination,” says one fan we join on the terraces. “You either love them or hate them.

They’re a bit shouty for my taste, but you can’t argue with their results. We are doing well and were right up the top at the start of the year.”

On the pitch, Hastings are edging today’s early battle. But on 21 minutes, the visitors’ Adam Hunt is dismissed for a second yellow.

Despite going down to 10 men, Hastings continue to dominate: a superb last-gasp tackle by Whitstable’s Ollie Gray denies a clear goal, and keeper Luke Watkins makes an athletic stop. Hastings have looked superior, but the two sides trek in at the break goalless.

The Wards’ half-time assessment is a masterclass. Instead of going ballistic, the pair are measured and analytical. Jim starts by telling his big No.10, Conner Coyne, to get more physical with his defender (“You’re a strong lad: use it to your advantage and lean into him more”), before highlighting the various areas where space is opening up thanks to the dismissal, and pointing out that passes are being under-hit on a slow surface. With the opposition now playing a 4-4-1, Watkins is

told to release the ball earlier to the full-backs to make space, who are urged to push up.

Just as Jim’s breath is running out, Danny steps in with a round of semi-bad cop patter.

One player is reprimanded for switching off (“You need to wake up from that f***ing daydream”) while others are tactically schooled. “Keep the ball more because we have the spare man, and always think where they don’t want you to go – outside and round them,” he says. “I want you to talk to each other more positively. I’m hearing a lot of moaning when it is going wrong, but not much encouragement.”

And in the second half, as a crisp sunny Saturday turns chilly and the floodlights come on, it seems that everything the Wards have said has sunk in. Their side are more thoughtful with the ball, have a higher line and better shape, use their space better and hit harder passes. Coyne puts himself about more, and the pressure eventually tells.

The lively Scott Heard latches onto a fine through ball, twists and delivers a great cross, which Coyne heads home clinically.

“C’MAAAAAN!” roar the Wards in unison. And soon it’s all Whitstable. Captain Ian Pulman almost scores with a terrific lob, and there are a couple of decent penalty shouts, which sees the Wards round on an unfortunate nearby linesman. “Finish the f***ers off!” bellows Jim, and although a couple of late chances are squandered, the result doesn’t look in doubt.

Whitstable win 1-0 and are up to 10th.

There’s jubilance in the dressing room, as the mud-caked squad leap up and down to Ben E King’s Stand By Me. “Turn that sh*te off,” says Jim, for the second time in a day, but the brothers are elated that their half-time tactics were put so perfectly into practice. “Is there any chance that one of these weeks you could get a couple of extra goals to help my heart?” asks Danny. “You won’t make it easy, will you?”

In the cut-throat world of England’s eighth tier, it never will be. But the Oyster Boys are going home happy, and the brotherly love that powers this partnership may just continue to give Ward-managed football teams the edge, too. “I’m surprised that there aren’t more equal partnerships in the game,” says Jim, “because the model of having a manager and an assistant isn’t always ideal either.

Sometimes it is more difficult to take an assistant’s opinion on board, and you might compromise to accommodate them.”

“I agree,” smiles Danny. “Even though he knows nothing about the game, clearly.”

FourFourTwo.com February 2015 [[2R]]