The Bostik Friday Interview:The best of times and the worst of times

As we approached the tail end of February, Harrow Borough looked on course for their best season for a number of years. Firmly ensconced in mid table, looking back on a run in the FA Cup that had taken them as far as the First Round and a tie against Northampton Town, there was an understandable glow of satisfaction around Earlsmead and an expectation of a top half finish. And then…the wheels came off. An unprecedented three points from the last twenty seven saw the club hurtle towards the drop zone, and they eventually finished in the final relegation place, being saved from disaster only by the financial implosion of Worcester City in National League North.

Borough fans may have viewed the new campaign with trepidation, but manager Steve Baker certainly did not and his team have so far proved him correct. As we approach the fourth league game of the season Borough are setting the early pace in the Bostik Premier, with three victories from three matches. We caught up with him to discuss the best of times, the worst of times, and his hopes for this campaign.

So, how does it feel to be on top of the league?

After what happened towards the end of last year it’s great! It takes a lot of pressure off everyone’s shoulders. But I’m not going to get excited about it. I don’t suppose anyone thought we’d be there after three games, and I know it’s a bit cliched, but it’s a good start and that’s all it is. In the scheme of things who knows what it will mean; I’m delighted, but I’m a realist.

Last Saturday you went to Leatherhead, who are highly fancied, and won the game despite playing most of it with only ten men. That must give you confidence?

I knew we’d have our work cut out going there. They’re a really good side. We found ourselves two-nil up, playing very well, and then the left back stupidly got himself sent off and I wondered how it was going to pan out, but we dug in, were flexible with our tactics and got a little bit of luck. I was particularly delighted with the way we played in the second half- we restricted them to a few half chances and could have nicked another one ourselves on the break. In the end I thought it was a well-deserved three points.

You made a host of changes for the Velocity Trophy match with Metropolitan Police midweek, and lost. Does that demonstrate what’s important to you this season?

I’m not going to tell you that the League Cup is the most important thing to us, that would be a lie. But we don’t have a reserve or youth set up, we can’t afford them, so all of the players in my squad are first team players. I had five or six that needed game time and I wanted to give them the chance to show what they could do and see if they could force themselves into the side for Saturday and Monday.

Did they take that chance?

Ha! No! But in fairness, none of them did all that well- even the players who had played every game up until now. We started ok, scored, missed a couple of good chances, but then after that we were outplayed by a good Met Police side who thoroughly deserved the win. I wasn’t happy with the performance but if someone had said to me at that we’d win three of our first four games I’d have taken that all day long, so I just need to move on and concentrate on the weekend.

The start of this season has certainly been a contrast to the way last season ended, hasn’t it? You were comfortable at the end of February, and then it all went wrong. What happened?

With six games to go we were on 52 points and sitting fourteenth, and we thought we’d end in the top twelve and with the highest points total we’d had for many years. And then the last six games…it was a disaster. We picked up one point with a good display at Leiston but lost the other five. The performances were nothing short of a disgrace, but it was more than that. I had players go on holiday and I was only told they were going at the last minute, other players unavailable, some allegedly injured, and then around seventy percent of the side that played did so with no passion, no bravery. I think I learned more in the six weeks at the end of the season more than I’d learned in the previous six years; I made mistakes and it’s certainly changed the way I do things now and how I will do them in the future. It also gave the club a little bit of a wake-up call; we’ve been in the same position, flirting with relegation, for years, and if you keep doing that then eventually it will happen. It’s ironic, though, that if someone had said to me at the start of the year, “will you take the First Round of the FA Cup and fifty-three points,” I’d have bitten their hand off. But everything that could have gone wrong over the last few weeks went wrong.

Yet you managed to beat sides like Havant and Waterlooville, Dulwich Hamlet, and have that good cup run.

We did. Our problem was that we couldn’t beat the sides around us. When we played the top sides we raised our game; as you said, we beat Havant, Hamlet, Tonbridge Angels, we played Bognor off the park twice, but the scrappier games we couldn’t match the opposition. We lost a couple of key players who were good to have around for those kind of games, and I didn’t replace them well enough. One week we were world beaters, the next we were panel beaters. It became really frustrating because we’d have a couple of bad games and I’d think that I needed some new faces, and then we’d play the next two and be magnificent and I’d decide that I didn’t need to change it. With six games to go everyone at the club thought we’d be fine, and we were entirely wrong. Perhaps if I’d made five or six changes at that point people would have thought I was mad, but in hindsight it would probably have been the right thing to do. I had players that I thought I could trust to get us out of the situation, and I was absolutely mistaken. Next time I’ll be wise and follow my gut.

Is that why you’ve completely revamped your squad for this season? Against Wingate and Finchley you had eleven players in the squad who weren’t at the club for the last campaign.

I released nine or ten on the same day in the summer, once I was certain that I was staying with the club. That was perhaps a bit risky- I started pre-season with four players- but it was undoubtedly the right thing to do. I knew that what the squad last year had done- what we’d all done- just wasn’t good enough and that I had to change it. That was a bit of a gamble, I suppose, as when you’re putting together an entirely new squad it takes a while for them to click, but we had a good pre-season together, they bonded quickly, and the performances have been good. So far the gamble has paid off, but it’s early. I’d still like to add a couple of additional players to the squad, too- two that we signed pre-season have been ruled out with fairly long-term injuries.

So, what are your expectations for this season?

We need to improve. Obviously the League is different this year with only one going down, but my priority is to turn the club around from one that is always flirting with relegation to one that is consistently at the right end of the table. We’d like a good cup run, a good trophy run, and if we could pick up some silverware in any of the local cups that would be great, but the League is the priority. So we’ll target a top ten finish, and then who knows where that might take us if we’re in the mix as we approach the last couple of months.

The FA Cup draw- you have Enfield Town away- hasn’t been as kind as it was last year, has it?

It’s a really tough draw. I’m not sure as a club that we’ve ever won there; certainly our record is extremely poor. But I kind of expected a difficult draw- last year most of the clubs we had to play were from a lower level. Saying that, though, if you’re going to have a good run then you’re going to have to beat some good sides along the way. It’ll be a tough test, but we hope to win.

Back in January you lost Ibrahim Meite to Cardiff City. Looking at your current crop of players, who do you think might be the next to step up and have a professional career?

I don’t want to answer that- we’ll end up with people coming to watch them and then we’ll lose them! We’ve got three or four very good youngsters, some who have been with professional clubs in the past and want to go back, and some who have stepped up a level. They all want to prove themselves. Anthony O’Connor has come in and scored four goals in three matches, Charles Banya- ex Fulham and Crawley Town- has started promisingly…you want your players to come in and do well, but not that well that someone comes in and steals them!

Finally, then, tomorrow you have Tonbridge Angels, another club who have had a good start. How do you plan to beat them?

Steve McKimm has done a really good job there, and our games against them are always close, but we know how they’ll play- even though they’ve brought in some good players I don’t expect their gameplan will change. They’re good going forward and we need to stop their delivery from wide areas as well as deal with Nathan Elder in the middle. If we can do that then we look good going forward, we’ve got goals in us, so hopefully we’ll do well- but it will be tough. I expect them to make the playoffs this year. Elder is very good- if he gets a supply he’ll score or knock it down for someone else to get a tap in. But we’ve changed the way we play because I thought perhaps we were a bit predictable, perhaps we might surprise them!

Steve is undoubtedly right not to get carried away by early performances, but it’s easy to sense an air of determination that last year’s mistakes will not be repeated; that things will be different this time around. Supporters of Billericay Town, Dulwich Hamlet and Margate will be looking at the table and believing that Borough are in a false position, but as Sammy Moore and Leatherhead could tell them, this years Reds aren’t going to be anyone’s pushovers.

Perhaps this might just be the year when Borough climb back into the top five position that they haven’t seen since 2011.

Images used with permission of Harrow Borough FC- taken by Bruce Viveash. See more of Bruce's fabulous photographs here.