AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CAMPION CAPTAIN Aidan kirby

Aidan! Thank you for taking your time out to speak to us ahead of today's FA Cup clash.

Firstly, could you start by giving us a quick overview of your career so far? How manyyearshaveyoubeenat Campion AFC, and where haveyouplayedbefore?

Frome Town, Clitheroe, Brighouse Town, Silsden, and I’m currently in my 4th year withCampion.

The 2023/24 season is underway, and after promotion last season as champions, are you relishing the challenges ahead for this season? What are your personal targets, and what are the expectations for the club?

Campion’s aim is always to win the league, and that’s the same from ever player at the club, we believe we’re good enough to do so and that’s what we’re pushing for this season.

as for personal goals, I don’t really set myself them anymore, as long as the team win and I play well and help towards that, that’ll do for me.

What is your matchday routine?Doyoupreferhome orawaygames?Doyouhave anymatchdaysuperstitions?

I’m always up at around 8am, get the dog out for a morning walk,haveamorningcoffee andabitofTV.Then setoffto the game at around 12:30 for home games. My match superstitions is that I always have a litre of flavored water and an energy drink on the waytothegame.

The FA Cup is possibly the most historic domestic competitionintheworld.Howdo you prepare yourself for gamesliketoday?

I love the FA cup games, there’s always a buzz around it with teams thinking they could go on a run and it’s something all non league fans love to see, as for the game itself, personally you don’t really have to get yourself up for it as you’re already buzzing to be playing in this competition.

Who has been the toughest opposition, and player you havecomeupagainst?

Hard to think of specific teams and players over the years, but I’d probably say Harrogate Railway was our hardest game last year and they had good defenders in that side that made it tough foryou.

Your all time Campion 5 a side?

Brad Net ,IlloHarper,AidanD Crawf,MarcusDay

As club captain, how do you get the lads prepared for games?Whatisthelastthing you do before leaving the changingroom?

To be fair we have a lot of experienced leaders in the changing room, so there’s plenty of voices in the changingroomsgeeingeachother up for the game. We have our laugh and joke but when we set up for the warm up theteamsbeen together long enough to know it’s time to focusandgetourheadson.

Becoming champions last season, how did you make sure the lads kept the focus on the pitch throughout the backendoftheseason? We took it one game at a time last year and didn’ ahead of ourselves, we put a really good run together at the start of the year going 17 games unbeaten I think, so we just kept doing what we was doing and it got us in a reallygoodposition.

Ifthetiewasgotopenalties, would you put yourself forward to take one? How do you prepare yourself beforesteppingup? Of course I’m never one to shy away from a pen, and I was always taught as a kid to pick a spot and don’t change your mind and that’s pretty muchwhatItrytodo.

A massive thank you to Aidan for taking his time to speak to us, giving us an insight into Campion AFC.