Barrow's bogey team in 2000-01 was Runcorn. We played
them twice in the league and once in the FA Trophy and lost
all three. The architect of those defeats was Runcorn's
player-manager, Liam Watson, also well known to Barrow fans
from his days as the free scoring striker in the Marine side
of the early 90s that won the UniBond title twice in
successive seasons. With scant disregard for our own safety,
we tracked Barrow's bete noir to his lair (shouldn't that be
his stable? Online Ed. Purely in the interests of not mixing your metaphors, you understand.) somewhere near Liverpool and,
keeping a safe distance, we persuaded him to spill the
beans...
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- The matches this season [2000-01] between
Barrow and Runcorn have been full of controversy. What
was your view of the incident with Barrow defender Lee
Warren in the league game at Barrow, when the referee
gave a penalty, from which you scored Runcorn's winning
goal and Warren was sent off?
Well, really there was nothing in it. As I turned he
clashed with me and he raised his arms. I didn't think
anything of it but the linesman flagged. Any player that
raises his arms in that situation makes it look bad,
probably worse than it is. You get twenty of those in a
game, but once the linesman has flagged the ref has to
give it.
- In the game at Runcorn, Barrow defender Hall was
booked after a clash with you.
Anthony Hall's a big lad, much bigger than me, so I have
to back into him to get anything out of the situation. So
yes, I suppose you could say I was at fault to some
degree, but Nicky Peverell's the same. He has to do it
all the time playing against big defenders. Anyway,
Hall's arm came across and caught me in the ear. I was
surprised more than anything else. But like I said, this
happens all the time. When we played Worksop they have a
small right back - he can only be about five feet tall. I
got past him and put my arm out to hold him off. On a
player of normal height I would have caught him on his
chest, no problem, but I catch this guy in the face
because he's so small and the free kick is given against
me. But that's football.
- What did you feel about the barracking from the
Barrow fans at Runcorn?
No, not really. I've had this from Barrow fans for years,
from the time when Tony Hesketh tried to sign me for the
club, but I went to Witton instead, because it was much
nearer to my home and as I have a young family, I didn't
want to have to travel four hours a day three times a
week to play for Barrow. The bad feeling towards me seems
to date from then. But it's all part of football. It
happens all the time. At least it means the other team's
fans see you as a threat! It can actually inspire you to
go out and have a good game, just to show them. But
players get this sort of thing everywhere from the
Premier League downwards. Top players will always get
stick from the fans. But I enjoy playing at Barrow and I
think the fans are great. This year we've won three
times, but it goes both ways. I just wish we got the
crowds that Barrow do.
- What has it been like playing against Barrow this
season?
Barrow always give us a chance. They're one of the best
footballing sides in the UniBond. Kenny Lowe's done a
great job. But there's a tendency to overplay. I always
stress that the most important thing is to keep a clean
sheet. But defensively Barrow are not quite there yet.
They allow too much space for the opposition though you
do have an outstanding central defender in Hume. Emley
and Stalybridge don't let their opponents play. They're
not as good footballing sides as Barrow, but they man
mark the other side out of the game, which is what you
have to do at this level. It looks messy but it's
effective. We put Ward on Peverell in our games against
Barrow and told him to make sure he didn't get a sniff of
the ball. At Marine we used to do the same. Two central
defenders and a sweeper. I thought Mickey Waller might do
that job for Barrow in the centre of defence until he was
released. Barrow are like Spurs. The team plays well with
quality football. That's what the fans want to see. But
Kenny Lowe knows all this. He'll do a good job at Barrow
and take you a lot further.
- Who do you think are Barrow's best
players?
Barrow have a lot of good players, but I'd say Peverell,
Bullimore and Maxfield are the best. And Neil Doherty.
But best of all is your goalie, Bishop. He's a great
'keeper and a nice character. He makes some great saves,
especially in one on one situations. When Bullimore's on
his game he's a top player. I was at Accrington when
Barrow beat us 3-0. I wasn't playing, but Bullimore and
Peverell and Ellison up front played us off the park.
- How will you strengthen Runcorn's team in the
close season?
Well, money's tight and I can't compete for the top
players, but if the right players are available I'll try
to sign them. Runcorn are in a good catchment area,
between Liverpool and Manchester and our move to the
AutoQuest Stadium will give us a great ground with a
tremendous playing surface so I hope that will attract
the three or four good players that I want. The Trophy
tie at Barrow was our turning point. I had to cut the
wage bill. We had a lot of players who'd joined for the
money. There was no team spirit. I got rid of eight, gave
some of our youngsters the chance and now we've picked
up. We've got six players under 19 in our squad, but you
have to be careful. The UniBond is full of players who've
been around and can make younger players look foolish.
And the pitch at the AutoQuest is very big. Our younger
players were very tired after we played there. We were
4-1 up against Bishop Auckland and we let them get back
into it and they drew 4-4. We were in the lead and still
taking throw-ins and goalkicks too quickly when we should
have been slowing it down. But we'll learn.
- Are you looking forward to moving to the AutoQuest
Stadium?
Yes, it's a great place to play and it will give us the
best ground in the UniBond.
- What do you think about the general standard of
the football in the UniBond?
It's dropped. When I was at Marine there used to be about
450 players looking for UniBond clubs in the close
season. But now there are more foreign players at the
higher levels of the game there are nearly 2,000 players
looking for clubs. If you look at the goalscoring charts
it's been the same players for the last few seasons. So
even though there are more players about there aren't
many of real quality coming through.
- What do you think of the standard of
refereeing?
I try not to fall out with them because they can only do
you harm if you do. In the UniBond we get the worst of
both worlds. Refs on their way up tend to play everything
by the book so they can get good assessments and move to
a higher level. Refs on the way down sometimes don't
care. But it's the same for both sides. I'd better not
say any more or I'll get into trouble!
- Who do you think will win the UniBond
title?
Emley will win it. We have to play them twice and
Stalybridge once. But Emley have been in front all
season. I know they've played three games more but
Stalybridge have more away games left and they will need
a fantastic run to the end of the season to catch up. In
the final run in to the season, the team with less games
to play has to be the favourite.
- Which are the best and worst sides you've faced
this season?
Best teams, Worksop and Bishop Auckland. When Bishops
attack you struggle to stay with them. They pass it
really well and are a strong side. Worksop just took us
apart. The worst side. Well, anyone can beat anyone in
the UniBond, so I'll just say our reserve side in a
friendly! We haven't played Spennymoor yet, but I think
the UniBond were really unfair to them. They didn't have
the money to hire a coach to take them to Colwyn Bay.
What was it, about £500? So the UniBond fines them
£1,000! They should be supporting and helping clubs
in trouble, not punishing them. It doesn't make sense to
fine them when they have money problems. If they wanted
to punish them they could have deducted points.
- Thanks and good luck for the rest of the
season.
Issue 049 - May 2001
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