Interview: Putting Kingstonian in The Mixer

Michael Cox is the author of ‘The Mixer-The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines’- and as such might not immediately come to mind as someone who would be interested in the Bostik League. However the man who takes in hour upon hour of football every week and provides cutting edge insight into the game is a season ticket holder at Kingstonian. Here Michael discusses the K’s, the importance of the 3pm Saturday TV ‘black-out’ for non league football, and mentions Harry Redknapp and ‘wheeler-dealing’ in the same answer. Don’t tell Harry, he’ll have a fit…

How long have you had a season ticket at Kingstonian and what initially attracted you to watching this level of football?

Well, I was born in Kingston, grew up down the road - and in my early years Kingstonian were rather good, flying high towards the top of the Conference. My first trip to the old Wembley was to see us beat Forest Green Rovers in the 1999 FA Trophy final, and we retained the trophy the next season. Ks were genuinely quite a big deal. Disastrous ownership problems, losing the stadium to AFC Wimbledon and dropping through the divisions meant attendances suffered badly and my own interest waned, and earlier in my journalism career I needed to dedicate myself to watching higher levels of football.

But then me and some old schoolmates decided to start going along regularly, so I’ve had a season ticket for the last four years. Having just checked the wonderful Groundhopper app, I’ve got to 24 matches this season, in part because we have a lot of Monday night games which works nicely for me.

I do think there’s a danger that people my age have been priced out of being season ticket holders at Premier League clubs, which is a great shame. Affordable, local football is very welcome - although I do think some non-league clubs go OTT on rubbishing the Premier League ‘product’ with their talk about how non-league is ‘real’ football, and framing it as some kind of dramatic alternative. I think those clubs would be better off ditching their “Bored of top-flight football? Come and follow us instead” approach in favour of “Love football? Come and watch some more of it.”

While I have this platform, I’d like to say that I think the 3pm blackout is absolutely fantastic, a genuinely brilliant nod of respect to grassroots football and it should continue for eternity, even if it means all Premier League / televised games being moved away from Saturday 3pm. It helps to sustain minor football clubs, who are an invaluable part of their town’s community, and who are responsible for organising a great deal of youth football which is, ultimately, what it’s all about. I genuinely think people who oppose the blackout are complete idiots.

Does the technical/tactical ability, given your expertise, surprise you in any way?

Well, there are some genuinely talented players at Isthmian level - I think the difference between them and, say, Conference level is often about consistency and confidence rather than technical ability. The really talented technical players need to find the right manager, though - Ks have had a couple of recent examples where the side’s most talented players have found themselves out of the side, and eventually released, as the manager wants to play a more direct or powerful style of play, which is a shame.

Tactically things are interesting - managers change system more than you might expect, although it’s rare to see a genuinely effective three-man defence. Ultimately, teams don’t have that long together on the training ground to perfect advanced systems, so you can’t blame coaches for sticking to what players know.

If I was in charge of Kingstonian I'd be asking for your help compiling dossiers on the opposition, has this ever been suggested to you? Or do you ever find yourself on the terrace having to talk tactics?

Ha, this happened once - I had a spare weekend, and was a short cycle ride away from the team Kingstonian were facing the following midweek. I think my scouting report was quite good, but the relevant team made five changes, so I’m not sure it was particularly useful. Ultimately we lost that game, so I’m distancing myself from any responsibility…in general I’m working at a Premier League game on the Saturday - if not I obviously try to get to Kingstonian, so it doesn’t really fit in, but I expect the manager has someone who knows the league far better than me anyway.

At the time of writing Kingstonian find themselves in 18th. How would you rate this season so far?

It’s been a very peculiar season for three completely different reasons. First, we were effectively kicked out of our ground after AFC Wimbledon, who had bought Kingsmeadow from us about 15 years ago, sold the ground to Chelsea, who use it for their women’s and development sides with Wimbledon now tenants and no room for us. It’s a difficult situation with no easy compromise, but it’s hugely disappointing that AFC Wimbledon’s presence in Kingston has meant the town’s local side being forced to play half an hour’s drive away in Leatherhead, when you consider the reasons for the formation of AFC Wimbledon. On-field results are much less important than finding a new ground somewhere in Kingston, which is far from simple.

Second, there was a massive overhaul in playing staff from last season to this season. Then we changed manager a couple of months into the campaign and the new manager, Leigh Dynan, brought in a load of players from his old club, who didn’t look entirely suited to this level, so now he’s brought in a second group of ‘his’ new players. Only two players who started the season with us are still here, and it seems like we’ve used about 60 players this season. I’m terrible with names at the best of times, so this has been a nightmare.

Third, we’re in the bottom half but with the re-organisation of the league, only one side goes down this season - so barring a complete disaster we don’t even have the excitement of facing relegation. Which is good, of course, but also a bit dull. Anyway, we had a pre-season friendly in Gibraltar which was absolutely hilarious fun when you’re used to away games at Enfield and Hendon, and then we came back and beat moneybags Billericay in the opening game with a last-minute goal. We knew the season had already peaked.

Turning to The Mixer, are there tactically any comparisons you can make with any team you've seen over the last few seasons in the Bostik League and those mentioned in the book?

Probably not in terms of directly comparing one team to another. But I do think the trends at Premier League filter down, to a certain extent, to Isthmian level. A few years ago when possession football ruled at the top level, there seemed to be more Bostik teams looking to pass out from the back, albeit without much success sometimes. I remember a couple of years ago, VCD coming to ours and passing every goal-kick out through the centre-backs splitting wide and the holding player dropping in, but they lost that game and got relegated.

Ultimately players at this level still have heroes and play like them. You see more wingers cutting inside these days - more who think they’re Eden Hazard rather than David Beckham.

Finally, thinking back over the last 25 years of the Premier League, which managerial style/philosophy do you think would have the greatest impact/be most successful in the Bostik Premier over recent years?

If I had to pick the style of one side, I’d probably go for Spurs under Harry Redknapp. They played a fairly traditional 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 which still seems to suit players at Bostik level, using two good counter-attackers in Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale, but also a player who could dominate the ball in the middle like Luka Modric. Bostik strikers aren’t all like Peter Crouch, as the cliché might suggest, but a player like him is fairly handy. I’d say that, at Bostik level, knowing the division and having the right contacts to bring in good new players is more important than the tactics - so it would also be great to have a manager who was a wheeler-dealer.

The Paperback version of 'The Mixer' is out now, published by HarperCollins

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