Killick on Pikey, Taffy, promotion and more......
on 13/04/05 by Andy Starmore
Poole Town secured at least second spot in Wessex Two recently and at the same time promotion to Wessex One, so Pitchside decided it was time for a chat with their manager Tommy Killick.

Killick has been around the non-league scene for some time as a player and is now establishing himself as a competent manager as well.

When he arrived at Tatnam Farm from Ryman Premier League Salisbury City at the start of the season, hopes were high from the Dolphins faithful of a quick promotion, which indeed has happened but, it wasn?t all plain sailing at the start of the campaign.

?The second half of the season has been good,? said Killick.

?We haven?t lost since November when we lost 2-0 at Lymington Town.

?Since then we?ve drawn two games and won the rest. I?m not making excuses but at the start of the season we obviously had a lot of new players and I didn?t really know exactly what was what in relation to the players that I?d retained.

?It was all a bit chop and change and messing about with the team and we?ve been a lot more settled with the team since then.?

It hasn?t actually been confirmed by the Wessex League that Tatnam Farm is ready for Wessex One officially but Killick is confident that the ground meets the requirements.

He said, ?I was told by Chris (Reeves ? vice chairman) that the ground has been passed and we?d always been told that finishing in the top two was sufficient to go up.

?I think what possibly might have happened is they?ve come to look at the ground, they?ve told us verbally it?s okay but perhaps they have to formerly report back to the committee.

?I?m just surmising but maybe it?s got to be ratified by the committee.

?I know they categorically told Chris that we?re okay so I?d be very disappointed if we were not to go up now because we?ve already got our sights on next season now.

?I?m not sure as to what the league has set out in terms of time scale for a new stand but irrespective of that, we want the stand full stop and we want it as soon as possible.

?Again, apart from all the benefits that brings to the club and the supporters, players want to play at a ground that is reasonable and us not having a stand at the moment is not very helpful.

?Players want to play on a nice pitch in decent surroundings and if we have a new stand as well as investing a bit of money on the pitch in the summer it just helps the whole picture.?

The Dolphins secured a top two spot with five games still left to play, which Killick admits has given the club the chance to sort things out for next season with plenty of time to spare.

He added, ?That?s why it?s quite pleasing with us having secured enough points relatively early on because it?s given us that little bit of time to try and put things in place.

?If it had been all up in the air until the last game of the season you can?t really start making any progress about players for next year until you know what league you?re going to be in.

?It?s given me a little bit of time to try and identify who I would like to add to the squad and who I can get.

?I haven?t got any agreements with anyone because some of the players I want are at other clubs so I?ll have to wait until the end of the season.

?It?s common knowledge that we?ve got an interest in Leigh Phillips at Salisbury but we?ll have to wait and see.

?Without going into too much details about the finances at the club, we?re not going to be in a position to have players travelling for miles to play for us, so we?ve got to be a bit realistic there.?

It?s clear that Killick will be recruiting for the step up to Wessex One but, on the other hand he is more than willing to reward the players that have got them there in the first place.

?I?ve got a core of players already that I think at the moment are good enough to play in the league above and deserve the opportunity to play in the league above,? he said.

?A good proportion of the current squad I think are good enough to play in Wessex One and, it?s not just that they are good enough, it?s what they?ve done this year.

?They deserve an opportunity to prove themselves at that level.

?I don?t think it?s a question of making too many dramatic changes, I know the areas where we can do a bit better.

?It?s always the case where you end up speaking to hundreds of players and end up getting a handful, so we?ll just have to see who that will be.

?And also what happens is during pre-season players try and play at the best level they can and then you have this filtering down effect.

?For instance I might speak to a Wessex League player and he might say to me ?I?m going to try my luck at Dorchester or Bashley? because they want to progress.

?And they might end up going there pre-season and clubs will look at a lot of players pre-season and then decide who they want and who they don?t want.

?So you get some players who try and establish themselves at a certain level and then don?t end up getting offered anything.

?They then have to set their sights a little bit lower and I think that?s the case at almost all levels of football, so you just have to be a little bit patient because some things get sorted out late in the day.?

He added, ?I was involved with Salisbury City and there was a lot of calibre players around there and it?s been a bit of a shock to my system being in the league we?ve been in.

?And a lot of the players I?ve recruited have, without being disrespectful to the league, had to endure this season.

?It?s not a brilliant league to be involved in and we?re looking forward to being in the league above.

?That applies to me and also the players.?

The step up to Wessex One will mean many local derbys to come, with the likes of Hamworthy United, Wimborne Town, Bournemouth Poppies and Christchurch to come and Killick is looking forward to pitting his wits against sides like them and their managers.

He continued, ?It?s a bit of a shame that Pete (Moore) has left Christchurch now, because he?s a larger than life character and so the Christchurch game would have created a bit of interest.

?With someone like him on board and Kempy (Graham Kemp) at Brockenhurst, it?s not just the teams it?s the characters that are involved with them.

?Again it?s a shame that Brooksie (Shaun Brooks) is leaving Poppies because these are the sort of people that are nice to come up against.

?I worked with John Robson at Salisbury and he?s at Gosport now, so it will be nice to meet up with him and have a good chat.?

Two of the most eagerly awaited matches for the Dolphins next season will be the two matches against near neighbours Hamworthy United.

The Hammers manager Alex Pike was Killick?s manager at Wimborne Town when the Magpies famously won the FA Vase at Wembley Stadium back in 1992.

And although many people believe that the two are great friends, along with another former Vase winner Taffy Richardson, Killick, although full of respect for his former boss, says that is just a myth.

?There is absolutely no bad feeling between me and Alex or Alex and Taffy (Richardson),? said Killick.

?I think people often mistake the relationship between Alex and I as being great friends and Alex and Taffy as being great friends, when the reality is that is not the case.

?Alex is a likeable guy and Taffy and I have been associated with him for a long time, so I think other people tend to make more of that than we do.

?They?ve (Hamworthy) done well and I?ve always admired Alex. People criticise him because he hasn?t got a footballing background in terms of that he never really played and people hold that against him.

?But I think Alex knows what he?s good at and he knows what he?s not good at.

?What he?s good at is putting in a tremendous amount of time and effort into watching games and players and he?s very good at attracting and persuading players to play for him.

?He?s a very persuasive individual and from that point of view you can?t fault him.

?He realises though that on the footballing side Alex is never going to take training sessions and try and coach players and try and improve players because he knows he can?t do that, so he gets people around him to do it.

?He?s got John Waldock there now as a player and I don?t know but if someone like John got involved with the coaching side then Alex has got a great combination.

?Alex goes out and gets the players and deals with that side of things and then gets someone with the footballing expertise in who can concentrate on the mechanics of the football and Alex has always done that.

?He raises the profile of the clubs he?s at and he attracts players.

?And if he has good people with him to do the footballing bit and the tactical stuff and the coaching, then he can?t go far wrong.

?One thing I?m looking forward to is some games with big crowds and it was a good atmosphere when we played Hamworthy in a cup match earlier in the season and it was a great atmosphere when we played Wimborne, and we?ve got four of those fixtures next season in the league alone.?

Killick is urging Poole Town fans to not build up their hopes too much for next season when they come up against a lot of strong sides.

He continued, ?We are a promoted side after all and to go straight up and be challenging near the top is perhaps something we shouldn?t get carried away with.

?With the players I?ve got I would think that we could probably establish ourselves in the lower mid-section of the league so, in a way it depends on what additions I can bring in as to how much further we can push on.?

One of the reasons his side have performed so well this season is their midfield general Taffy Richardson, who has been nothing short of sensational this season, despite being two years off 40.

Killick couldn?t praise him highly enough and hopes he will be remaining at Tatnam Farm, saying, ?He?s been inspirational for us this season and he?s one of the fittest players in the team and he?s exceptional.

?From my point of view it?s not just what he gives me as a player and I would expect Taffy to be one of the best players in Wessex One next year.

?He?ll be one of the most effective players in Wessex One next year and I really believe that, so from that point of view alone I?m desperate to keep him.

?Also he?s my closest friend and we tend to do things jointly.

?When Taffy was at Salisbury, he was the manager and I was the assistant but I think Taffy would say that it was very much a joint effort.

?And at Poole he has played a full role in everything that has happened.

?He does a lot of the training and we always talk about the team selection and he?s been an absolute inspiration.

?I desperately hope that he will stay with us and all the signs are that he will.?

Despite Richardson performing superbly for the Dolphins all season, Killick won?t be naming him his player of the year.

He said, ?There are two awards, the managers player of the year and the players player of the year.

?I wouldn?t pick Taffy for the managers player of the year purely on the strength that he?s won enough of those in his time and I don?t believe it would be the right thing for me to do.

?The players player of the year is down to them and I would think he would be in contention but some of the conversations that he has with some of the players during matches though, he may not necessarily get the amount of votes that he might otherwise.

?One of Taffy?s qualities is he can be quite abrasive but in a good way.

?If players get sloppy and aren?t doing things right, sometimes there?s no substitute for being told in fairly clear terms when you?re out on the pitch.

?I can?t do that while they?re out on the pitch but Taffy can and he does.

?Players have to know that if they let their standards slip they?re going to be made aware of it.?

The pair were in management together at Salisbury City, with Richardson as the boss and Killick his assistant and the current Poole Town manager believes that Richardson will again manage at a higher level than Wessex One.

?I think Taffy deserves to be a manager in his own right at a better level,? enthused Killick.

?I believe a lot of what happened at Salisbury when we were there people will never know the full facts and the conditions under which we were working there.

?While we admit there were certain things that we probably did wrong, the fact of the matter is there was a lot of things that we did well and I firmly believe that if he ever wanted to, he?ll be a manager at a better level one day.

?I don?t know what his ambitions towards that are at the moment, I think he?s quite happy running around kicking people for now!

?He?s still got too much to offer on the field at the moment but in a couple of years time he?ll get an opportunity to manage and I think he?ll be good.?

The Wessex League seems to be getting stronger and stronger every year and with the additions of Poole Town and Lymington Town next season, again it has to be a huge plus for the league.

Killick can?t wait to get started next season but would prefer it if one particular side, Lymington & New Milton made the leap to Ryman League football.

Killick said, ?Without being too controversial, I almost think that people locally will hope that Lymington & New Milton win the league and go up because if Winchester remain in the Wessex League next year they may not be the force that they are now.

?If you look at the league this year and you take those two teams out of the equation, I know you?ve still got Gosport, Thatcham and Newbury but, you would almost, and I?m not saying for one minute Poole are in this bracket but, there would be clubs that would feel that if they picked up some good local players they would have a genuine chance of challenging for the league.

?Depending on what happens at Winchester and Lymington I think some of the local clubs like Wimborne Town for example will be thinking they?ve got a realistic chance next season of wining the league, which hasn?t happened for a while.

?And if you talk to players and you can convince them that they might have a chance to win the league it?s a big attraction.

?For us it?s a big jump, so we have to be realistic and be aware of the size of the task ahead.

?But there?s no point in not being as ambitious as you can and therefore we want to try and get the best players we can and do as well as we can.?

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