THE GAFFER’S GREATEST GAFFER
WITH BEN STREVENS
WHO inspires the inspirations in the ever-changing world of football? Which traits stand the test of time?
In the latest in our series we pick the brains of ex-Eastleigh manager Ben Strevens.
Strevens made his name as a flexible attacking option at Barnet and Dagenham & Redbridge, moving on to Brentford, Wycombe Wanderers and Gillingham.
A move to Eastleigh kicked off his coaching and management career, climbing through the ranks to take the top job and guide the Spitfires into the National League play-offs in 2019.
Having departed in January, he has his heart set on a return to the dugout while also planning for life away from the game.
WHO WAS YOUR GREATEST GAFFER AND WHY?
It would have to be John Still. He brought me in as a professional from Non-League – Iwould have probably given up on being a professional footballer but he gave me my chance.
He took me to Barnet and then signed me twice when he was manager of Dagenham & Redbridge.
I was really lucky, Dagenham were pushing for promotion to the Football League but Craig Mackail-Smith was set to go to Peterborough so he brought me in from Crawley who were in the Conference (now National League) at the time.
Luckily for me, I played a part in the team that won the Conference which gave me another chance in the Football League and I got a couple of moves from there, ending up in League One with Brentford and Wycombe.
Without him taking that chance on me again, I don’t think I would have had those opportunities.
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP MEMORIES OF WORKING FOR JOHN?
I had not been at Barnet long and I was still pretty young, I made the mistake of calling him John in front of everyone.
He said ‘I’m your mate, am I?’ I thought ‘oh, God…’. It was gaffer, not John, and I never made that mistake again. Even when he calls me now, I call him gaffer and I probably always will.
On the pitch, getting promoted with Dagenham was something the club had not done before and it meant a great deal to John because his dad was a Dagenham fan.
I am still really good friends with a lot of the players, the bond we had was like a family and I have always felt really lucky to have been brought into that group.
It was really good for so many of us. Dagenham had success but lots of us got moves to other clubs – Paul Benson went off to Charlton, me, Sam Saunders and Danny Foster went to Brentford, we went up together as a really tight-knit group but we also got that career progression on the back ofwhat we achieved collectively more so than what we haddone individually.
HOW HAS JOHN INFLUENCEDED YOURSTYLE OF MANAGEMENT?MENT?
TheEastleigh boys would probablymention some of thesayingsI come out with.
‘Never too high, never too low’ springs to mind because that was something John always stood by and I think it is important not to get carried away when you’re winning games and not get too downbeat when you’re not doing well.
John is renowned for picking up players from lesser teams and really helping them with the bits they are not so good at and I am proud that we found three or four players for Eastleigh that other people might not have signed. Two of them are now playing in the Championship and another is in League One.
Maybe I didn’t realise at the time but perhaps John moulded my thinking on things like that.
HOW DO YOU THINK JOHN HAS MANAGED TO STAND THE TEST OF TIME?
Some peoplecanbe quite set in theirwaysbutJohn has moved withthetimes.
As an 18-year- old goinginto Barnet, I was really scared of him becausehe had thataura that he stillhasto this day.
As Igotolder he had changed abit,by the time I linked upwithDagenhamhe was givingusthatbit of extra freedom toplay,he had some younger boysthereand adapt- ed asacoachanda person.
To beabletostayin football for suchalongtimeyou have to be adaptiveandagood people person. Thevastmajority of his players would say the same things as I do.
ANY OTHER INFLUENCES?
Martin Allen and Gary Waddock are the others who stand out for me. If you include John then you have three different styles, different playing philosophies, but I have taken a bit from each.
Martin was my manager a couple of times and I really respected the way Gary did things.
I would include my dad as well. He coached me from under-10s through to under-17s and played his part, I put my football career down to him, particularly as he gave up football when he was still quite young to take me on Sunday mornings.
YOU LEFT EASTLEIGH MIDWAY THROUGH LAST SEASON – WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?
I am waiting and hoping. You don’t know if or when you will get another opportunity, I felt like I did a good job at Eastleigh but a lot of other people are doing or have done good jobs too.
I have done the next part of my coaching licence, I am also training to be a teacher having done a sports science degree during the back end of my playing career. The plan was to be a PE teacher as soon as I finished playing but the way things happened, it didn’t pan out that way.
I am looking after the bigger picture just in case I don’t get back into full-time football but I would love another crack at management. I was gutted to leave Eastleigh and I still look out for their results now, I feel like I did enough to get another chance but there are plenty of managers like me thinking that way. Time will tell.
