THE EDDIE WARWICK INTERVIEW

OCTOBER 13th 2024:

Well Eddie we have just passed the second anniversary of you taking over as manager of Dalbeattie Star - looking back, how have the two years been for you?  

Hectic.!!!!  But seriously it's been very good. These part time jobs are sometimes only by name it’s entirely up to the person how much they want or are willing to give to the job in hand and I would like to think anyone connected with Dalbeattie knows and appreciates I am pretty much 100% full on and relentless, which can be good and bad at times. But the way I've been brought up and throughout my coaching journey, which is now over 20 years with 13 years of that being full time in around the professional environments, is the only way I know is and that is 100% all in. It's also been an enjoyable journey here at Dalbeattie - one that thankfully has flown past without too many down moments or negative times, and it's fair to say our ups far outweigh our downs so far. 

You took over during a difficult time for the club, did you ever wonder whether you had make the right decision by taking on such a huge task? 

No I have never regretted anything in football over the years. I have learned and worked under some very good pro managers and it's an environment where you must look forward at all times as there is no time to look back. I wasn't really long home from my job in China and it was clear I was going to stick around at home for a while and I also squeezed in a few months working with Carlisle United which I cut short to take up the Dalbeattie post. Again I believe the task is only as big as you want it to be and I came to Dalbeattie with a clear plan and structure and that it was a 2-3 year project and everyone was on board. We knew where the club was at and effectively accepted relegation from the Lowland League and using that 6 months to lay the foundations for the next 2 years and that is exactly what we did. We also tried to compete with what we had whilst all the future plans and process in the background were being prepared for our return to the South League. We did in that time produce good wins against Berwick and Civil and took points from Hearts and Celtic both at home, so it was a worthwhile period with some good memories.

Your first full season in charge saw the club return to the South league and with it a return to lifting some silverware, and in some style. That must have been particularly pleasing for you.

Absolutely and I am very honest and fair as not many people were giving us much hope or chance to be successful last season and rightly so - we completed the previous Lowland League campaign and cleared the decks to be left with 2 players and 2 coaches on June the 2nd. Pre season started 4 weeks later and we were already 2-3 pre season games behind other clubs.  But me personally I always believed in the way we were building and putting each component carefully together and I thought we would do well. Our average age was 21.5 years for 20 man squad which is very young for the South League. But as the season was progressing we were starting to play some very good football and picking up some big results against established teams and I started to have a gut feeling around the turn of the year we would go very close to the championship. Let's be honest in only 10 months together we had no right really to be in the mix but momentum in football is everything and the opportunity presented itself and we took it and completed an amazing achievement for the club.

You have built up a good team around you off the park and the playing squad is as strong as it has been for a number of years. Are you pleased with what you have or do you constantly look to improve things if the need arises?

You can never rest on your laurels especially in football and we do believe we have a stronger and more experienced team from last season absolutely, but it can still mean very little. Its over to the players to continue to push hard and keep trusting the process that's brought them success already. I always look to improve all areas including myself, every single day and if something comes up that may make us stronger and improve and most importantly fits into our club culture and changing room, then we will look at it for sure. The management team here at Dalbeattie is great, they are all respected by the players and they all are motivated and continue to push me and in return I want to use every single piece of my 20 years experience and produce the goods for them and not let them down. Without them we would not have been able to achieve what we have and they are all very important components to the machine here at Dalbeattie and make my job very easy. Long may that continue.

The team has been badly hit by injuries this season but the results continue to come - just as well you have a good size squad.

Well that really is the secret to being successful. It's not 11 players who win it's a squad game and we are fortunate to have more than 11 players who are starters, so we are able to change and swap personnel without the quality and standards dropping too much. The biggest negative or downfall was the timing of the injuries this season, right before our regional and Scottish cup games which we narrowly lost  2-1 in both games. Even just having a couple of the 7 injured available, I fully believe we would have progressed in both competitions but that's the way football is and unfortunately there are no second chances.

Looking back at your two years, what is the one outstanding moment that sticks out above the rest?

There are two. Obviously winning the league title away at Creetown and we had something like a 16 game winning streak last season, an outstanding achievement from all involved. 

Finally, there is plenty to play for this season and we are well placed in all the South competitions, so what are your hopes and ambitions for the rest of this term and beyond? 

Hope - is we continue our hot form and keep pushing forward and work hard to achieve our goals this season. 

This season already has thrown up a few surprises and shock results - the top 3 from last season was the bottom 3 after 2 games this season. So we had a slowish start with 1 point from 6 but the key is never to panic and believe in what you have in the changing room and they will pull us all through. There is no doubting the ability within our team so it was just confidence and a few tweaks required. There were things I would look to do differently the next time over pre season and early season games, so it's important we learn and improve from week one of the season. The difference this season as shown already is that it's more competitive and there are 5 /6 teams all in the mix and some had 100% starts over the first 5 games but thankfully we have pulled them back towards us. It will be a difficult task ahead for anyone to be crowned champions this season and we will continue to work hard and take each game as it comes and do all we can for the 3 points each week. We are obviously the champions and with that comes no easy games as we are everyone's target and the benchmark to beat and there is an extra 10% effort up against you every Saturday and the target on our back becomes twice the size. Genuinely I am fine with all that and it challenges the team and us as coaches more and we give every opponent 100% respect. We are trying to achieve a very difficult thing in winning a league title back to back and it's been 12-13 years I think since it was last done, so we will give it our best and enjoy the journey as we go.

THE DAVID TAYLOR INTERVIEW

JULY 22nd 2024:

At the start of last season expectations were not that high - what were your own thoughts back then?

Unfortunately going into a new season on the back of a relegation perhaps led to the expectations of some not being too high, and whilst I can understand that to an extent my own personal thoughts back then after speaking to the manager prior to preseason starting, I was very comfortable with where we were in terms of the rebuild. Although we both agreed at the time that we were probably three or four bodies short, there was a lot of quality already within the new squad, and yes some young players, but even within those younger lads there were some who had been over the course in the South League previously. From an experience point of view half a dozen or so players had played in league winning sides so I was quietly confident turning up on day one of preseason, that once we got to work, in my own mind we wouldn’t be miles off it if we could get the players to gel quickly and trust the process. So, in truth my own expectations were already quite high at that time in terms of the squad and with what I felt I could personally bring to the table working alongside the manager and the rest of the coaching team. 

Was there a particular moment or a match, when you thought we could be onto something good here?

First game of the new season against Abbey Vale, who were reigning champions and very difficult to beat on their own patch. We got the result and more importantly coupled with their ability, we learned a fair bit about the character of our lads that day for moving forward into a long hard season. I remember having a conversation with the manager after that game and told him we now have to believe we should be competing to win this league title.

The end of last season was hectic to say the least with league deciders and cup finals - how was that period for you?

The end of the season was quite ridiculous at times in terms of the scheduling with games every two or three days over the last few months, and travelling two hours to games, playing the games and travelling two hours back up the road. It was quite demanding at times (particularly for my car) however it came with being successful during the season, and it’s what I signed up for and every mile and every minute took us closer to our targets. So like every single person involved, you get on with it and do what has to be done for the cause. 

The management team at the Star seems to be a strong unit - what are your thoughts on that and what is it like working with the other guys?

Yes we are a strong unit but that doesn't happen by luck, you got to work hard at that too and believe me if you had to work with Mark McMinn and Mikey Devlin you'd know exactly what I'm talking about 🤣🤣

No, in all seriousness, the management team do have a very strong bond, things are always discussed, obviously led by the manager, but I think the key to it working as it does is because Dalbeattie Star Football Club is always at the forefront for everyone.

Mark McMinn being a Dalbeattie man has a huge passion for the club and involving the local community in all things Dalbeattie Star and he proved instrumental in bringing fans back through the gates to support the team.

Mikey Devlin, one of the nicest guys I've ever met in football and also deserves so much praise and credit for the work he does for the club.

The Manager, eats, sleeps and breaths Dalbeattie and never took his eye off the ball last season and I was absolutely over the moon for him when we managed to clinch the the league title on the last day over at Creetown.

The management/coaching team also grew towards the end of last season with Cammy Sinclair joining us, and already this pre-season we've added our goalkeeping coach in Alex "The Cat" Clark, AKA Bunty.

The connection between Motherwell and Dalbeattie isn't the most obvious so how did you end up coaching at Islecroft?

Yeah Motherwell and Dalbeattie are a few miles apart to say the least however football circumstances brought us together and sometimes things are just meant to be.

Your son of course is one of the mainstays of the side, picking up two player of the year awards last season.

How does this father and son dynamic work for you in a player and coach capacity?

Father and son dynamics in football aren't as rare as you may think, but yeah for some the emotional attachment can prove challenging but this one works pretty well in my opinion, David does his job and I do my mine. We both, along with the rest of the group want to achieve success on the pitch for Dalbeattie Star so I'm hoping the coming season works out similar to the one we've just had and I'm sure we will all be happy with that.

Of course on a personal level, I was absolutely delighted for David winning the players and management POTY awards and for his mum and brother to be there when he collected his awards was extra special because there are many family sacrifices made around football, so to have that time together was very important. David though won't need me to tell him, those awards although well deserved, were achieved last season and he's got to be ready to raise the bar further and go again for another tough demanding campaign. 

Finally 2024/25 begins this weekend - what are your thoughts and hopes for the new campaign?

Having retained the majority of last seasons squad and adding a few new players, I am hoping as a group we can continue to grow and develop and push on to achieve another positive season. With being successful last season, I do firmly believe things will be a whole lot tougher this time round, because you now have that target on your back, but again all we ask the boys to do is, stay calm, continue to be professional, maintain the standards and trust the process.

THE MARK McMINN INTERVIEW

JANUARY 18th 2024:

You joined Star last summer Mark, after a very successful spell in charge at Birchtree AFC. How did the move to the Star come about?

It was a bit out of the blue really. We had a very good group of lads at Birchtree and were very successful, so when the Gaffer phoned me I assumed it was to get permission to approach some of those players, to invite them to sign for him and make the move to Dalbeattie Star. It was a shock when he said he was contacting me to become his assistant manager, but after some consideration, I felt it was something I had to do and was too good an opportunity to miss.

You seem to have settled into your new role at the club very well. How is it working with Eddie, Mikey and David and the fact you had worked closely with a number of the players before, did this help?

Until last season all my experience in coaching was at youth level with Greystone Rovers and then Queen of the South, so it has been a new challenge joining a senior club at this level, but it’s been brilliant so far and I’m loving it. Eddie, David and Mikey have a wealth of experience that I can tap into and learn from, and I think as a group we all work well together. I knew some of the boys from youth level but it’s been Eddie who had the knowledge of most of the boys and identified the players he wanted to bring to the club, and it has been a considerable job to build a squad almost from scratch to where we are now.

Also going from being manager to assistant manager, how difficult was that? What have you found are the main differences between the two roles?

I can’t lie, it did take a bit of getting used to. I wasn’t sure when to speak up and when to shut up!!! Add to that the gaffer losing his voice for several weeks as we were still finding our feet working together, it did bring some challenges as I adjusted to the transition. But we talk every day and I feel we share the same ideas on how we like the game to be played. Hopefully this is coming to the fore now as the boys are playing some very good stuff in the style I would enjoy watching, so I hope the support are also liking what they see from the squad.

Since coming to the Star, has there been anything that has surprised you on or off the field, or has the experience been what you probably expected? 

I think I have been surprised by the level of professionalism that the players have shown towards the game. We train twice a week and it is almost always 100% attendance. Even over the festive season when I assumed everything would stop for a few weeks, we were training throughout and it’s to the credit of the players that numbers remained high with very few call-offs. It wasn’t like that when I was younger!!! 🤣

We are roughly half way through the season - what would your mid-term report say?

Initial targets met, but we still want more. We wanted to get to Christmas in a position to challenge for the title so to that point, we achieved that. We dropped five points which is disappointing, but it’s a long hard season so we hope to still be challenging come the end of the season.

We have currently got a young and exciting squad and the fans are certainly enjoying the football they are watching - the buzz seems to be back at Islecroft. What are your hopes for the team and club between now and the end of the season?

To win games of football - it’s still the best feeling in the world. We were tasked with giving the support a successful team with a local element to that. We’ve managed the latter part of that, but we all know we’ve achieved nothing yet in terms of success. We’re all committed to bringing silverware to Islecroft come the end of the season. Hopefully the crowds can continue to increase and we can continue to build on the buzz that the players are creating and we can achieve our aims.