By Alex Narey
THE kids are camped outside the changing room… iPhones for selfies and notepads for autographs. This is Folkestone Invicta Football Club on a Tuesday night and the waiting posse know their turf: it’s one way in and one way out.
They’ll get their man eventually. Interviewing managers post-match in Non-League football isn’t the most testing of chores.
You kick your heels for ten minutes while he delivers his changing room dressing-down, ask the exiting players if he is coming out, grab his collar before he slips off upstairs to the directors’ suite for a ham sandwich and stick the dictaphone under his nose and fire away. Voila!
But interviewing Jimmy Bullard is a different story. His arrival at Leatherhead last weekend has created a stir and the buzz had well and truly spread down the M20 by the time his side travelled to the south-east coast for their midweek Ryman Premier clash at Folkestone – Bullard’s first game as the Tanners boss.
The caveat of a growing fan club outside, and the fact Bullard’s mood may be tainted somewhat after he was denied a winning debut in the dugout with Invicta equalising in injury-time, makes the task of our pre-arranged ten-minute chat less straightforward.
Thankfully, the former Wigan, Fulham and Hull legend is as forthcoming and welcoming as ever. Greeting me with a warm “Hello Fella!”
Bullard is eager to talk about the game he loves and a new venture into football management which he says – repeatedly, it must be said – he is “deadly serious” about.
“The players were brilliant; they showed me they want to play for this club and for me,” says the 37-year-old. “They gave me everything and I am over the moon. I feel like I have played myself.”
Bullard, of course, hasn’t played since his professional career ended in 2012. Except for the odd charity kickabout that comes with the territory for retired players, his career has veered sharply away from football and into the depths of reality TV.
He makes no excuses for that, but is adamant that football is where he wants to be, and that Leatherhead is the perfect place for him to start his journey into the frenzied world of management.
“Football has always been in me,” says Bullard. “I have been out of the game for four years, but the last two years have been creeping up on me, and in the last three to six months the desire to get back has been growing and growing.
“My passion and love for the game has never gone away despite whatever has been going on in my life over the last few years. I just knew I had to get back into football somehow, and this is why I am here.
“I took a comedy path after retiring, but I am ready to get back into it and I am ready to get into management. Simple as that!
“People might see me in a certain way. I was very serious about my football when I was playing. I loved every minute of it, but I was deadly serious and that’s the same with management.”
Credit where it is due, there is nothing easy about taking the reins at Fetcham Grove, and attempting to steer a club second from bottom in the Ryman Premier would be deemed a thankless task in most people’s books.
Throw in a limited budget and the rat race of chasing players in the Non-League pyramid, and the challenge in front of him looks almost as bleak as gathering those stars from the snake pits of the jungle on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Nervous
But it’s good to see the emotions are there. Throughout Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Folkestone – where his team played tidily and were more than deserving of the three points – Bullard was a bundle of excitable energy.
Pre match, he looked edgy, pacing up and down and referring to his notepad like a nervous best man prior to delivering his speech. But it all added to the refreshment that one of football’s most exciting and likeable talents was back in his natural environment.
“The emotions are great,” says Bullard. “It’s fantastic and that’s why I have come here. But it’s all about the players as far as I am concerned – not the manager. The players have bought into how I want to play and I am just so pleased to be working with them.”
No-Brainer!
When you break it down, Bullard and Leatherhead would appear a good fit. Based locally in Cobham, he is able to dip in and out and is keen to get involved in every corner of the club.
There is also his Non-League background, with his earliest playing credits at Dartford and later Gravesend.
But just how did the appointment come about? Did anyone seriously see this coming? Be honest with yourselves. No, we didn’t either.
“I was speaking to Tony Burman (the Dartford boss) who was massive for my playing career,” says Bullard. “There are few better men to talk to about stepping into management in Non-League football than Tony, and he put me in touch with Richard Brady, the chairman at Leatherhead. So between two very knowledgeable football people, I had a chance.
“I met with Richard, and loved what he was about, met some of the board, and loved what they were about. They are proper football people. It really was a no-brainer by the time I had to make a decision.
“I know it won’t be easy. I have no issues with starting my management career here. And there is no agenda. It’s what I am desperate to do. I started my football career in Non-League in the old Ryman days so why not start my managerial career here to?
“I am being dead straight with everyone. This is a career path for me and I am right at the beginning of it. I’m so chuffed to be back!”
And with that, it’s interview over. For Jimmy though, there’s the small matter of half the population of Folkestone to deal with outside… Good luck Fella!
