Glyn Hodges doesn’t want to spend too much time dwelling on the best days of his playing career with Wimbledon, as he’s keen to focus on getting the current crop out of trouble.
Our new Assistant Manager has linked up again with former midfield team-mate Wally Downes (pictured), as the duo bid to help AFC Wimbledon beat the League One drop this season. Glyn has already seen positive signs from the current squad in the brief amount of time he’s been able to spend with the players, ahead of tomorrow’s match with Rochdale.
“The biggest thing for me was the reaction at Chelsea in the last twenty minutes,” said Glyn in an interview which can be seen in full on our iFollow Dons video platform. “I thought ‘Wow! That’s what we’re looking for.’ That’s a good start and we’re hoping to build on that.
“Working with the boys they give you everything and they’re keen, but we know we’re in a relegation battle and you don’t want that on your CV. I’m sure everybody here will be pulling in the right direction to make sure that isn’t the case at the end of the season.
“It’s been good. Obviously we’d have liked a few more days to prepare and probably the game on Tuesday wasn’t the best time to play, as we had a few involved in that, but we’ve had the full squad out there working on bits and pieces. We’ll finish it off and hopefully get the right result on Saturday.
“We’re looking forward to it. There was a definite reaction when Wally went on the bench on Tuesday night. We looked like we gained a bit of momentum. We didn’t finish it off, but if we can gain the momentum from the first minute we’ll be more than happy.”
Glyn has plenty of experience at the top end of the game in this country, both as a player and coach. The former Welsh international has a clear vision of how he can help Wally and the Dons achieve survival.
“As Assistant Manager I’ll be hands on in the coaching,” said Glyn. “It will be vital working with Wally, the players will be split into groups and I will be working with the forwards. At the moment it’s just about getting the tactics down, eleven versus eleven, working together as a team and bouncing off each other with ideas and bits and pieces. There’s a lot of knowledge, Wally actually coached me at a couple of clubs. I know the calibre of coach he is and I am more than happy to come and help.
“It’s definitely brought me back to my roots! Back down memory lane! The training ground is good, the pitches are excellent and that’s the main thing. You don’t worry too much about the surroundings. As long as you can get the work done, get the right points across, the surface is good and you get a bit of quality out of each session – that’s all that counts.”