Journeyman

by Ben Smith

  CHAPTER 16

  DECISIONS, DECISIONS…

  IT’S AMAZING HOW quickly news travels. Within an hour of the Weymouth situation arising, before it had even become public, I was getting phone calls from other clubs and agents promising me the world.

  Nigel Clough, the then manager of Burton Albion, was the first to call. I also had Stevenage Borough, Kidderminster Harriers, Grays Athletic, Rushden & Diamonds, Hereford United, Cheltenham Town, Macclesfield Town, Peterborough United and AFC Bournemouth all contact me within forty-eight hours.

  In this instance I knew I was in a strong position and so I decided to do to the agents what they do to players all the time – I used them for my own gain. I told each one of them I would not be signing any contracts but I would pay them a one-off fee if anything they did secured me a transfer. They all seemed happy with this arrangement – I’m pretty sure any club would have paid them a fee anyway.

  With this much interest it was not feasible for me to go and visit every club so I had to firstly rule out the ones I was not going to sign for. This time I was determined not to make a decision based purely on financial terms. I was at a stage in my career where I had to be playing week in, week out.

  As there were five Football League clubs offering me contracts I decided to turn down all the ones at Conference level. I rang every manager personally to explain my decision as I knew we may cross paths in the future. Some took it better than others. Mark Yates, the then Kidderminster manager, offered to match the £1,000 a week I was on at Weymouth and the length of contract as long as I did not publicise what I was earning because it was head and shoulders above what anyone else was on. He also understood though that I wanted to play in the Football League.

  Grays Athletic were willing to offer me silly money. The club talked about a £30,000 signing-on fee among other things but joining them would have been a backward step. Justin Edinburgh, the then Grays manager and former Spurs player, understood but I ended up working as an intermediary for some of the Weymouth lads, including Dean Howell and Abdul El Kholti, into securing contracts there.

  Neither Burton, Stevenage or Rushden & Diamonds could get near the money I was earning so I politely declined their offers,

  I know lots of players who would just ignore a manager if they didn’t want to sign for him and wouldn’t even have the decency to explain their decision. I was determined to conduct myself with a bit of class, though.

  Then it was a case of arranging meetings with the five Football League clubs: Hereford United, AFC Bournemouth, Macclesfield Town, Cheltenham Town and Peterborough United. I wanted to have a chat with each club about how they saw me playing in their team, as well as discussing the financial side of things.

  John Ward, the manager of Cheltenham Town, seemed very keen so I met him first. As the club was relatively local to Hereford I also arranged to meet Graham Turner on the same day.

  I met John at the Thistle hotel in Cheltenham. He signalled how serious he was about signing me by bringing chairman Paul Baker along with him. We talked about football and John said he saw me as an attacking midfielder who would have licence to get in the box. This was great but he then admitted to not actually having seen me play. I knew Keith Downing, his assistant, had seen me play as he was a former Hereford player and attended many games at Edgar Street. John also said his secretary had been impressed with the two goals I grabbed against Forest Green.

  I found that very disconcerting because, as I’ve mentioned, my style of play is not to every manager’s taste and I was concerned I might not be John’s type of player. We did have a good chat about football, however, and I liked him.

  John and the chairman then asked the big question: what was I earning? I did what everyone does in this situation and told a little white lie. I said I was due a £5,000 signing-on fee and was on a basic of £1,100 a week.

  They asked me if I could give them five minutes in private and, when I returned to the table, I got a lovely surprise. They said the club was willing to offer me a three-and-a-half-year contract with a £20,000 signing-on fee, plus £1,200 a week for the rest of the season (which would rise to £1,300 a week for the first full year, £1,400 a week in the second and £1,500 finally). There were also some bonuses included, such as goal bonuses and £5,000 for every year the club stayed in League One.

  I managed to suppress a smile somehow and told them I would have to think about it. When I got back in the car I just laughed to myself. I was expecting Cheltenham to match my Weymouth contract at best, not blow it out of the water. Previously they had missed out on a lot of transfer targets and I think they saw me as a realistic signing who they wanted to grab.

  I began driving up to see Graham Turner, convinced Hereford wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near that offer. We sat down and, as usual, just talked about football. Graham explained how much he wanted me back in his team. I was comforted by the fact he knew my game well and was aware of exactly what I could and couldn’t do.

  Graham knew I had been talking to Cheltenham and when I told him what they were offering I think he thought I was being economical with the truth. I had to show him the paper the deal had been written on, which on the opposite side contained a Cheltenham reserve-team line-up. At that point he had to accept I was telling the truth!

  Graham explained Hereford would not be able to equal that deal, but would offer a two-and-a-half-year contract on £1,100 a week, match the £20,000 signing-on fee, give me £5,000 if the club got promoted, raise my wages to £1,400 a week if we got into League One, and pay £100 per goal and £100 per appearance. He also told me that his current captain, Tamika Mkandawire, was leaving at the end of the season and I would have every chance of taking the armband. That appealed to me as I’d really enjoyed being skipper at Weymouth and, despite my early reservations, felt it had helped raise my game.

  Clearly the offer was not as lucrative as Cheltenham but, in my opinion, it was close enough for money to not be an issue – I was going to get paid well wherever I went. Graham also explained that if I turned him down again there would not be another opportunity to re-join the Bulls while he was in charge.

  I felt really happy driving back to Weymouth that night; I could have easily joined either club and was confident I would be happy at whichever destination I chose. It seemed funny to me that only two and a half years previously Hereford would not, or could not, offer me more than £550 a week but were now proposing a package of more than double that.

  The next day one of the agents who was trying to get involved in my transfer said how happy he was that one of the clubs he had spoken to, namely Cheltenham, had offered me a contract. I asked him how he had worked that out because they had rung me directly and I had gone to the meeting alone. He reckoned his firm had sent the club an email alerting them to my availability. I told him there had been no mention of this at the meeting and he could forget any slice of that deal.

  As happy as I was with these offers, I wasn’t going to rush into anything as I still wanted to consider the three other clubs on my radar.

  My next stop was Dean Court to speak to Kevin Bond at AFC Bournemouth. I went down there early on a Sunday morning to have a chat and look around the ground. We had a good conversation and I liked Kevin but, much like Weymouth, Bournemouth was lurching from one financial crisis to another. Kevin assured me they were getting new funding in the near future but these off-field developments never happen as quickly as the on-field football people hope.

  Bournemouth would have been a great move geographically as Emma and I wouldn’t have had to relocate but, with the options I had, I didn’t think I would’ve been looking after my best interests by signing there. In the end, they were put under a transfer embargo and Kevin rang to say the prospective transfer could not go ahead anyway. I said all the right things about how disappointed I was that the deal could not go through but, in reality, I had already made my mind up to turn him down.

  Next I spoke to Peterborough United. They had
an FA Cup replay at Plymouth and chairman Barry Fry wanted to meet me on the way down to discuss a transfer. Garry Hill seemed especially keen on me speaking to both Bournemouth and Peterborough; I imagine he would’ve been ‘thanked’ if any deal went through.

  At the time, Peterborough were buying up all the most talented players in non-League football. I was flattered that a club signing the likes of George Boyd and Craig Mackail-Smith was interested in me. However, I was also a bit concerned. Wherever I went I wanted to be playing regularly and I wasn’t sure that would be the case at Peterborough. I had no doubt it would’ve made me the best overall financial package offer but I wasn’t fussed about that. I was also troubled by the fact I hadn’t spoken to then manager Keith Alexander. Dan Fletcher, one of my freelance agents, spoke to him on my behalf and reported that Keith knew me and liked me as a player, but didn’t need me. That made my mind up about Peterborough instantly.

  I called Barry Fry and told him that I was flattered by the club’s interest but didn’t think the deal was right for me. He promptly hung up on me…

  At least one of us conducted ourselves with a bit of dignity.

  That left Macclesfield Town. It’s not every Sunday evening that an ex-England player rings you for a chat about signing for his team, but that is exactly what happened to me in mid-January. Cheshire was a long way from Dorset so Paul Ince and I had our first chat over the phone.

  Paul explained he had seen me playing in our televised FA Cup game against Bury and was impressed by my performance. This surprised me as I thought my display that day was nothing more than ‘acceptable’. He went on to say how much he would like to sign me and spoke enthusiastically about where I would fit into his team.

  I liked him straight away but was conscious of how well he was doing and concerned he would soon move on, leaving me stuck in Macclesfield – no offence intended. Paul was really the only reason I was contemplating the move there.

  I told him this and he stressed that if he moved on, he would take me with him. That is easily said but not quite so easily done. What if he moved to a Championship team? I doubted he would take me there. Or what if the club he joined had an abundance of midfielders? Moreover, even if he did want me to follow him, there was no guarantee Macclesfield would let me go.

  Due to these concerns, I decided to turn the move down – but who knows if that was the right move. Paul, as I expected, did move on, but only to fellow League Two club MK Dons, so maybe he would have stuck to his word and taken me with him – or maybe not. To be fair, he looked after people like Keith Andrews – a central midfielder who played for him at MK Dons and then went to play in the Premiership at Blackburn (although Keith was a much better player than me!).

  After much deliberation, I decided I would join either Cheltenham Town or Hereford United. If I were to join Hereford, however, they would have to improve their offer slightly.

  As I had two acceptable offers, I went to Weymouth and asked them to release me from my contract. At the initial meeting, when Garry had explained the situation, we were told we could all leave for free. I made a mistake not getting this in writing as, when I spoke to chief executive Gary Calder on this occasion, he said the chairman expected a fee for me. I was really disappointed by the club’s stance. I argued my contract was worth over £125,000 but I was willing to write this off. In theory, I could’ve either negotiated a settlement or insisted the club honoured my contract, which would’ve sent the club into administration or even put them out of business.

  Obviously that was not something I wanted to do. Even though it was all turning sour, Weymouth had given me the opportunity to re-launch my career and I appreciated that. Unfortunately the club was refusing to budge and I was not sure where this left me. I was not willing to sacrifice anything from my future earnings but these new deals were agreed on the understanding that I would be available on a free transfer.

  I spoke to both John Ward and Graham Turner and explained the situation to them. Thankfully neither of them seemed particularly fazed by the introduction of a fee and said they would be in touch if, or when, a fee was agreed. So now it was just a case of sitting and waiting. I didn’t say anything to Macclesfield as I wanted to keep them on the back burner in case either of my preferred destinations could not agree a transfer fee.

  On Tuesday 23 January, Weymouth were due to play Exeter City away. I was still suspended after accumulating my five bookings but travelled with the squad. Jason Tindall, one of our more senior players, had taken over the role of manager and this was his first game. We had already lost some important members of our squad and were fielding a much weakened team than the one that had beat Exeter on Boxing Day. We lost 4–0 and, to rub salt into the wound, Lee Elam, one of our former players, scored a hat-trick.

  Before the game, Gary Calder pulled me to one side and said that both Cheltenham and Hereford had agreed a transfer fee of £20,000, so now it was down to me to decide who I wanted to join.

  I woke up early Wednesday and rang Graham Turner. I told him if he could raise my wages to £1,200, honour the £20,000 signing-on fee, pay me £5,000 in the event of promotion, raise my wages to £1,400 in League One and give me a £100 goal bonus on a two-and-a-half-year contract then I would sign.

  Hereford’s contract offer was a year less than Cheltenham’s so I was effectively sacrificing a guaranteed £75,000 to join them. As a result of this, I told Graham I also wanted a one-year extension written into the contract, which would be triggered if I started thirty League games in the last year of my contract. He agreed, but that was a big mistake on my part.

  It was not just me holding the club to ransom, however. As part of the deal I had to agree to my wages dropping to £750 a week if we got relegated to the Conference. This deal was a lot riskier than the Cheltenham deal, which guaranteed me more money and had no such clauses regarding relegation written in.

  Money was not my main motivation on this occasion, though. I had moved clubs previously and things had turned sour for different reasons. This time I wanted to make sure I moved to a club that gave me the best chance possible to play every week. I believed that the fact I had played for Graham before – and he knew my strengths and weaknesses better than anyone – gave me that opportunity. I drove up to Hereford and signed my contract that same day.

  Once the deal was complete I rang John Ward and explained my decision. He seemed to take it quite well but I am led to believe he had a little whinge in their local paper. I also spoke to Dan Fletcher, who relayed my decision to Paul Ince.

  Football moves so quickly that I was due to start training at Hereford the following day. My adventure at Weymouth was over after one year, fifty-two appearances and thirteen goals. I was moving back to Herefordshire after two and a half years away.

  • • •

  31 MAY 2013

  I left full-time football a year ago to avoid the uncertainty 90 per cent of footballers feel at this time of year:

  Who am I going to play for next season?

  Where will I be living?

  How much will I be earning?

  It has not worked out that way, however. I have told the school I will only stay next year if I can just work with the football academy. Unfortunately, this will only be a part-time role so I will have to find other work too. This is a positive, though: at least I can see the light at the end of this tunnel and will not be stuck painfully struggling through maths lessons for much longer.

  Thurrock, who I played for part time last season, want me to come back and play again, but I’m not sure I want to continue at that level. To make matters worse, the club has been charged with fielding an ineligible player at the start of last season and is facing a possible three-point deduction. As we only finished one point above the relegation zone, it could mean, pending an appeal, Thurrock will be in the Ryman Division One North next season. I started last season at that level with Sudbury and definitely do not feel like dropping down to that league again.

  So, as of to
day, the only guaranteed income I have is a part-time job at the local comprehensive school – not exactly part of the script, but then what from the past year has been?

  It is not all doom and gloom: I have an interview next week at Braintree Town to work at their football academy. The role is tutoring in the morning and coaching in the afternoon. I have got to deliver both a lesson and a coaching session as part of the interview process. I’m hopeful I’ll get offered the job as it would mean career progression and the opportunity to coach players every day.

  I also got a text from Dean Holdsworth yesterday asking if I would be interested in joining him at Chelmsford City, so I’m due to meet him in the next couple of weeks. I played under him briefly at the end of my career with little success, but I’ve learnt that a lot of these options quite often don’t come to fruition anyway, so it’s a case of watch this space…

  CHAPTER 17

  UNFINISHED BUSINESS

  SEASON: 2006/07

  CLUB: HEREFORD UNITED

  DIVISION: LEAGUE TWO

  MANAGER: GRAHAM TURNER (GT)

  I HAD TO pop back to Weymouth after signing my new contract to pick up some clothes. To make it a double celebration, Emma had passed her driving test so we went out for a meal and celebrated our good news – hers was arguably the best as I had been ferrying her around for two and a half years like an unpaid taxi service!

  I left Weymouth early Thursday morning ready for my return to Hereford. Even though I had played for the club before, and knew a few of the lads, I still had that ‘first day of school’ feeling. I was a little apprehensive – nervous but excited – and looking forward to settling in.

  As I’d had to relocate, Hereford would’ve put me up in a hotel, but since the cost would’ve come out of my financial package I decided to stay with Jamie Pitman and his family instead. We’d played together at Yeovil and during my first spell at Hereford and he was kind enough to offer me his spare room.