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| Bernard Day - Picture Copyright Steve Niblett |
Bernard Day, the former Hereford United goalkeeping coach whose death has been announced, gave a long interview in October 2008 to Steve Niblett for his book The Whites Are Going Up.
A Reflection on my time at Hereford United by Goalkeeping Coach Bernard Day
I
was at ES for the best part of 5 seasons, give or take a bit, during
which time the team grew year on year, the football was truly
magnificent at times, the team spirit and the team’s relationship with
the fans was the best I had seen for a long time. OK before somebody
states I am looking through rose tinted
glasses my overriding impression was ES was a good place to be. I know
there were and probably still are, certain members of the Bulls crowd
that 9 glorious goals to nil live on Sky was not good enough. Playing
Farnborough with 10 men after 10 minutes and winning 6-0 was not good
enough but for most it was not just good, it was brilliant to be
involved in ES. On the pitch, bench, terrace or stands I will remember
my time at ES fondly.
In
my time as GK coach we had in all the full seasons I had been there
consecutively broken the clubs record for the least number of goals
scored which made me a happy bunny.
The low points for me can best be summed up by the Refs Andy Woolmer and to a lesser extent Amy Rayner. All
the above was only laying the foundation stone for the big day in 2006
at the Walker Stadium. Not even playing against the likes of John Grant,
who in a Bulls shirt had proven what a good player he was could dampen
the spirit that day. It seemed to be almost pre ordained the struggle
was over, HUFC were to be back in the Football league.
I
could list probably 20 to 25 players who had a major impact in the
return to the Holy Land, including Mr. Hereford United Jamie Pitman, but
for me the one that stands out as the pinnacle of what HUFC was all
about was Goalkeeper Craig Mawson. But
he didn't play in the final I hear you say, it was Wayne Brown. I know
that, just hear me out, Craig had joined the club the year the season
before and did have a great season pushed by our number 2 goalkeeper Ben
Scott (too many Yorkshire men for my liking). The following
season Wayne Brown arrived for pre-season training with an injured back.
Wayne worked hard to get fit but it did take several months during
which time Craig did extremely well and continued winning the hearts of
the ES faithful. Wayne got fit and began to play. With both keepers
truly number 1's feeding off each other and improving from the other
keepers strengths I.e. Craig's shot stopping improved as did Wayne's
taking crosses. Both keepers, looking at their records that season,
could rightly claim to be number 1 and as such expect to play in the
final. Having said that we all knew on the day Wayne would play, so
Craig had every right to feel "miffed" not to get the job for the final.
...Lunch
time on the day of the final all the playing and coaching staff were
having our normal pre-match early lunch, Boiled chicken, Baked beans,
toast, porridge and scrambled egg, not all I hasten to add. When Craig
Mawson went missing, he returned to the lunch table wearing the now
(in)famous Wayne Brown Superman T-Shirt. Wearing the fans tribute to his
rival but more importantly ‘team mate’ on such a big day was for me, as
they say on the credit card adverts "Priceless"
I
left the club half way through the following season when it was time to
move on. On the subject of GT I would like to take this opportunity to
say for me, GT sits at the same table as Bill Shankly, Jock Stein, Matt
Busby and Brian Clough. Outstanding managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson
and Arsene Wenger did their best work with a very large bank balance to
lean on. Graham Turner aided by Richard O'Kelly and John Trewick, and
you just don't get better than them, have produced year after year new
teams that play exciting attractive and winning football without
spending mega bucks. They have managed the team and players
individually. Paul Parry and Andy Williams are but two examples who have
benefitted from GT's experience.
To
GT, John and Richard, Joan Fennessy and her loyal, but small, admin
staff to Colin who kept the ES ground legal, all the players, Wayne
Jones who still thinks he is a player, the match day staff and last but
not least the fans, especially those ladies who tried to bribe me each
week with sweets to find out the team before it was announced. Thank you
for a great five years.
Bernard Day GKC