Walsall kick off their pre-season campaign on Saturday with a trip to non-league Alvechurch.
It will be the first of a handful of games for Mat Sadler's side as they prepare for the new League Two campaign.
Ahead of the game, George Bennett sat down with Alvechurch's manager and sporting director to talk pre-season and the return of Harry Williams.
It will be the first of a handful of games for Mat Sadler's side as they prepare for the new League Two campaign.
Ahead of the game, George Bennett sat down with Alvechurch's manager and sporting director to talk pre-season and the return of Harry Williams.
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SportsTranscript
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.