 Hello, it's that time again when you fired up your podcast provider to listen to the latest instalment of the official AFC Bournemouth podcast, bringing you extended chats about our guests' lives, times, and Cherry's careers and connections. We're back amongst the club's coaching staff for our pod today, but before we get into that, Neil Perrett is here once again, AFCB club journalist. Neil, we're at the end of the season now, which means you're not going to get to see me twice a week at matches for a while. Are you going to be okay with that? I'm going to be absolutely fine, Chris. I've got a picture of you dressed as Elvis Presley that I can always look at. It was the time you said that there was no chance of Eddie Howe coming back as manager, and if he did, you'd dress up as Elvis to commentate on a game. Do you remember that? I do remember a very chilly Tuesday night against Rosebury. I think it was 1-0, and even Eddie didn't even come up for the post-match interview after all that day. But yes, that unfortunate photo does keep resurfacing, but thanks for reminding us anyway. Let's bring in today's guest enough of that nonsense, shall we? As I said, we're returning to the club's coaching hierarchy today, and a man who's been no stranger to leading his team to silverware as a coach recently. He also played 240 times for the Cherries during a seven-year stint. Many of them as captain. It's a delight to welcome to the pod the club's under-21 coach, Sean Cooper. How are you, Sean? Well, good. Thanks, Chris. Good. Good to have you with us. We're going to be focusing particularly as the Cherries, of course, are preparing to face Brentford in the championship playoffs over the next week or so. The main topic of this podcast will be look back ten years to the time the club last made the playoffs in a very eventful 2010-11 season. But before we get into that, a quick reflection for you on what's been a great couple of weeks for you and your under-21 squad. Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone's aware of how the Eastley game unfolded. Obviously, with Traves coming up, scoring the late equaliser. So yeah, good two weeks for us. In terms of that, I mean, silverware at your level, I know the fixture schedule has been a little bit truncated because of COVID and various issues as well. But when you've got something meaningful at the end of the season to aim for, the central lead cup, you obviously won at St George's Park. And beyond the trophy, that looked to be a great experience for your guys training at that facility as well. Yeah, it was. You know, being where England trained, the lads were buzzing when we got up there. The changing room was fantastic. It was the biggest change room I've ever been in. So the whole experience was really good. So yeah, it was a good day. You were able to call on, as you said, Mark Traves scoring a goal against Eastley and Gavin Kilkenny and a couple of other lads who've had first team as well. How nice for them, having been on the fringes of the first team for a lot of the season and spent a lot of bench time for the first team to really be contributing to something. Yeah, for all the boys, I think the one thing they miss with our games program is the competitive side, playing for something. That's not to say they aren't competitive. They play to win every time they play. But as you say, to end it playing for a trophy and then to win the trophy for all of them was fantastic. We'll come a lot more on to your current role and your coaching career and your hopes for the future as well, a little bit later on in the podcast. But let's take it back 10 years then. First of all, how good your memory? How good is that 2010-11 season sticking in your mind? Well, the first thing that jumps out is the playoffs. And the second thing that jumps out is, for me, Plymouth away when we won somehow. It was a Jason Pierce show. I think we were under the cosh for the whole game and he was outstanding. In summer, we managed to nick a win. So those two things jump straight to the front of my mind. Well, let's dig into a bit more forensic detail on this with the help of Neil, who's done some great research to dig out some of the memories of that season 10 years ago. First of all, you had to work pretty hard on your fitness, having got back in March 2010. You were out for 11 months with a hip problem. Yeah, I was. I played through the great escape season with a hip issue, and then I had to have an operation in the summer. And I managed to to nick a few appearances at the tail end of the promotion year, which was nice. But yeah, you know, I think from that point on, I always had a struggle with injury. So, you know, along with everybody at the time, we were all playing bandaged up, as is the case at most clubs, really. But yeah, it was just I actually look back and see how many appearances I played in the 2010-11 season. I was quite surprised I played that many because I just felt like I was always getting niggles, but credit to the physio Steve Hart at the time. He managed to wrap me up and get me out there. He's wrapped a lot of players up over the last 10 years, hasn't he, since he's been here, Steve? Was there ever a concern during that long injury layoff that you might might not get back to the same level? Did I ever get back to that level? I don't know. What was that level? Hi. Yeah. Yeah, there was always the concern. You know, it's not nice. I'm sure so many people and there's more people have probably sat in this seat and told you stories about when they were injured. And it's not nice. You do have concerns. You start getting anxious about what if this is it? What am I going to do? And you know, all of those things weighing on your mind, you then got to go out and play. So it's tough. But one thing I'll say, and you know, I'm sure we'll speak about Brad as a bit later. I do remember, late in or in a way, I've really struggled with injury. And I was in that mindset of, am I ever going to get fit enough to carry on playing or am I going to have to call it a day? And I'd had a joke and a laugh of Harry art the day before I said something not very offensive to him and him being the type of character he was just shot me down with whatever coups you won't even last half hour tomorrow. Being the type they was. And I think it was 27 minutes I lasted. So for for him, I'm sure I'm sure it was funny. But you know, I was in a real I was struggling. And so I came off, sat down and it got it got the better of me. So I had to go into the dressing room because I started crying I was in tears. That's how that's how much I was struggling with it. And I remember Lee Bradbury was on the bench and he came in and put his arm around me and said some nice things. So I'll never forget that. You know, when you are a player, you know, players breaking down in tears, it takes quite a bit to admit that kind of thing. Because it's, you know, the masculine dressing room and things of a first team squad is a tough place to be at times. Yeah. Well, on the flip side of that, I've seen other people as well break down. And having remembered what it meant when Brad has came and spoke to me, you know, you know, I spoke to these lads, some of them were young lads. And, you know, that's all you've ever done, whatever age you are, as a player, we've ever done is play football. So to worry that it's coming to an end, you know, is, you know, it's not it's not nice. The start of that season, there were three new signings in the 1011 season, one of them you've already mentioned, Harry Arter. The question was going to be what were your first impressions of it? But I think just got an idea of you soon got to know what Harry Arter was like. Mark Pughin and Michael Symes as well arrived to give the squad a bit of a boost that season. Yeah, I mean, they're all very good players. You know, with Harry Arter, I remember seeing him in training, he'd come from non-league. So my ignorance at the time, I didn't realise quite the level of ability that there was in non-league. So he come up and he trained with us. And I didn't think much of him when I first saw him. He was short lad with long hair. He was quiet. Obviously, he didn't know anyone. But then we started training. And he was very ratty. If he closed you down with a ball, you had to offload it quickly because he'd tackle you. I'm trying to press him. And he's using his left foot, his right foot. I'm thinking, I don't know what foot this kid is. I couldn't get near him. So I was impressed on the first day of training for sure. Sean, the season started well with a bang, certainly for Brett Pittman. He got a hat trick and a 5-1 home win against Peterborough here. But days later, he got sold to Bristol City. What was the mood in the camp that you'd lost your goal-scoring talisman so soon into that season? It wasn't a surprise. We suspected it may happen. But yeah, you lose, Brett, you lose goals. So it was a question of where they're going to come from. Which, as the season went on, we obviously had good players that were up and coming who managed to score goals for us. But yeah, obviously, scored a hat trick, deserved his move. And that was the main thing, where our goal's going to come from. Just expand a little bit on what's it like to play with Brett in your team. Because when I look back at the greatest escape and the promotion the following season and where the club is now, you could argue that the club potentially might not have been here at it, not been for all those goals. No, I don't think you could ever overstate the importance of Brett Pittman to this football club. But I think, you know, he's arguably the most important player in terms of individual contributions. His goal record's phenomenal. He's certainly the best finisher I ever played with. But I think, particularly in his early days, it was, you had to take the bad with the good with him. Not so much the bad, but he was never going to be the type to sprint around and set off a press for you. But if you gave him an opportunity, he would score you a goal. It was that simple. We all knew it. He knew it. And eventually Eddie knew it as a manager, which is why he always played him and got the best out of him. We just had to serve it up for him and he'd go and finish off the attack. So, you know, it's a it's a priceless quality to have. Josh McCoyd was the man tasked to fill the void after Brett had gone to Bristol City. He certainly stepped up to the plate. But he got back to back hat tricks in November, one in the cup, joined Millwall on loan, and then he was gone as well. That was probably a sign of the financial times at the club then. Yeah. You know, as you know, that's how the club worked back then. He come in and he was on fire. We knew Josh was quick. He'd predominantly been a wide man, I think, for the youth team. And then he come in and he started playing up front for us and he had blister in pace and, you know, back to back hat tricks. He was ruthless in front of goals. So it's no surprise that there was a tension and they ended up leaving. The club weren't in a position really to keep hold of anyone, if anything, elsewhere came about. So, yeah, there's another one who it happened quickly, but deserved his move. The baton then got handed to Danny Ings, who'd only turned 18 in the summer. And he'd only played one game previously when he was picked to start in a two-nil defeat at Milton Keynes-Dons in December. What did you make of a teenage, Danny Ings? Well, Ings, he was a very confident lad. Very confident, I think, anyone who's ever met him will know that. But he was really grounded as well. He was hard working. He had bags of skill. I remember training against him. He was really sharp. Couldn't get near him. He'd drop his shoulder. He was jinky. He was energetic. I think his finishing needed a bit of refinement. But the amount of times, when he did start playing for us, the amount of chances he would create for himself were his own energy. And he could have scored a lot more than he did for us. He missed quite a few chances. But, yeah, to play against him in training, he was a real handful for all those reasons. The two-nil defeat at Colchester in January was followed by the news that every Cherry's fan had been dreading. Excuse me, that Eddie Howe and Jason Tyndall were on their way to Burnley. Tell us how you, as a playing squad, found out that news. Yeah, my memory's not too clear on that. It was a blurry one because we'd obviously heard rumours and then it was a bit of a case of willy won'ty. And I think, if I remember rightly, we were all convinced he was staying. And then last minute, he wasn't staying. So it was a bit of a, by the point of it happening, I thought he was going to stay. But we were aware of the rumours as everyone was that he might leave. So, yeah, again, it's another one where the club, at the time, couldn't keep hold of people. Something from a higher division came calling. So, again, he deserved that opportunity. What was the feeling in the dressing room, though, for someone who'd been such a big part of the last two or three years? What's going to happen next, really? Eddie was fantastic. The way he come in and the way he adapted everyone's mentality and got everyone together tactically. Just everything about him. He was obviously at the beginning of what he became. And we could all see it and we could all feel it. And it was better than anything we'd had previous. And we weren't sure if we were going to be able to get anything in of that level really. So, you know, we didn't know what was going to happen. The club moved pretty quickly to a point, Lee Braver. You've already mentioned him in this as Eddie's replacement, Steve Fletcher, of course, as his assistant. You are or were pretty close with Braddus. He had pretty big shoes to fill in terms of Eddie's, isn't he? Because he was unproven himself at that stage, Braddus? Yeah, I think and Braddus really did go straight into it. Whereas, you know, Eddie was doing a bit of coaching. He was coaching alongside Kevin Bond, as we all know. So, but Braddus was chucked straight into it. And considering that, I think he done really well. He obviously had a good run of results when he first took over. Some of them were lucky. But I do think Eddie had left a framework for Braddus to just try and carry on. And Braddus can be forgiven, I think, for not necessarily delivering the same messages that Eddie did, due to his inexperience. But he carried on the type of sessions we were doing. So we had the tempo, we had the energy, we had the structure of what we were trying to do and kind of carried on, kept the momentum going a little bit from what Eddie had created. So, yeah, considering he really was thrown straight into it, I thought he done really well. What was it like to have who someone you would class as a friend, perhaps to then become your manager? How difficult was that to deal with? Well, I don't think it was difficult at all. Braddus was one of those who, a bit like Eddie, really, had the respect of the dressing room for different reasons. Eddie was, you know, a straight line professional, really harsh on himself, really wanted to drive himself to be better. And obviously, Braddus did, but he was more of a one of the lads type. But he'd had a good career, Braddus. You know, he had some big transfer moves, he scored goals in the championship. So everyone respected him straight away. So he never had a problem with any lads. I think he rolled into it quite nicely, if I'm honest. You spent a lot of time in the trenches alongside Marvin Bartley. And you've already made reference to that game at Plymouth, the 2-1 win there at the end of January. That was his final game before he followed Eddie to Burnley. Just tell us a little bit about what he was like as a teammate, Marvin. Marvin, what a character I just think of his laugh straight away, as soon as you mentioned his name. Marv was a real character. He was a real pot stirrer. He would load the gun for other people to get at each other. But if you made him laugh, everyone knew about it. He was the loudest laugh in the room. Him and Piercey were really close, really tight. And they used to come in there, drive in school, and go, Marvin was used to have great banter. They used to go at each other all the time. Yeah, and it was brilliant. And obviously as a teammate, Marv was so athletic. I just used to remember getting the ball sometimes at centre-back and just seeing his arms in the air when he started making one of his channel runs. I just put it in there because how quick he was. And on the flip side of that, when we were ever being counter- attacked and I was trying to slow down the attacker because I couldn't run at no speed, I'd just seen Marvin making up ground behind him. And I just thought, I'd just delay him long enough, Marv will come back and get me out of trouble with it, which he always did. So yeah, he was a great lad, Marvin. And he done really well for us. I think Bondy signed him, I think. And yeah, he done well for us. The window fitter, he was just one quick funny story about Marvin. The most eventful night ever I had working at the Echo was that transfer deadline night when I took a phone call from a guy who was Marvin's agent and he said to me, Neil, if you have any idea where Marvin is, apparently he had gone off with another agent who'd sorted out the move to Burnley and his original agent didn't know anything about it. It's quite an eye-opener. Anyway, swiftly moving on. Bradders and Fletch enjoyed a flying start to life in management. It was a 10-match unbeaten run, including a win over Brighton, the leaders in their first home game. That run kept the team in second place behind the Seagulls. You started all 10 of those games. Did you feel back to your best by then? I can't remember to be honest with you. I do remember the Brighton game, though. I remember Feeney scored a volley, I believe. It was a strong league that year. We had some good teams. I remember Southampton coming down and Brighton coming down. I remember the crowd was a big crowd. It was loud. So, yeah, winning that game was a great feeling, great buzz. The 10 game unbeaten run kept you in second place for the majority of the time, the second automatic promotion place did. Did you or any of the other lads start thinking that automatic promotion could really be on the cards now? Well, yeah, we knew it was on the cards because of where we were in the league. It was sustaining the results was the issue. Like I said, I think we were fortunate with a few of the results we got during that unbeaten run. And I think we were all aware of that, that eventually some of the luck we were getting was going to run out. So, whether we believed we would stay there, I'm not so sure, but obviously once you're in that position, you know, you've got a chance of going up automatically. So, as it turns out, the luck did run out a little bit. Yeah, it did. Three defeats on the trot. First of all, the second of which was a 3-1 home defeat here by Southampton. Can you remember anything about that game which might have made you a viral sensation on YouTube? Yeah, yeah, of course. Do you know what? I never realised that at the time what a bad challenger actually was because obviously I was looking at the ball. And I just saw, I didn't know who it was, I saw him at the corner of my running towards me, I had my eyes fixed on the ball and thought, he's going to jump into me here, I'm going to get a foul. So, I just focused on contacting and I initially thought he'd jumped into me with a shoulder and everyone went mad. I remember everyone running around him. I've got up to the ref. I thought I was going to have to try and sell it to the ref a little bit, try and get him sent off. And then when I watched it back, I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. If I was fixed, if my feet were planted on the floor, he could have done some serious damage. And I don't know what motivated that. But it is funny looking back on it now. When you say you had to sell it to the ref there, you got straight back to your feet. There was no theatrics. No, it was just a ref. Come on. He jumped into me there. That's the kind of thing I was saying. I didn't realise he had two-footed me around the waist. But yeah, it just flipped me around. Like I said, I was lucky I was in the air. Just flipped me around and I soft landed. Just for those people who don't know, if you put Oscar Goeber and tackle into Google, you will see it straight away. Like we said nearly a million views already. The Samson player just came hurtling it. Sean Cooper and like you said, two-footed in the waist. He's had that many views. What, a million views? If you type in Oscar, it'll probably come up before the Oscars themselves on YouTube. I was out in Southampton a few weeks later and I saw it. And did you reverse it? No, you just stood there. And I went up to her and I said, what's that about? What are you thinking even? Oh, sorry, man. Do you want a drink? Yeah, go on. That was it. One drink for a waist high kung-fu table. Yeah, exactly. So we made peace. Well, that was nice to see in a local derby. The sticky runner results, unfortunately, they did continue. Two wins from the final 12 games of that season. Saw you finish sixth in the end. A point clear of Lake Norian and Exeter as well. Why did it sort of tail off? I'm not sure, to be honest. One of those things you talk about, you know, automatic promotion might be in your mind, but you're thinking actually, well, there might be a turn of luck at some point. Do you start believing too early that, OK, this job is nearly done and then your mind waivers and your mind's off the ball? Something you probably instill in your land to the opposite now? Yeah, I imagine... I can't remember too clearly the reason why that happened, but... I imagine at the time, having been where we were in the league and then slowly slipping, as you say, the anxiety would have heightened and then we'd put a bit of pressure on ourselves to end up in the playoff places by doing so well. So I imagine that had a part to play in it. Just going to throw in a 3-3 draw at Peterborough away on April Fool's Day. Adam Smith scored a late leveller during his season on loan here from Tottenham. What did you make of a young Adam Smith in those days? Yeah, I rated him highly. He's a bit like Harry. I remember training against him for the first time and he was another one. When he pressed you, when he got close to you, you had to get rid of the ball because you couldn't get away from him. But I obviously played centre half alongside him for most of those games and he was just up and down, up and down. Left me exposed in the channel a few times, I have to say, but it was nice to have him creating so many attacks down our side. I thought he was a very good player. So you went all the way up to Hartley-Paul and got a 2-2 draw, which clinched a place in the playoffs. What was the mood in the camp heading into the home leg against Huddersfield? Well, we knew Huddersfield were a good team. We knew they were a big team, which ultimately proved to be one of their biggest weapons, particularly in the second leg, set pieces and all of those type of things. But anything can happen in the playoffs. We know that, but we did back ourselves. We did think we had enough to go and beat them. You went behind in that first leg and then Danny Ings had the chance to draw you level from the penalty spots. Big pressure for a young lad. There was a lot of hanging around as well and his penalty was eventually saved. Donald McDermott eventually equalised for you. How did you feel after the first leg? Was it advantage to them or it's only half-time and we're still in it sort of thing? Yeah, probably that one. It was, it was, you know, in my mind, it was nil-nil. We got up there. We win the game. We go through. So I thought we played well in the first leg, actually. It's just a shame Ings he obviously missed his penalty. But Donald was another one. He was capable of magic when he felt like it. He was such a good player. So yeah, it was going up there. I just thought, obviously, when the game we go through, but I didn't realise what was to come. So it was four days later. He went to West Yorkshire. 2-2 it was. Steve Lovell scored. Both won a penalty. A stunning individual strike as well. Just tell us a little bit about what he was like to play with. Came with a fantastic pedigree, having scored lots of goals in Scotland and he once agreed to play for this club for nothing when there was an embargo and we couldn't sign him because the block was put on there. Just tell us about him. Well, I think that Huddersfield game, the away leg, was Steve Lovell. It was the real Steve Lovell. I think he struggled with injuries and back to what we were talking about earlier. He was another one. Just couldn't quite get fit for long enough and it had a real impact on him. But I thought he was outstanding in that second leg and the goals he scored. That was him. Whenever I played against him in training, he was a threat in behind with his pace, but he was really clever with it. He knew when to threaten in behind to receive it feet or come short to run in behind him. He had a real intelligence behind his pace. And obviously, I can't remember which one of his goals it was when he rounded the goal. It was a great finish and you could see. I think when he celebrated that, he wasn't just celebrating the occasion. I think it was for him personally. Also, his struggles that he had with injury. I think that was a relief for him as well. But great lad on his day. Very, very hard to play against. So 2-2 after a 90 minutes in West Yorkshire, Danny Yings then heads you into the lead in extra time. Once you get that goal in extra time, are you thinking, that's it, we've done the job now? No, not just because I'm pessimistic by nature, but Huddersfield, as I said, carry a real threat from set pieces, which obviously is where that third goal come from. I think McCombe came on, is it McCombe, striker? Jamie McCombe. Yeah, or was he a defender or a winner? 7-1 for me, 7-5. I think he came on and he was really big. And for their third goal, Kaye scored it and I'd been marking him all game, but McCombe was on the pitch at the time. So Piercey had then gone to mark him and I was then trying to mark Clark whilst telling one of my teammates to mark Kaye. I won't say it was. And they took forever to mark him and then the ball come in. So I was still in and around, Kaye. And I remember it, I tried to go and jump behind him, but it was too late. He was already in front of me, half unmarked. And then he scored and I was raging. I was raging, so frustrated with it. And it probably didn't help when a few minutes later, Jason Pierce was then sent off for a tackle on Kevin Kilban. The highlights of the game show you doing your bit with the referee, putting your view across. Did you feel it was the right decision then? Or was that just the frustration bubbling over? Well, having trained with Piercey every day and played with him every week, that was just a standard Piercey tackle which he never seemed to get sent off for. So I was surprised, but, you know, having watched it back, it was strong. So I think there was no real arguments to be had with that one. So you get through to penalties at 3-3. We've seen cheeky penalties in the headlines for the wrong reasons. In the last few days, we've said Joe Aguero, but Michael Symes was a much cooler customer and actually found the net. Didn't he? Yeah, those are the sort of ones you're probably watching back on the halfway line. I'm thinking, I'm glad that's gone in. Well, that's just some Symes. Yeah, it was very laid back, very calm. And yeah, you know, I backed him to put it in. He was a good penalty taker, Symes. So yeah, I was pleased to see it go in, you're right. It's the worst possible scenario. You're walking forward and your penalty saved. It happened to Liam Feeney and then the worst, second worst possible scenario is the next man misses and Anton Robinson hit the bar and now you really are on the back foot. Yeah, I felt for both of those. I got on really well with everyone really, but I was quite close to Anton and Feeney whilst they were here and yeah, it's not nice to see your teammates miss a penalty, but then when it means you've got to score all your out, it's even worse. And you did send in Bennett the wrong way, but it was heartbreaking in the end. What were your initial emotions? When we lost. Yeah. I was just gutted, really. Everyone had worked so hard just on that night. Obviously, there was a hard work throughout the season to get you there, but just for that evening, that night, I thought the lads were outstanding and the grit and desire that they showed to get ourselves in front and ultimately concede a late equaliser. We were so close and you just gutted. And yeah, it was strange, really. I can't put it into words, it was just a real empty gutted feeling. I was lucky enough to be at the Hampshire Senior Cup Final when you won on penalties recently. And it's a science taking penalties. I've also seen the footage of you in training with Lewis Price getting advice from a goalkeeper, giving that to the players about how to take penalties. Just tell us, as a coach now, were things different then or is it exactly the same? We did practice penalties before. And like I said, to the lads, I've seen the clip. I did miss it the day before. And I went to go top left and stuck it over the bar, so on the day I went top right. So you can't replicate the pressure, you can practice the technique, but Pricey had some really good thoughts and ideas on that, which he shared with the lads. And a couple of other things we did, which Molls actually implemented when he was here. We were practicing for a potential penalty shootout in a cup competition before COVID. And about where the lads positioned themselves on the pitch and then goalkeeper going to get the ball for the next taker so they don't have to run offline to go and get the ball. So those things, when you win, you look and think, maybe they did make a difference, but who knows? Who knows? I thought the lads penalties, by the way, in the Hampshire Cup final were outstanding and under that pressure to go and execute it the way they did, was pleasing. Empty stadiums, penalty shootouts. We had one here, obviously, against Crystal Palace in the League Cup. I'm not sure if you were here for that one when the goalkeepers ended up taking them. Is there, in the Hampshire Senior Cup, obviously in a smaller non-league ground, it's probably not quite as much pressure, but do you think it's harder in an empty stadium when everything is silent and everybody is waiting for you rather than that background noise of the crowd trying to put you off, which you'd expect in a football environment? I've never done a penalty shootout in an empty stadium. Maybe when you watch the lads in the silence for no fans. Yeah, well, there was three Eastley fans over the other side of the pitch making a right racket, so that's the thing. You can really hear... Behind every closed door, Eastley fans, can't they? Yeah, they were stood on top of something, so they weren't breaking any rules. But you can really hear... And that's one of the things I experienced in non-league is you can hear the individual abuse quite clearly. So I don't know, to be honest, I imagine for me, personally, I was always just focused. I could block it out quite easily. Some people may be able to... I can't speak for other people, but it never bothered me. It's a stupid question, and going back to Huddersfield, we know that all the cameras would have been all over the winner's dressing room, and we're seeing all the jubilation in there. What was it like in your dressing room? Yeah, just a carry-on from the emotion. I just said about, really, an acknowledgement, a well-done, fantastic effort. If you're going to lose, that's one way to do it, by giving everything and taking it to the wire. So it was just a real... We were deflated, but at the same time, proud of ourselves for the effort that we gave, I think. You never want to lose, and this is another of Neil's stupid questions. Would you rather lose in that situation or lose on the day at Wembley in the final? I would have liked to have gone... Well, it would have been old Trafford at the time, but, yeah, to get to the final, I'd rather do it that way. You'd rather have the day at Wembley and experience, maybe a harder feeling having lost on 90 minutes on the day, but still had the occasion and everything to look forward to, and made more progress. Yeah, and I think it's just another big occasion to have experienced and to have learned from, so definitely that way round, yeah. You hear a lot of people say it's that the final itself is the worst way to lose, but I guess it's probably the hardest for a few days. What were that, I guess, the next week after that Huddersfield loss? I mean, how did you deal with it? Did you immediately fly off on holiday? How did things work there? Did you watch the final, for example? I didn't watch the final, no. But I didn't dwell on it for too long, and as I said, there was a lot of good memories from it. We were so close, and we were. If you look at the money their players were being paid compared to ours and all of those things, it was a real mismatch. The league itself, I think, there's a lot of bigger clubs in terms of finances in the division at the time, so it was quite an achievement for us to have gotten there, but not to say that we'll settle for what we had done, but I didn't dwell on it for too long. Took the good positive memories from it and experiences and just learned from them and moved forward. I know that's a bit corny, but I guess that's all you can do. We're going to come onto your playing career overall with the Cherries onto your coaching career as well, but just staying on the playoff theme, bearing in mind that the relevance of doing this podcast in the week that the Championship playoffs arrived, two-legged playoff semi-finals, have they got more KG, do you think, now? Because the stakes are high, particularly at the top-level championship up to the Premier League. Are we going to see 0-0s and 1-0s over the course of the next couple of legs? Do you think people are scared to make mistakes in playoff games? Yeah, I imagine they always have been. I don't think it's going to be KG between us, though. I think our playoff in particular, I think there's going to be goals. Just hopefully more for us. You said you haven't watched the highlights of the game. Have you watched the penalty shootout again? Yes, I have. And what prompts you to sort of watch that, if you like? What prompts me? Yeah, well, why did you want to see it again when you didn't want to watch the highlights of the game, if you like? I think I was with some of the lads a couple of times and we just speak about it occasionally and just whack it on. It's easy to access. And we just have a look at it, just to reminisce a little bit, I guess. As we playoff theme and we're in playoff mode, just give us your thoughts ahead of our playoff against Brentford. I think with our squad and our personnel and our players, we've got some real attacking threats. So I just fancy us against anyone on our day. So I think going into that, certainly got nothing to fear. I think if we approach it with an attacking mindset, then we've got a very good chance. Let's go back a little bit to where it all started to kick off for Sean Cooper. Obviously, we'll come on to you getting to the cherries, ultimately, but let's take us right back to the early part of your career on the island and then ending up at Portsmouth as well. Just talk us through it, I guess, in brief, the early part of your career. Where you started to really make an impression, where you first got noticed and how you ended up at Portsmouth. I was playing for the Isle of Wight as an under-12, playing up for the under-13s against Portsmouth schools. And Sean North was watching and wanted to sign me. So I had an option at the time between there, between Bournemouth and Southampton. And a couple of my friends from the island were signing for Portsmouth, so I chose to go over there. Was it whichever one was easier to get to you by ferry that you'd go to? Well, that helped, yeah. No, it was just about arranging lifts to and from. So if I was at Southampton, I think I'd have been the only one. So logistically, it was better to go to Pompey. I'm trying to imagine as a young player coming over to Portsmouth and training academy, because most people, you've got to get your mum or dad to drive you 10 minutes down the road around the corner, physically having to get a ferry. I mean, how much of an impact did that have, for example, on your schoolwork and things like that? The time it took and everything? It had an impact on everything. I'll be honest with you, I detested it at the time. We trained Monday nights, Thursday nights, and we had a game on Sunday mornings. So, you know, a young lad, a teenager, wanting to socialise with all their mates, just never had time for it. I had to leave school and get on a bus to another part of the island where I'd get a lift from Lewis Buxton's mum to the ferry. Get the ferry and then we'd have to walk or get the taxi on the other side and then get a taxi back to the boat. And if it was windy, you then had to get diverted over to the car ferry and it was a nightmare. And then get a lift home. You weren't home till 11, half 11. And then obviously on a Sunday, if we had an 11 o'clock kickoff at Leighton Orient away, we were up so early. And yeah, I didn't enjoy it one bit, the travelling. I hated it. What was the tipping point when you decided to move over full time? Well, I left school and got a scholarship and apprenticeship at the time. And so I moved into Diggs when I was 16. Me and Lewis Buxton moved into a place together with a family. And I really enjoyed it to be honest with you. It was nice to be away from home and just playing football without having to catch a boat every time you had to play. And of course, you made your Pompey impression pretty early as well. Just give us an overview of your early days in the Portsmouth first team in front of, you know, that amazing front and park crowd. Yeah, I mean, Lewis had already made quite a few appearances for the first team. So I obviously lived with him and he'd done very well. And then I made my debut away at Crystal Palace. And I remember sitting at the table, sorry, in the meeting room, waiting for the team to be unveiled on the day of the game. And Neil McNabby was the reserve team manager at the time he walked in. And he just walked across the other side of the room, looked at me and raised his eyebrows. So my heart jumped in my throat and I thought, what does that mean? And then the team sheet got lifted and I was starting right midfield. And I just remember I was really nervous and excited, but by the time kickoff came around, I was actually okay. So that was a good experience. But then, as you say, playing at front and park, I was fortunate enough to do it towards the end of my career as well, was amazing. The fans there, the supporters there, I'd obviously been in the crowd so many times to watch the first team, but playing in front of them was brilliant. And I was very fortunate to have that opportunity at such a young age. Was that surpassed? Would you say is the front and park atmosphere surpassed by anything else you experienced in your career? No, actually, I tell a lie. Yes, the Huddersfield game away. Because even though it was in a way fixed, it was loud, our fans were outstanding that night. And obviously we lost it, but I'll never forget the atmosphere. And when Steve Lovell, I think, scored his second goal in particular. I just remember it. And yeah, it was an unbelievable feeling. And it was an unbelievable atmosphere. So that one, for me, does surpass it, yeah. You actually touched on your versatility when you said you were playing right midfield in your first game of POP. You wouldn't have played right midfield too much here, would you? You were mainly right back, centre back, a bit of centre midfield as well. Yeah, I did. I have played right midfield a couple of times for Bournemouth. I've played everywhere for Bournemouth, apart from strike or in goal. But yeah, it was something... I'd started out as a young lad as a centre mid. Then I went to Pompey and most centre mids break into an older age group or a first team as a right back. And I started playing for the under-19s and doing quite well as a right back. So they just thought he's a right back. But I wasn't quick enough to be a right back. Anything 1v1 that got at me, I struggled with down the line. So I didn't play centre midfield for quite a long time until I came back here and Sean O'Driscoll played me in my second season there. And I was hitting miss in there to be honest. But I didn't mind playing anywhere on the pitch whatever the team needed. And I think we had a small squad. So there was a few of us who got moved around frequently. And we were all happy to do so. Just staying on the Pompey theme for a moment. If I say Harry Redknapp to you, what does that conjure up in terms of Portsmouth? You say that name. I feel like I'm about to get told off or something. That's probably the answer we needed. Yeah, no. So Harry Redknapp come in. He was director of football, I think, or something. He was looking over Graham Rick's shoulder a little bit for a while and then eventually he got the job and made a lot of really good signings. And obviously the 2003 team that got promoted, I think it was 2003, was a really strong team. And he signed some great players I was fortunate enough to train with and see up close and personal. But he always tells a story about me, Harry. And he always tells it wrong. Every time I've seen him and he sees other people, he's, hello Coops, how are you? And he goes, I never forget it. I never forget it. I can't remember what game it was. It was Super Sunday. It was Liverpool Manchester United. Something like that. And he always tells the story and he goes, so the next day on Monday, I got up to Coops. Morning, Coops, how are you? Did you watch the game yesterday? No, Gaffer, I didn't watch it. He's, ah, what were you watching? What were you watching? And he always tells everybody I was watching Neighbours. And that was not the answer I gave him. He's like, Neighbours? Neighbours? And I'm like, every time I'm like, Harry, it was MTV. It was at Neighbours. Anyone who knows me knows it was MTV back then. So he tells it every time I see him. Neil, do you want to do the Harry Redneck Training Ground questions that Coops have had many times involving a ball and a TV clip? It's a fan's question that's come in from John Amos on Twitter. Is it true you were the player who blasted a ball at Harry Redneck when he was being interviewed by Tony Husband and you got given short shrift? Now I know why you're in the reserves. There's another word in there as well. Yeah, there was, yeah. No, it wasn't me. It was my friend at the time, same age as me, Terry Parker. I remember him coming in afterwards. You never guess what's just happened. Me and Casey, the lad, Mark Casey, we were volleying the ball to each other. He goes, I shanked it and it hit the gap up. So, yeah, that was Mike. That's the first I got told of it anyway. But it wasn't me, I can safely say. Did Terry Parker last much longer after that? Not at Pompey, no. He was good. Yeah, he played a few games for Oxford and then he dropped out again. Well, that's put that to bed anyway. He's always wondered about that TV clip. And again, if you don't know the TV clip, we're looking about it. Just YouTube, Harry Redknapp getting hit by the ball and you'll immediately find it. Let's bring it back then. We've dealt with your Pompey career there. Let's bring it back to Bournemouth here because you played under Sean, obviously, I just played under Bondi and Jimmy Quinn. Three very different characters, it's fair to say. Give us your brief overview of them as individual managers and how good they were or not for you. Well, Sean, I just got a massive impact. I remember at the time that the club having to rebuild, they'd sold a lot of their good players. So they had to scrape the barrel almost for what was out there, what was available. And I knew Sean because when I came on trial at Bournemouth as an under-12, he was actually taking the game strangely enough. And he's always remembered me from that day. So anyway, I came in and he just sort of, he made me think about the game differently, more from a team perspective, but focusing on little things which I'd never been really taught in that much detail until that point, little things, defending, throwing, locking out when you're attacking, all these types of things. And one of the best things about Sean, though, maybe because we had a small squad, but it was the room you had for failure. So, and I needed that space to develop. If I'd come in and the club were more financially secure, they had a bigger squad. And I had put in some of the performances I did. I probably want to kick the ball again, but one of Sean's things was that I don't care if you're making a mistake, don't stop trying. Try it again. I'll be more annoyed if you stop attempting it. So I was able, I had that room under Sean to be poor and learn from it. So he had a real impact. I really enjoyed playing for Sean. Yeah, Bondi, again, I knew him from Pompey. And he was a really good guy, Bondi, as everybody always says, a decent coach. It just didn't really, it just didn't really get going with him. I just think we were on the brink. We were quite good sometimes and not very good other times. But personally, I felt I got on all right with Bondi. And I enjoyed him as a manager. It's just a shame we couldn't produce more for him. I think it would be fair to say it didn't quite get going under Jimmy Quinn either. Yeah, but that didn't last too long. I don't actually think of the army camp when you talk about Jimmy Quinn. It was freezing cold and we had to sleep in these barracks with no central heating or anything. And one memory that I've got on the first day was Darren Anderton, who was our captain at the time. And I stand out in front of all of us who were all dressed up marching and he had to tell us it left, right, left. And there's a stand in there shouting it. And it was uncomfortable following those orders, but seeing him bark the orders was worse. And yeah, that just springs to mind when you talk about Quinn. You've obviously read the running order here because the next question is you played alongside Darren Anderton. Just tell us about, I know he was at the end of his career, just tell us about what it was like to play alongside him here. It was a real privilege. He was one of my favourite players growing up, often when you run around a playground shouting names. My sister was a Spurs fan and we used to play football. I was a Man United fan and we both used to love Darren Anderton. And then obviously his first day of training, I was playing against him again and he was just hitting passes that you just couldn't stop and you knew straight away this guy is another level. And I trained with a lot of very good players at my time at Pompey, but he was better than all of them. Like I said, it was a real privilege, but you could learn from Daz just by playing with him or just watching him, the things he saw, the decisions he made. And he was one of those who, we thought we were a footballing team, but we were quick to go long under a bit of pressure whereas Daz was one who would be brave to get on the ball and he'd just play passes and you just see him do it and think, and he brought calmness to the team and we all started passing the ball a bit more because we didn't pass it to him. He'd have a go at you, but no, he was an unbelievable player I could sit around and talk all day about him. I remember the camaraderie in that squad. Times were tough, the finances were tough and all that, but sort of moving on 10 years later, I know Darren, I think you still keep in touch with Darren. It's difficult. He's moved away and things evolved, but you still keep in touch with a lot of those guys from 10 years ago and earlier? Yes, yes I do, and obviously technology, social media makes it easier these days, but that's one of the best things about my time at the club was the company. Some of the other lads were here for a long time and if they did go away, they stayed living in the area, so I was fortunate enough to stay in close contact with a core group of players there including one of them, Warren Cummings, Alan Connell, Brett Pittman, Danny Hollands, amongst others, so that was one of the best things to come from my playing career. It was the friends that I made and I was fortunate enough to have played with those guys. Jimmy Quinn obviously left at the end of 2008 and Eddie Howell was appointed for the first time. It was only 29. You look certain to go down surely? On minus 17. Yeah. Of course, it was minus 17. They made a documentary about it, Neil, don't they? Well, we were fortunate. I think it was Luton as well who had points that year. They're 30, didn't they? So that obviously helped, but what can I say about Eddie? That hasn't already been said. I obviously, I played with him at Portsmouth for a little bit as well, but I knew his character as a player. I knew how driven, determined he was from self to improve and the standards he set himself, so that crossed over into his management. He had the biggest impact on me was the way I started to train when he started coaching alongside Kevin Bond. He'd come in and I remember he used to take some of the younger lads of which I was still one at the time and it'd take us in afternoon sessions and really got us to focus on the simple basics that you can often get wrong if you get two lads and just tighten them up, and then the work rate and the effort and the application of everyone just went through the roof and I think you started to see that in our performances as a team. There was our fitness levels went up, our organisation levels went up, our motivation went up and our tactical approaches to games were better and we went on to achieve what we did that year in staying up and he obviously has to take a lot of the credit for that. The Grimsby game aside, just tell us about the second half of that Great Escape season. It was a rollercoaster and you can only talk about any of Mark Mullsley's goals for five minutes no more. Well, the second half of that season, Eddie, I always remember if ever we were in trouble during a game in the first half, we'd just sound the pitch and get to half-time because you knew he was going to come in with a solution of some kind and he always fixed things but he had a way of delivering messages which was simple and it was clear and I just thought he guided us through that half of the season really well. You were captain of course but you missed the Grimsby game. The famous Grimsby game, what happened? Mark Mullsley smashed me in training in the week leading up to it which he denies to this day but anyone who's ever seen Mulls play will know that he liked a touch of a football and he dribbled himself into trouble which he did often and then he was on his usual and he dribbled myself back out of this trouble now which he did often as well but I managed to nick the ball off him and he just chased his touch and I think he was a bit frustrated so he left a bit on me and it flipped me up around in the air and I landed on my toe which turned my knee inwards so yeah, I was out for the Grimsby game because of Mulls but who knows if I played that game we may have lost it. Oscar Gobin bought you a drink when he turned you around in the air did Mark Mullsley buy you a drink? He just denies it. Yeah, he gave him a job as well. If any training ground footage was recorded in those days like it is these days you'd have the video evidence of him turning you over. You missed a large chunk of course of the following season after going up to League 1 I guess when you worked so hard to be promoted that must have been a huge disappointment. Yeah, it was. What I'll say though is playing in the Burton game away kind of made up for not playing in the Grimsby game the year before and it's strange because I had so many games I think that was the season before I'd played more games that year than I had done in any other season but I missed that game and when you're there and on the day you just don't feel part of it even though you're part of the celebrations and you're happy it just doesn't feel the same whereas on Flipside I hardly contributed to the promotion but I played in the Burton game I felt like I was there for every minute of it so I made the most of it, that's for sure but yeah it was nice to nick a few appearances at the end of the season you know, they're the memories I choose to hold on to from that year. After the playoff near miss that we referred to earlier on of course Lee Bradbury obviously parted with the club the next season we mentioned your sort of relationship with him how tough was that when he left the club as well? Yeah, it wasn't tough he's just part of the game it was just another case of right where we go now what's happening next I think Brad has done like I said before a really good job considering the circumstances of which he got the job and what he had done prior to that which was pretty much nothing in terms of coaching but he stood him in good stead obviously for what he went on to do with haven't done really good things with them there but yeah it was just a case of alright what's happening now who's coming in and what do they want us to do? So you left at the end of 11-12 soon after Brad as had gone and Paul Groves had taken over just sum up your seven years here for us As a person I think obviously grew up a lot due to the experiences the small successes and the failures that we had the relationships that I'd formed the friends that I had made from a footballing perspective I think I was fortunate enough to have been exposed to Sean O'Driscoll's way of doing things and Eddie Howe at the start of what he was doing so I think I take things from I don't think anything passed that from Bournemouth onwards I ever picked up anything new I think it was mainly Sean O'Driscoll and Eddie and my youth team coach at Pompey Mark O'Connor that's where all the messages that I've stuck from those three really so yeah I just think I learned a lot as a person and as a player and I made great friends and I really enjoyed it After leaving you had spells at Crawley back to Portsmouth, Sutton Eastbourne and Pool Town obviously you're still doing a job you love that sounds like hard work if getting the boat from the Isle of Wight when you were a kid was hard work you were pounding the motorways there weren't you yeah I was lucky Sutton was part time and you know I'd gone back to Portsmouth and again I'd struggled with injury and I thought I was done to be honest but funny enough Perchie was the 21's manager and he was letting me train here to keep fit and then Pool Dosewell rung me at Sutton and I got offered a deal there and that was only part time so the one thing about part time I will say is it gives you a lot of time to think and a lot of time doing nothing which isn't nice so you soon realize quickly okay I've got to do something and at that time just after that actually Alan Connell would start coaching in the academy and so I rung him and just said I'm going to come in if you don't mind and he was fine so I used to go in and watch him a little bit with the under-12's I think he was at the time I even remember getting up at 6am to go and watch them at Stevenage away I think it was on a Sunday morning but it was really interesting I thought I was really good he was a real natural I could see how much he enjoyed it and so I thought yeah I'll have a go at that so I started coaching a little bit and then I rung Joe Roach and he kind of got me in his office straight away for a chat and said look there's a part time role available with the under-13's so I started doing that and that was my way in really but I think having dropped into part time football really kicked me into gear a little bit and that's when I started thinking about coaching You must have seen some sites on your travels in non-league does anything spring to mind or has anything stayed with you in particular? Not really I don't want to say too much but there's a lot of good individual players in non-league I didn't realise before I started playing in it the style of play of the teams and some of the touch line conduct and at times to be honest they lack a class used to frustrate me but there were some really good players with a few rough diamonds knocking around those levels so it was a real eye-opener for me so I suppose I took something from that in that sense but nothing that really sticks Did you have the role of Paulie Goaly on your books at Sutton wasn't he Wayne Shaw? Yeah he was Yeah he was a good lad sure he was I'd actually left by the time the gate happened but yeah make of it what you will I remember reading a piece of what you did with Neil and I must have either found it on a street corner somewhere because I certainly wouldn't have bought a copy of the Echo to read it when you retired saying that you were relieved and you were kidding yourself thinking you could keep on playing being relieved to retire just expand on sort of what you meant with that Yeah I wasn't enjoying it at all I wasn't enjoying the level I was playing at I wasn't enjoying everything you had to do to get your body right to play at a level you didn't enjoy playing at it was just horrible and I was relieved in that sense in that moment of time it was a relief to not be playing anymore but when you measure it against earlier years and you reflect in that way it's quite sad really you do miss those days but the point I was at the end I was well done and well passed it and as I said I was relieved that came to an end And you said when you went part time you had a bit more time to think about what was going to be next and those things the coaching ideas start to come in your mind what was the first experience of coaching that made you think actually this is going to be for me this is the way I want to go Well funnily enough we were still playing it was Brett Pittman of all people who got all of us and said I want to do my level 2 which is the first badge we need to do so myself Warren Cummins Alan Connell Brett Pittman and Steve Lovell at the time and Danny Hollands we all went to do our level 2 badges together and it was a frustrated experience it was drawn out it was long and I still wasn't sure about it at that point but I went to watch Alan Connell and I saw him do it in a structured way albeit they were very young the kids were really intelligent and I thought wow these boys can take on tactics they understand football and they were good players and I could see how much Al enjoyed it and I could see how good he was at it and I could see how much the kids responded to the information he was giving them and I just thought I'd like to have a go at it so locally Dan Neville he runs Champion Sports so I went and did a few sessions for him it wasn't as good as academy level but it was still decent local players and that's when I started really having room to experiment and play around with it and start to figure out the type of coach I was going to be and then of course I spoke to Joe Roach and I came in and started working in the academy myself and I loved it from that point on as soon as I started doing the under 13s in the academy I loved it and the same group actually that I started with going to go on to be first year scholars next year now so there's quite a few of them boys that Al was going to have next year as scholars and to see them develop the way they have is really, really intriguing, it's really interesting fascinating actually but yeah I absolutely loved it as soon as I started working in the academy How different is it for you to coach under 12s, under 13s and then under 21s? The age, the obvious what am I trying to say there's an innocence about the kids at that age, they all want to be the best player but they will hang off for your last word and they'll do anything you tell them to do whereas the older boys are a bit more temperamental they're young men and they're experiencing so much more as people as well as as footballers so you've got to get the balance right, you've got to understand the person first and obviously it's full time so it's a daily interaction so you can form quite good relationships or quite close relationships to understand them before you start coaching them as a player you obviously don't get that close to the young kids, they just do as you tell them really or do as they're told I should say but the challenge of coaching the older boys as you say they're close to first team football so it's real you can see the type of personalities and players they are, it's just trying to fine tune them and improve them on what they need improving and better at what it is they're good at just to give them that final push so there's not real clear answer there but there are differences and there are similarities actually between the two Having Joe Roach at the head of the academy and Mark Molesley before and Brian Stark and Warren Cummings and Alan Connell like you've said it must help and encourage you having ex teammates and particularly Joe who's been here a long time as well around you yeah I think everybody's still got um still carries that feel that the club used to have when it was in league one and league two it was a closeness wasn't it because there was a struggle more of a different kind of struggle so I think everybody you've just mentioned kind of represents that area a little bit and tries to you know carry that message and carry that understanding of where the clubs come from to get to where it is today um and obviously I'm very I'm quite close with a lot of the people you've just mentioned so we can all work together really easily not that we all sit there and just agree on everything but the beauty of knowing them is that we can actually have conflict in opinions at times and find a way to improve and I think that's massive as well as that we have a changed had a change at the top this season and a new head coach comes in with his coaching staff as well what was that like I know that he's embraced your players and had them training with his first team a lot what was that like for you? It didn't really impact what we do to be honest obviously Perch is still there and he's been a great point of contact between the two between 21s and first team and um uh spoke with Woody a couple of times about different things he's so busy as you can imagine but he's been good as gold when I've spoken to him um but from our perspective nothing's really changed it's just whatever they need we need to provide it for um so yeah not much really. Coaches often become managers is that something that you fancy next? That's a question I get asked often um and questions Neil same ones you get asked all the time no it is a question I get asked often and um at the moment no I don't aspire to be that just yet I always said let me have five years at it and see where I'm at um and I haven't had five years at it yet what you might touch on this earlier when you're talking about the development of the kids and the through to being sort of first year scholars what's the most rewarding part of being an under 21 manager at a club like this? I think it's seeing players I think it's relative because we know some players aren't going to be good enough for the first team they're just never going to get there um but they're good enough for a level and I just think seeing progress and seeing um seeing them grow again as people for me that's rewarding seeing them comfortable the ones who might be a little bit quiet to begin with who are comfortable to participate and um contribute to what the group are doing um and really work hard to make themselves better I think that's as rewarding as seeing someone getting to the first team to be honest. Is that a realism of under 21 football that maybe people outside the structure aren't aware of is that for you guys the reality is only a handful two or three of your squad are going to get through to the first team but actually you still have to channel all of your efforts and your abilities as a coach into guys just shaping their individual careers for the next step they take once you've decided to give them a deal you're saying right for the next year or two years I'm going to give everything I've got maybe you're not going to be good enough for the first team and to make you a better player is a bigger picture maybe for you than just getting people into the Bournemouth first team. Yeah I think that's um that's obviously the number one priority we want to get players in the first team and create assets for the club I guess but across the academy the individualization is the main focus um so we have to take people and I'm big on letting not boxing players in not making them something letting them discover their identity and letting it flourish and really encouraging the best out of them um and like I said earlier about Drisk giving them room to fail in order to improve um I'm really big on that um so for me the individualization is massive and make each player the best they can be and hopefully they can go and do wherever they're going to end up. Is there a lot of Shauna, Jessica and Eddie Howe and people in your coaching? I've definitely yeah they've affected the way I think about players and about football um I don't necessarily mirror their techniques or the way they do things but my some of my beliefs I think yeah they stem from the way they made me think about it What's the hardest part of being an under 21 coach at a championship club maybe um um the hardest part probably across all age groups is letting players go um it's it's horrible especially none of the players do enough to deserve it there's never one you sit there and go yeah he deserves to go they all work so hard to try and be the best they can be and then you know you're the one who has to sit there and explain not even explain just have the conversation that I think is best blah blah blah and say what you need to say it's horrible it's tough. Just a last one on your current move before we we round off with some fans question obviously there's talk in the pipeline and there's work being done on the training ground and academy and things which you know are still to be developed but is the challenge still as big here for Bournemouth in this area in terms of recruitment and getting the best players in when you have Southampton down the road I think Southampton has just been relegated from Premier League 2 for example they're under 23 setups having a bit of a tougher time how have you found that recruitment has changed for Bournemouth either from the Premier League to the championship or in the area generally a players finding Bournemouth now are you still having to reach out further to get there maybe the London players you don't make it at top clubs well we have managed to the last few years bring in some good lads at under 16 level or under 18 level some of the boys around the first team now were lads we bought in Jaden and obviously JZ it's tough for us because of the category states we're still at so we are very much local lads we do look for for the old diamond in the rough it might be out there ready for us to bring in so that's about all we're always going to have I think let's finish with some fans questions that have come in on social media for your coupes Kevin Anderson on twitter says with the likes of John Zamura and Jaden Anthony getting a bit of first team game time this season you've already referred to how you work with Jonathan Woodgate in those kind of selections do you push people forward maybe via Steven Purchase to Jonathan Woodgate or does he have them in regularly in training sessions and see it all for himself our boys have trained in front of Woodgate quite a lot since he's had the job so he's aware of quite a lot of them obviously lads who have done well previous Purchase knows them and every game we play they get feedback on all of it so they're aware of the lads they like the ones they like and there's quite a few of our boys who you didn't mention there who have done well so they're quite highly thought of yeah he's aware our boys get a good opportunity to play in front of them which it's not always the case it wasn't always the case that so many of our lads would get time in front of the manager but now they do so they've done pretty well Mark Cole on twitter asks did you always want to get into coaching no in my early years well say my early years up to the age of late 20s I would have said I don't want to coach it's only when I started it when my career was coming to an end that I realised how much I enjoyed it the AFC Bournemouth fan page on twitter is asking have you preferred managing or playing obviously very different things but which one feels more rewarding coaching coaching feels more rewarding for sure I feel like seeing somebody else improve or seeing somebody else do well has always brought me more pleasure than doing well for myself to be honest so yeah definitely coaching John from the Isle of Wight is asking is it true that your dad unearthed Simon Moore playing for Braiding who went on to become the only player from the Isle of Wight ever to have played in the Premier League I didn't know he was at Braiding but yeah it is true my old man saw him play and I think he got him a trial at Brimford at the time because he had a contact there so yes it is true this one's from Chris Tempel from Dillingham no it's Paul O'Connor on Facebook actually I'm looking to improve my coaching do you have any advice Paul O'Connor is one of my best mates so tell him I'll give him a call and give him advice on better questions but having said that he's actually a really good gas engineer so if anyone on the Isle of Wight needs anything done he's very good that's the plan and maybe we should ask Paul O'Connor this last question instead of you what do you like to do outside of football are you asking me that question that's a question I don't have time to do much else to be honest I like to play golf there you go and I don't get to do it very often Paul O'Connor gas and plumbing it's all plugs and dominoes today usually we can get top dominoes in somewhere Coops we're well over an hour now it's been with your playing career long history with Bournemouth former captain your early days with Pompey and now your current role here that's obviously the reason we got you on there's so many different elements to talk about it's been great to hear everything that you've said about your playing time memories of 10 years ago in the playoffs obviously you're confident the boys are going to pull it off the first team boys are going to pull it off and get to Wembley that they are let me give you this club script yes they are great stuff thanks for joining us there we go that was the Cherry's under 21 coach Sean Cooper great career with the club such a long association with the club and an inextricable link with the south as well and I think particularly the 10 year anniversary of the playoffs just going through that season it's himself didn't he doesn't necessarily remember all of it specifically but lots of fans will have had their memories triggered by that I'm sure well definitely good and bad memories from that season of course 2010 2011 Eddie taking the team on from the great escape and then Lee Bradbury and Steve Fletcher taking it onto the playoffs you know two fantastically memorable gains albeit that the second one ended the way it did but I'm sure that a lot of Bournemouth supporters will always remember that night at Huddersfield as Sean Cooper said you know it was a high and a low at the same time and I'm sure Sean wouldn't you know play 240 games for the club then he had a little bit of a journeyman spell and he'd had enough as he quite rightly said but it's fascinating to watch him working now with the under 21s giving his knowledge there and like you said they've been so successful with two cups this season as well absolutely five star ratings for the Cherry's under 21s this year feel free to do the same if you are on your podcast provider thanks for all the positive ratings of the at the pod so far it does certainly help to keep myself and mainly Neil's ego pumped up sufficiently to keep turning up every month we do appreciate all feedback though as ever good or bad so drop us a note on the club socials with the hashtag AFCB pod with anything you'd like to hear more or less of unless it's Neil in which case I really am up the creek just on my own thanks again to Sean Cooper thanks to you as well Neil Perret thanks from me Chris Temple for listening to the official AFC Bournemouth podcast back soon