Former Tonbridge Angels boss Steve McKimm returns to the Kent football family this season as the new boss of Cray Valley PM, and ahead of the new season, he has been talking to KSN.
“It all starts on Saturday as pre-season is finally over,” McKimm told us, “Really excited for the big games as they’re the League games and now they’re here.”
“We’ve had a good pre-season in terms of getting to know the players new and old as we’ve been getting our ways across and hopefully, they’ve bought into it.”
“Last weekend’s final pre-season game at Dulwich was a very good performance even though we lost, it puts us in good spirits going into the League campaign.”
“There’s not been enough time to really get to know the players, that will come over the course of the season, especially if they’re with you for the full season, if they invest into what we’re doing as a management team you then invest in them.”
“But it’s not just about the football, it’s about everyday life as well, you become closer, not necessarily best mates, but you become closer and then they tend to trust you, your judgement on what team you pick even though they may not like it.”
“But it’s a trust aspect and if you can get that between the staff and the players and everyone together, then you’ve got half a chance!”
“We’re going into a really tough division, and it always has been, anyone can beat anyone! And everything is getting more competitive now because teams and clubs want to go to the next level whether it be Step Five, Step Four or Step Three.”
“It’s financially backed sometimes or it’s just having a good squad and good cohesion that will get you over the line, a bit like Aveley in the Premier Division last year!”
“No one expected it, inside their camp they may have done, and they got their goal in the end. I think every Club now at every level will be striving to do that as there’s always a chance.”
“It’s going to take a while to get to know the whole squad, but you’ll get to know the characters, one if they’re not playing, if they’re not starting or coming off the bench, and the ones that are starting, do they just get lackadaisical as they just think they’re going to start, whereas I’ve got a squad now that is competitive where everyone has to be on their game and in training to show their worth!”
Valley travel to Woodstock at the weekend, with Sittingbourne already having played two competitive games in the FA Cup against the Jersey Bulls and McKimm admitted, “if things are led by competitive games, then yes, they will be two games in front of us going into the weekend, two lots of ninety minutes of competitive football ahead of us!”
“But it’s never easy playing against a Ryan Maxwell side, I know him very well.”
The two managers played with each other briefly at Gravesend & Northfleet, and ex-skipper McKimm went on, “he’s a friend that I speak to on the phone regarding football and stuff like that all the time.”
“We live too far away from each other to be proper mates. I’ve known Ryan for years playing with and against him, then as a coach, he’s a top fellow and I know how hard his teams work and organised they’ll be and how well they will play.”
“So, it’s going to be tough from the outset anyway let alone with Sittingbourne having two games under their belt. But make no mistake, we’ll give it our best shot as we try to get a positive result on the first day of the season.”
“Cray Valley is a Club that in terms of the people behind the scenes, they are very ambitious and they’re ambitious with playing within their means, they’re ambitious because the Club as a whole feel that they want to go to the next level and if they can do that, there will be another push on I believe.”
“Something with the Club that makes it a sleeping giant if you like compared to other Clubs but it’s ready to burst at the seams if it wants to happen.”