Terry Brown reminded the current squad of their importance to supporters of a fans-owned club, as they prepared for an important match versus Northampton Town.
After being tested to fit in with Covid-19 regulations at the training ground, Terry, who guided us back into the league with three promotions in four seasons, met the players and watched Robbo’s training session at New Malden.
Following this, our former manager sat down with us to talk about his return to the training ground, the appointment of Robbo as Head Coach, and the magic of Manchester – almost 10 years on!
“Robbo made a real fuss of me,” said Terry. “He allowed me to have a little chat to the boys, and it wasn’t just about going through the history of the club as they are fully aware of where the club came from and how we evolved. It was more to tell them how special they are as a team and how important they are to our fans. The 11 games left gives us a chance to plan for next season. Yes, I know it’s a relegation battle, but it gives us a platform for Robbo to get his points across and for Robbo to integrate a completely different style of football, in terms of what he believes in. I am obviously a bit bias because I’ve kept in contact with Robbo since I left. We regularly have phone calls.
“I thought at one time that Robbo would need to move to get on, he has been ready for this for five or six years. He knows the club inside out. Sometimes it is said ‘oh, it’s another Wimbledon bloke, he’s been at the club for donkeys years’, but Robbo has served his time and he is technically one of the best coaches I have ever worked with. He’s got a real way with the players. It’s not a case of, ‘you better do this, you’ve got to do it’, but he says ‘let’s work on this together and get better together’. I love the way that the approach is 80 per cent about us and 20 per cent the opposition. Robbo talked a little bit about Northampton, and they’ve seen info on them, but it’s all about what we are going to do and how we are going to dictate play.
“As full-time professional players in League One, it’s not enough to say, ‘we have got to stop the opposition playing’. Yes, we will work hard on stopping the opposition, but Robbo allowed me to watch the planning today. I won’t discuss too much about how we are going to play, but I loved the enthusiasm from Robbo, and his coaching staff, including Bayzo. How on earth does he keep such enthusiasm up? There are only so many coaching drills you can do for a goalie! The man is a genius at it.
“It’s a good squad of young players – the youngest team in the league. When you’ve got a coach who can work and make those players better, it’s very much a scenario of, ‘don’t tell me what you can’t do, tell me what you can do, and tell me what you can do better’. I think that’s the way ahead.”
Click on the link below to watch Rob Cornell’s extensive interview with Terry.