Non-League and Academy football writer

Gavin Kelsey had played non-League football as a player, however, he has since managed clubs such as St. Margaretsbury, Hoddesdon Town and Hertford Town. The current manager of Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division side Cockfosters, Gavin Kelsey has done some really good work with their first team, during his tenure there so far. And Cockfosters are having a good season, one in which they are aiming to get to the play-offs in. I recently had the great pleasure of meeting Gavin at Chalk Lane, to talk about some of his non-League memories, and also about his time at Cockfosters, so far.

What are some of your earliest footballing memories?

Gavin: I lived in Enfield when I was growing up. The earliest footballing memory that I have was taking an interest in football, in a family that had no interest in football. Anyway, we had some family friends who actually took me to a game, and that was at Highbury, and it was a game between Arsenal and Stoke. I came back from Highbury thinking that this wasn’t for me, but that was my earliest footballing memory, but it was followed quickly by seeing Spurs play on the TV in the 1980s, and from that point onwards I was Spurs.

Could you talk me through some of your earliest memories in non-League?

Gavin: My earliest memories of non-League were being involved with Hertford Town reserves, when I was around 18. A friend of mine called Kevin Christou was playing for Hertford Town reserves, and he had then suggested that I joined them as well. So I was involved with them for a bit, and I made a couple of appearances for them. And walking into that massive non-League ground they had a good following even for the reserves back then, and that really opened my eyes to non-League.

Could you talk me through a bit of your playing career in non-League?

Gavin: So I played a few games for Hertford Town reserves, and then I played with my friends for the majority of my footballing career, who were just a good group of lads, on Saturdays and Sundays. But then towards the end of my time playing the game, I got asked to help someone out with Harpenden Town reserves, and so I was playing for them on a Saturday, and I probably did about a year with them. The manager of them then went to the first team, and so I kind of helped him out on the coaching side of things, so that was the transition from playing to coaching. Basically I’d picked up an injury from playing football, and I didn’t see the rehab through, so that transition to coaching kind of worked out, simply because my playing days were over. 

Could you talk me through some of your standout memories of your time in non-League, so far?

Gavin: The memories for me really stand out from my time as a manager. One memory was being appointed as the first team manager of St. Margaretsbury, and I had been the reserves team manager there for two years prior to taking over the first team. There was a guy called Lee Judges who is now on Arsenal Fan TV, and he was the first team manager of St. Margaretsbury before me, and so he left the club, and so they then asked me to take over. So that was a big moment for me in my managerial career. I did two years at St. Margaretsbury, and then I decided to leave, and I then took over at Hoddesdon Town for a year, and to be honest with you that was probably the most memorable season that I’ve had in non-League. We challenged for the league that year, and we had a very good side that year. I think that we did five rounds in the FA Cup that season, and we ended up going out in injury time to Brentwood Town, who were two levels above us at the time. And we actually beat two teams who were a level above us going through the rounds. So that was a phenomenal season, and we also won a cup during that season, but we had a really good group of committed players who were all focused on winning as many games as physically possible. 

Was becoming a manager in non-League always an ambition of yours?

Gavin: Not really, if I’m being honest with you. I was terrible at taking instructions and so I didn’t really like being told what to do, which was the reason why I didn’t really play on a Saturday. It didn’t really fair well for me, and that’s why I have the utmost respect for the players who play for me. So the sole reason for me staying involved in football and going into non-League and then going into coaching was to stay involved in that team environment and also the banter of football. To start with I was just putting out bibs and cones, and the odd training session now and again, but it just progressed from there. So it went to going over to St. Margaretsbury with Lee Judges, and then later taking over the reserves, and from there I never really looked back to be honest with you.

What has been the greatest moment of your footballing career (so far)?

Gavin: The run in the FA Cup was very memorable (with Hoddesdon Town), and it got us massive publicity and it’s made me friends for a long time. Also, winning a cup with Hoddesdon was a big one, and also getting promoted from step five to step four was massive, and the memories that I made with Hertford Town, which was a massive club. When I went there they had been stuck at that level for many a year, and then in the first year that I was there we managed to get them promoted, with another great group of lads, and coaching staff. There was real togethernesses there and the team had a good following, and the first season there was an absolute joy to be there, achieving promotion.

Could you talk me through your memories so far of managing Cockfosters? And also, how did you come about joining the club as their first team manager?

Gavin: So when I was manager of Hertford, it got to a point where a few things were getting a bit bumpy off the pitch, and so me and my wife a couple of years before that had moved house, close to Ware, and a lot of development needing doing. And so I took some time out from football, and I was actually out of management for three years. The manager here at Cockfosters at the time was called Ryan Wade, and he’d played for me at St. Margaretsbury, and during the pandemic I kind of helped him out a bit behind the scenes, and so that’s how I got to know the chairman at the club, Vas. Ryan then decided to move on, and he then dropped me a message saying that the chairman, who I got on well with, wanted to have a chat with me. So I came back here with my assistant Glenn Draper, and the first game when we really took over was Walthamstow away. But as for the memories so far, we’ve had some really good victories against the odds, and we managed to get to a cup final in the first season that we were there, and then we got to a semi-final in the second season, and we finished fifth in the league (the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division), which is obviously a really good achievement. And we went on a run, from this time last season to the end of that season, where we only lost about one or two games. I’ve really enjoyed being back in non-League football, and there’s a lot of good people here, at Cockfosters. And it’s just a really good place.

What in your opinion has been the biggest challenge of your managerial career so far, overall?

Gavin: I think that when you go from being a reserve team manager to a first team manager there’s a degree of doubt from people, because you’re a reserve team manager who has been given the chance to manage at a step up. So you really have to work hard to maintain the group, because when Lee Judges left St. Margaretsbury, he left the foundations of a very good side, who had finished in the top side of the league that season that he had left. We had lost one or two players, and so it was a case of really working hard to convince the players to buy in to your vision, and for them to buy in to what your principles are, and that you’re not just some guy who wants to manage the side. You’ve got to convince the players to do things, and I’ve always found that if you chat to some of the more experienced senior players, and get them on board, then the others will follow. I was lucky to get a few lads into the side who really helped the team. So I went from there, but the first season was tough. We didn’t have a forward, and while we kept clean-sheets and were very solid at the back, we just weren’t scoring goals as we didn’t have a centre-forward. But we did manage to sign a player who changed things for the team, and we didn’t look back after that. 

Those early times at St. Margaretsbury were one of the tough moments of my managerial career, but another one which was on a par to that, was when I was reserve team manager with my current coach Phil Lovell, when we went about 19 games without winning. We’d got to a point where we’d just lost and lost games, and in the last game we just sat down and had a discussion that if it didn’t work out now, then it might be time to resign. Our next game was against Oxhey Jets reserves away, and they were top of the league, and the omens didn’t look that great. But we went over there and beat them 4-1, and it just went on from there. I think that a defeat there would have meant that I wouldn’t have carried on with managing, but a win there saw us finish mid table at the end of the season, and also get to a cup final, and then in that close season I was appointed as first team manager of the club. 

Cockfosters are a good footballing side. For those who haven’t seen Cockfosters play, could you describe to me how you want your team to play football?

Gavin: I like my side to play attacking football, and also fast passing football. When we get the ball I like us to get the ball to our attacking players, and to try and create the chances in those areas. We go from front to back and back to front very fast, to try and isolate defensive units, and we like to try and play as much football as possible. But there are plenty of teams in this league who like to overplay, but I don’t think that it’s necessary. So we like to score goals, but we’re also very conservative when we face a team who might be better than us, that we work hard and really dig in, in those games, and I know that you’ll probably vouch for us in the game when we played against Charlton Athletic’s Under 21 side here, in the London Senior Cup. We spent a lot of time without the ball in that game, but that goes back to pre-season, as any player who comes to the club is told what is required of them. And what we ask of the players here, is to give 100%. So that’s us in a nutshell really.

The Spartan South Midlands Premier Division has been a really interesting season overall, so far. Your own team aside, what have you made of the 2023/24 season so far?

Gavin: I think that the fact that two teams can get promoted now, has made a big difference. When there was only one team that went up, you would have one team who threw everything at it in regard to money, and then everyone else just had to battle it out. But now there’s maybe four or five teams who are throwing a lot of money at it, because as well as being promoted automatically, you can also go up via the play-offs. So I think that it’s now a more competitive league, and you’re looking at seven or eight teams who are in and around there, who can go up via the play-offs. So it’s made it a better and tougher league, and I think that it’s one of the best step five leagues around, and you really do go to some proper grounds, and it’s just always been a really good league.

In the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division, who has been the team that you have faced this season, who have really stood out to you for the way that they play?

Gavin: The best team that we have come up against this season is a difficult one, because there’s a lot of very good teams. We’ve played Real Bedford a couple of times now, and we drew 1-1 at home to them, and then we lost 3-2 away to them in the league, which was probably a harsh result for us. I like the way that they play and how they hold the ball. There’s other teams who play some good football, like Milton Keynes Irish, who I thought were very good. Their formation caused us issues at the time, and they had a very free flowing formation, and I like the way that they play. Another team is St. Panteleimon, who have got a certain approach to the game which isn’t the way that I like to play the game, but it is easy on the eye, and I do like the way that they play. They’ve got a very relaxed approach to how they approach the game, and they are patient in possession. We really should have beat them when we played them recently though, but we go again.

What are your hopes and aims for the remainder of this season with Cockfosters?

Gavin: Looking at the league and the way that it sits now, I’d say that Real Bedford will win the league, and that the rest of us are fighting it out for the play-off positions. So we’ve sat down and set our aims, which are to finish in the play-offs this season and so that’s what we’re going for. We finished fifth in the league last season, and a same placed finish would see us in the play-off positions. So then it’s obviously down to who performs in the play-off, but we’ve had a chat with the lads as to what we want to do, and our aim is to be there or there about.