THE SIGNING of Dele Adebola and David Artell in the last couple of weeks has bumped up the average age of Wrexham‘s Dad’s Army so much that captain Dean Keates jokes the old ‘uns team in training has subs.
As the 34-year-old midfielder sits in Wembley‘s East dressing room, having posed for countless pictures pitchside while shivering in his Red Dragons’ kit, I ask if he’s thought about climbing the 107 steps to the Royal Box to lift the FA Trophy when he returns to take on Grimsby on March 24.
“At my age and considering how big that pitch is, I might not make it up them all,” he laughs. “Seriously, I hadn’t thought about it but being here today has made it real in that I am going to get a chance to play here – if I’m selected.
Honour
“It will be a great honour to lead the club out, but it will only be a great day if I get the chance to go up those 107 steps and pick the trophy up.”
Selection-wise there is no question that Keates, the heartbeat of 37-year-old player-boss Andy Morrell’s midfield alongside Jay Harris, will be picked. The only danger is either injury or – more likely – suspension ruling either of the pint-sized warriors out.
“Against Dartford on Saturday I was booked, so I’ll now miss two league games as it was my tenth yellow,” says the former Walsall man, who sought his old Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson’s advice when it came to dropping into the Blue Square Bet Premier in the summer of 2010.
“There is a lot of experience in our squad, but you look around and it’s the older lads who are in the gym looking after themselves.
“When I started at Walsall you used to go out straight after training for a few beers. It’s far from that now. Since I turned 28, I’ve been in the best shape of my career. It’s totally different.
“I feel I’ve got a few years left in me. I had the chance to go as player-coach to a Championship team, and also I was sounded out about whether I fancied a youth team manager’s job.
“But someone I look up to in the game – Darren Ferguson – said to me ‘Don’t retire too soon because you’ll regret it and you’ll never get those years back’.
“I get up every day and I still look forward to going to training. I still love doing what I always wanted to do as a kid. When that day comes that I wake up and it becomes hard to get myself going, that’s when I know it’ll be time to start looking to hang them up.”
As well as being his London Road gaffer, Ferguson and Keates are kindred spirits as left-footed leaders of Wrexham sides from different eras.
Above: Dean Keates, right, with team-mate Jay Harris and the FA Trophy.
Shout
“Even at Peterborough he’d join in the training and he was still the best passer,” says Keates of Ferguson. “I played against him when I was younger and I always used to get the ‘Why can’t you get near that fat so-and-so?’ shout off the manager. But he was just a great player who got into areas of the pitch you couldn’t affect because he’d drop that deep to make Wrexham tick.”
As does Keates now, rampaging around the pitch cajoling every ounce out of his teammates while clipping the ball around with that elegant left-foot. Not that he thinks so.
“I’m not the most technically gifted player, I know that,” says Keates modestly. “I’ve always been honest through my career and I’ve been lucky to do what I wanted to do. I dreamed of being a football player.
“I know every week I’m not going to play great and every pass that I try might not come off, but I will always give 110 per cent. Going back to what you said about running around the pitch with Jay, that’s just my pure enthusiasm for the game. I just love doing what I do.
“I go out and give it my all and hope everything else falls into place. If it does, that’s a bonus.
“We could come here in two weeks and I’ll have an absolute stinker. But the one thing I will do is run around and compete for every ball that comes near me.”
For two-and-a-half years, and more than a century of appearances, Keates has used the experience gained from playing in all three divisions of the Football League to try to see his Welsh employers’ five-year Non-League exile come to an end.
Promotion
While the Trophy is a nice distraction, and the opportunity to emulate York City in winning a Non-League double welcomed, Keates knows what he wants most.
“At the beginning of the season, our aim was to win the league and automatic promotion – simple as,” he adds.
“That is no disrespect to the FA Trophy. Two of the biggest teams in the Conference have got through and there’ll be 40-50,000 people here.
“It’s two big clubs who deserve to be in the Football League, but over the years things have gone wrong and they are where they are. All of our squad – and the Grimsby players will feel the same – know it’s down to us to put things right on the football pitch.
“Losing to Luton the last two years in the play-offs has been so disappointing, and last year – after finishing 17 points above them – we let our club, our fans and ourselves down in the first leg. We know that and we’ve set about putting things right from day one this term.
“I’ve been promoted through the play-offs and it’s a great day, don’t get me wrong. We beat Reading at the Millennium Stadium with Walsall, and if you could guarantee going up through the play-offs, you’d take that day out. It’s unbelievable.
“But that lottery again? No thanks. In this league all you can be interested in is first place.”
