Non-League and Academy football writer

Terry Shrieves is the manager of highly flying Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division side Milton Keynes Irish. A very ambitious club, Milton Keynes Irish under the leadership of the vastly experienced Terry Shrieves, have progressed really well as a club, and that is a credit to all of those involved with the club, since it was formed. This newly established club have progressed to the Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division (step 5 of the non-League system), and the club are currently vying with Real Bedford for top spot in that league, during the remainder of this season. I recently interviewed Milton Keynes Irish manager Terry Shrieves, about some of the club’s journey so far. It was great to speak to Terry about Milton Keynes Irish, a club who play some great football, but who are also very effective on the pitch, having lost only one league game so far this season.

Could you talk me through a bit of your background in football?

Terry: I was at Millwall as a young player, after leaving school. I got injured there though, and they released me after that. After that, I’d played for teams such as Woking, Kingstonian and Sutton United. I would later move up to Milton Keynes for work, and I had a spell with Hitchin Town, but back then I’d started a family, and so after getting married, it became a bit more difficult to play football, especially with me working as well. I did also play for Buckingham, and then Kettering in The Conference, and then at step 4 I played the game until I was 44. I was player-manager for Milton Keynes City, when they were based at Wolverton. They didn’t really want to go any higher as a club, at the time, so I left there and didn’t have anything to do with football for about three or four years. And then Newport Pagnell asked me if I wanted to be their manager. I was about 48 then, and so I took over there. I was in charge of the team there for about five or six years, and we did quite well, but once again it got to the stage where they didn’t want to go any higher up the leagues. And so I lost interest in the end.

Since I’ve been at Milton Keynes Irish, they are a club who want to go higher than step 5, and that gives you that extra incentive. We’ve already had one promotion as a club, to step 5 after going up on points per game. However, without those two years of not having played a lot of football, then I think that we’d have been a little higher up than we are now, in non-League.

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

Terry: I had quite a good time at Newport Pagnell. I went there when they were fourth from bottom of the league, and then after three seasons we were third. Football around the late 2000’s was a bit different to what it is now, as it was more physical. I had a really good time at Newport Pagnell, it was just unfortunate that they didn’t really want to go any higher. Michael, who runs The Milton Keynes Irish Centre, actually asked me if I wanted to come down here to Milton Keynes Irish. Buckingham FC had just folded, and so I helped to take it over. I was actually away on holiday at the time with a couple of friends, when he asked me if I wanted to help  take over this new club. I asked my friends, who said that they’d get involved with the club, and it just sort of snowballed from there.

Could you talk me through how Milton Keynes Irish came about as a football club?

Terry: When I first came down to the club, I said to Michael that we had to change the name of the club from Buckingham, as we couldn’t get any support from Buckingham over to Milton Keynes. Also, no one in Milton Keynes wanted to support a team called Buckingham, who were playing in Milton Keynes. So we changed the name to Milton Keynes Robins, as that was the nickname for the old Buckingham team. The first training session that we had here, we only had four people (two of those players were my sons) who had turned up. But, since then we have got a lot stronger. However, the name Milton Keynes Robins didn’t really fit, and so after that we had discussions. With us playing our games at the Irish Centre, we thought that we might as well change the name to Milton Keynes Irish. Since we’ve changed the name of the club, we’ve got a lot stronger and also got a lot more recognition. We get a lot of following from other Irish clubs, from places such as London and Oxford, and so we’ve sort of got our own identity now. The Milton Keynes Irish chairman – Tom McEvanny is second generation Irish.

Could you talk me through your memories so far, of managing Milton Keynes Irish?

Terry: As I say, when we started off as a club it was very tough, especially as we just didn’t have the players here. Milton Keynes is such a big town now though, and there’s a lot of talent in Milton Keynes. We’ve now got youth teams here at Milton Keynes Irish, and two of my grandsons play for those teams. So we’re starting to build up heritage at the club, and football is a heritage game which is passed on by your parents and grandparents. In our second/third year as a club we got to the League Cup final of the three Spartan Leagues. We never got to play that final though, because it was called off because of Covid. We did manage to achieve promotion to step 5, which was very pleasing, even though that was because of points per game. And now we’re pushing to be playing at a better level, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be.

For those who haven’t seen Milton Keynes Irish play, could you describe to me how your team likes to play football?

Terry: If we go back to when I was playing football, I was always desperate for someone to pass me the ball, but back then it was all about knocking the ball in the corners, and that was typical non-League football. We did start off with that style of football a bit, as me and my assistant at the club had both been brought up playing that style of football. We’ve got some good players at Milton Keynes Irish, and we do play football with a lot of passing to our game. That physical side of the game has gone now, and so you have to be able to pass the ball. You are only as good as the weakest link in your team, and so it’s no good having one player who can’t pass it, so if that’s the case then you’ve got to play the game longer. However, we are a passing side now.

The current Spartan South Midlands Premier Division season has been a really interesting one, so far. What have you made of this season? 

Terry: Well I think that it’s a very competitive league this season. Back when I was playing the game, the UCL was a lot more competitive than the Spartan League, because there were some sides in that league, that if you managed to get on top of them in games, then they’d give up. But the teams in this league now don’t give up, and I know that we’ve had a few convincing wins this season, but even last Saturday against Crawley Green, they played their game right until the end, even though we were winning convincingly. That is better for the spectators, and it’s also better for us, because at half-time it’s not over, and you’ve got to keep playing. I’m very happy with how our season is going. We’ve got a great group of lads, who are always at training, trying hard on the pitch. We’ve improved in our discipline as well, having had ten sin bins last season, compared to two this season. We’ve also still got a young side at the club.

What have you made of Milton Keynes Irish FC’s 2023/24 season, so far?

Terry: It’s been very good, to sum it up. Even last Saturday against Crawley Green, we weren’t happy to concede two goals, despite being convincing winners, and that shows how far we’ve come from last season.

Could you talk me through a bit about what the current Milton Keynes Irish first team squad is like to manage?

Terry: There’s three or four players who have been here since we started the club, but as you improve quite a lot of new players join the club. We have had quite a lot of our players, who have joined us from other clubs, when they were low on confidence. So it’s taken us a little while to build that confidence up as a team. We did have to change the shape of the side during the first half of the season, because we had so many forward players. So Glyn Creaser had been trying to get us to play three at the back, but now we’re currently playing with four at the back, without wingbacks. As we’re playing with three in the midfield, and three up top. So we get our width from the forwards. They work hard for one another, without too much moaning, and so the shape of the side has probably foxed some of the teams that we have played against, but all of these players are good on the ball. If I were to choose our player of the year, then I could easily choose five or six different players. It’s not one man who is the difference in this team, instead it’s the collective, which is good.

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?

Terry: Well Real Bedford are a really good team, who have some good players. They’ve scored more goals than us, but they’ve conceded more goals than us at this stage of the season. It’s between us or them for the league title, and although we should probably finish in the top two, unfortunately there’s only one team who goes up automatically.

What are your hopes and aims for the remainder of this season for Milton Keynes Irish?

Terry: I say to Patrick, our vice chairman (he interviews me after most games) that we want to win every game. Obviously everyone says that, but we’ve got to work hard as a team to achieve that objective, which isn’t always possible. Of course we are planning for the future as a club, but that doesn’t happen unless you win those next couple of matches.