IT’S mid-afternoon on Tuesday and Wealdstone boss Stuart Maynard is making the most of the weekly day off from his job as an engineer for BT.
In their office, as they do on the same day every week, Maynard and assistant Matt Saunders are getting ready for their next game.
This week’s prep was for Gateshead, having seen the parttime Stones move second in the early National League table after following up an impressive win at Oldham Athletic with a home victory over FC Halifax Town.
Already they’ve watched the Heed’s previous three games and are getting into their set pieces when The NLP calls.
“Me and Matty are in the office all day on a Tuesday,” Maynard says. “You’re planning. Planning the week, you’re planning the tactics you want to implement.
“Look, it’s not ideal the preparation time we have with the lads. Tonight we get an hour-anda-half on a 3G and on Thursday we get an hour-and-a-half. It’s tough to fit everything in. But the lads have taken everything on. They’ve been outstanding.”
Before training they deliver analysis to the players in small groups, believing that is the best way for the information to be digested.
Then it’s onto the pitch to continue work on the patterns, shape and the high-press game that has brought them success so far – a23-passing move that led to Tarryn Allarakhia finishing a brilliant team goal against Oldham the shining example of their style.
“The biggest thing is we make them play like that – we’re on at the lads if they don’t show for the ball,” Maynard says. “We take all of the responsibility. If they lose the ball, give it away and a team scores, as a management team we take responsibility for that goal.
“But we won’t take it if they’re not being available for the ball and brave on the ball. You have to instil that in the lads. We’ll never throw them under the bus if they give the ball away. It’s the players trusting us.
Reality
“You go into a lot of clubs up and down the country and most managers will say (to players) they want to play football. When you actually get in there, the harsh reality is, once pre-season is out of the way it’s back to getting it off the front, setting everything up, playing off restarts.
“We’re a bit unique that we won’t do that and we won’t change. The lads have really taken to it. It’s that trust both ways. The players have to buy into it and we have to put the faith in them. I think that’s what we do really well.”
Maynard points out they aren’t naive. They use a long throw but they believe going back-to-front too quickly makes a game too random and prefer to control the ball as much as possible.
The signs were there at the back end of last season and this year’s recruitment has built on a solid finish with a young squad eager to make its mark in Non-League‘s top flight.
“It helped us recruit this summer,” Maynard says. “If you finish a point outside relegation, players will look at it thinking, ‘Do I want to go to a team in a relegation battle?’.
“It does help when lads can see you’re always trying to improve. Look, we’re realistic. We know the ultimate goal for us as a football club at the minute – for the next two to three seasons – is staying in this league and establishing ourselves.
“It’s like now. We’ve got to keep our feet on the ground. The biggest thing is the lads’ work ethic in the opening four games has been outstanding.”
Maynard won’t use their parttime – they train Tuesday and Thursday evenings – status as an excuse. The players are driven to live like full-time footballers.
“We understand we’re a parttime football club,” Maynard says. “It kind of is mortgage football – you’re in a league where this is a player’s living now. They want full-time football and to earn a living.
“Obviously at our club, a lot oflads have got jobs so they earna living and this is their secondincome.
“We’ve missed out on play- ers.And sometimes it’s not financially,it’s they want to be full-timefootballers. We totally understand.
“But we think we were patient and we’ve brought in the right characters and right mentality into the group.”
Wealdstone came up under Dean Brennan, Maynard was assistant, during the first Covid interrupted season having steadily risen back up the Pyramid in recent years as they look to establish themselves back at Non-League’s top table.
“The fans are incredible,” Maynard points out. “Rory Fitzgerald, the chairman, Dom (Whyley – vice chairman) and all the board are fantastic – in the last year or so we feel it’s all really come together.
Energy
“We’ve started to go into the community and schools to get youngsters through the gate. We really believe in getting the younger generation coming to football.
“It all breeds that good vibe and energy about the place. We’ve got a real connection with the fans. It’s that all in it together and you really need that.
“Every game we go into, we’re an underdog. So you need everyone in it together, especially when you go through bad patches, which we will.
“Last season we beat Grimsby on a Tuesday night. They were unbeaten and then they didn’t win a game in nine. It can happen to anyone in this division.”
That’s why the hours are going in now. Maynard and his coaching staff of assistant Saunders and first team coach Craig Saunders put in the work too by going out to as many games as possible – along with new chief scout Ryan Jackett – to give the team the best chance they can.
“My missus jokes I speak to Matt more than I speak to her,” Maynard laughs. “There’s a bit of a bromance going on.
“But you are 24/7. Sunday you try to have a family day – that is so important for the backing I get from my wife and daughter to go and do all the hours I do.
“But during the family day you are on and off the phone. Then it gets to 7pm, you have some dinner and after that you start researching, watch our game back and start to plan for the new week. It’s non-stop but you’ve got to love it. And we do.”
