A STEP INTO THE UNKNOWN
Let’s not beat around the bush: the 2019/20 campaign was an awful one for the Gladiators. Yet another manager departed, an array of injuries and a dreadful run of form that saw the team battling a relegation battle which was only resolved by, well, not being resolved. We’ll never know what Matlock Town’s final league position would have been as astonishing circumstances which has changed the world as we know it lead to the 2019/20 campaign being null and voided.
The club also had to cope with the tragic death of Jordan Sinnott which stunned the footballing community back in January. The players, staff and fans were completely distraught and devastated by the news and in many ways Matlock Town are still recovering from the loss of a talented player and, far more importantly, a dazzling personality outside the game who was a friend to so many.
The 2020/21 campaign is an extremely strange and difficult one to preview from a media perspective. This coming season is a step into the unknown for every single team in the NPL Premier Division. All of the players haven’t played a competitive game of football for over six months, all of the teams are not currently allowed to have a full capacity crowd and these are games that have to be staged within social distancing guidelines until further notice. It’s football – but not as we know it. At the time of writing, a number of pre-season friendlies involving non-league teams have been postponed as well as a number of FA Cup qualifying games due to COVID-19. These are sobering times for all teams within non-league football. This is a season that’s likely to be interrupted frequently by COVID-19 restrictions and there is no guarantee that this season will even reach a natural conclusion.
What makes Matlock Town’s position particularly unique though, is the fact they have a manager who has been in charge for eight months yet has managed very few competitive games for the club. We’ve not still properly seen a Phillips-led Gladiators team. It’s a strange position for the manager to find himself in. However, despite the tough circumstances, there are reasons to be positive regarding the Gladiators.
The attitude and work ethic displayed by Paul Phillips and his assistant Dave Wild is second to none. The attention to detail shown by both in getting the team as prepared and as fit as possible (even while the UK was under strict lockdown rules) demonstrates how seriously and professionally they are taking this season. No stone is being left unturned. Both have spoken in detail about how desperate they are to get more people fully behind Matlock Town again. They’re well aware that this is a club that has had a stagnant last few years and they’re doing everything within their remit to bring some much-needed success back. This is a club that hasn’t had a spring in its step for some time and Phillips and Wild are desperate to show that they can provide the spark to re-energise this football club. It’s worth remembering that Dave Wild was so angered by Matlock’s performance in their 3-1 league defeat away at Hyde United on March 7th, that he personally took it upon himself to speak to as many of Matlock’s away supporters that travelled to the game and apologise. These people care and these people are hell-bent on doing a great job.
As expected, Paul Phillips has made several changes to the Gladiators squad over the summer. The defence looks to be particularly strong this season and this area of the team has performed well throughout pre-season. Despite the departures of defenders like Dwayne Wiley and Bailey Gooda, Phillips has brought in strong acquisitions. The additions of Declan Walker, Lewis Turner, Reece Kendall, Ryan Qualter and Sam Egerton as well as the continued presence of club legend Adam Yates looks to have given the club a good, strong backbone to build from.
Matlock’s main problem on the pitch last season was up front. The Gladiators were far too reliant on goals from Marcus Marshall who is not even an out and out striker. Not all the pieces of the striker jigsaw puzzle have been located. Liam Hughes has joined which will certainly add some physical and aerial prowess in the final third but the promising signing of Sefton Gonzales from South Shields immediately did not work out. Gonzales was shown the door after turning up to only one training session for Matlock and has since moved onto Ramsbottom United. The Gladiators have recently signed Andre Johnson as a replacement but intense work is being carried out to ensure that one more striker will be added before the start of the league campaign which will make a clear statement about Matlock’s ambitions.
The Gladiators suffered a setback in pre-season with the recent announcement that goalkeeper Jon Stewart will miss six to ten weeks of game time due to injury. However, Phillips has acted quickly and has brought back in the highly-rated Kyle Trenerry as well as Shaun Rowley to ensure that even the goalkeeping department is well and truly covered. The Gladiators have also recently added some width to the squad with the signing of Osebi Abadaki who has plenty of non-league experience.
The main difference between Matlock’s squad last season and their squad this season, according to Paul Phillips and Dave Wild, will be leadership. It was clear to see that the Gladiators did not have many characters on the pitch that could take a game by the scruff of the neck in the 2019/20 campaign. There were too many cases last season where when they went a goal down, the heads would immediately go down too. Phillips has made it clear that many strong leaders and characters have been signed over the summer. Callum Chippendale, who was captain at local rivals Buxton, has made the trip over the A6 while Kayde Coppin has also made the switch to Matlock from Mossley as a player/coach. Paul Phillips is adamant that his team of assembled strong leaders will be very difficult to beat this season.
Pre-season friendly performances haven’t been perfect. The 2-0 defeat at Trafford was disappointing, as was the performance, but there have been encouraging signs that the new squad are beginning to gel. Teams like Wirksworth Ivanhoe and Maine Road were disposed of easily but the 1-0 victory away at Tamworth was the most pleasing out of all the pre-season victories.
This will be an ultra-competitive NPL Premier Division season. The likes of South Shields and FC United of Manchester will once again be very strong while strong performances can be expected from Basford United, Buxton and Warrington Town. Logically speaking, a top-half finish would be seen as decent progress for the Gladiators but, make no mistake, just a top half finish would not satisfy Paul Phillips. The ambition is to finish far higher up the table and he will be doing everything he can to achieve what he wants.
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