TURNER'S TIME IS NOW

Photo by Andy Lambert

By Adam Moss

"Edgeley Park is going to be my stage this year," says Rhys Turner as we discuss his hopes and dreams for his first season with a professional contract.

Rhys Turner doesn't do nervous.

You ask him a straight question and he gives you a straight answer.

Is he nervous about playing in front of good sized crowds at Edgeley Park?

"I don't get nervous when I'm playing. I've never really felt pressure when I'm on the pitch, I just get on with the game. I'm here to play football, why should I get nervous about that?" he says confidently but without a hint of arrogance.

Rhys Turner may be just 17 but he's not like any teenager I've interviewed before. He's focused. Enviably single-minded.

This is his big chance and he's not going to let anything get in the way of him fulfilling his potential and enjoying a momentous first season.

Fortunately for Stockport County fans, most who've seen him play cannot do anything else but agree with his assessment.

Rhys Turner is lightning fast. He seems to have energy to burn. He's young, he still has lots to learn but, there's little doubt, he's going to be a thorn in the side of pretty much every defence he comes up against this season.

So what does he hope to achieve this season?

"I want to emulate the Stockport County players who have gone on to big things - people like Danny Whitehead from last season, and Pilkington," he said.

"County has a history of producing quality players who go on to bigger things. I want to be one of those players.

"This is my first pro contract. It is just the start, I know that. So I have a way to go yet. But I can't wait for the season to start so I can get going."

He says he and the rest of the team know that for this to be considered a successful season then promotion has to be the end game.

"There is no reason why we can't win this league," he said. "In that second half against St Mirren last week we played them off the park at times - and that was their first team.

"We can be a good side. But to win promotion it is all about consistency. If we can manage to be consistent then we will definitely be up there."

And how will County approach the new season?

"We will be attacking teams from the first whistle," according to Turner.

"If I can score more than 20 goals this season then I know I'll have had a good one. The gaffer has been talking to us about going at sides right from the off, attacking them from the first kick of a ball and putting them under pressure. We are definitely going to be an attacking side."

Turner says manager Ian Bogie and assistant Alan Lord has been making the team train in a 4-3-3 formation with himself and fellow striker Kristian Dennis playing off Phil Jevons in a bid to maximise those attacking options.

"Playing with Jevo and Kristian has been really easy in that formation, which definitely works better for me," he said.

"Jevo can be the main man and play in me and Kristian, who both have decent pace. It has been working well for us and the whole team in training."

Turner, a Wigan FC fan (his dad was born there) had a few options when County came calling.

"Yeah, there were a few teams interested but County were the only one to offer me a direct contract while the other teams were offering me trials. It was an easy decision to make, especially as I've worked with Alan Lord for so long through Myerscough College too.

"After hearing good things about the fans I'm expecting big things. And I really can't wait to run out at Edgeley Park for the first game of the new season. It's everything I've been working for."

THE RIGHT HAND OF THE LORD IS A 'DEVIL'

Jamie Hand

By Adam Moss

In prophecy the right hand of the Lord refers to the Messiah to whom is given the power and authority to subdue his enemies.

And now Stockport County has its own right Hand of the Lord. Jamie Hand and Alan Lord, to be precise.

Jamie Hand has been brought in by the assistant manager and County boss Ian Bogie to be Edgeley Park's new midfield enforcer. 

Just this week Alan Lord described Hand as the 'devil' that the club has been so sorely missing in the middle of the park - a true competitor who will give County the edge in the closest fought battles this term.

Jamie Hand is more than happy to take on that role.

Remember last season when County's 'kids' were forever rolled over by bigger, more powerful experienced teams? Remember when they gave up potential victories because the team simply didn't seem to possess the tools to see out a game to a victorious conclusion?

Happened a lot, didn't it?

No more, according to Hand.

Despite his 'journeyman' tag,  Jamie Hand insists he chose to play for Stockport County this season because he believes 100% in Ian Bogie's commitment to playing the game the right way. A passing game.

Hand had a few offers on the table when he met Bogie and the two discussed how the beautiful game should be played.

He said: "Speaking to the manager it was clear that we both believe football should be played the right way. It's about putting your foot on the ball, looking up, finding a team-mate, passing the ball.

"In my career I've come across a few managers who have absolutely no interest in playing football that way. I've been at clubs where the passing game just isn't in the plan. I've had to leave those clubs because I just can't play for a team or a manager who thinks that way.

"That's maybe why I have played at quite a few clubs over the years. Sure, some I've left to play at a higher level, nearer home or for better money but, in most cases, I've moved on when it became clear that the boss just didn't want to play football the way I think it should be played.

"I don't care what has happened with Stockport County teams in the past but, we won't be losing any games this season because we have been bullied on the pitch"

"Look, even at this level, a player should be able to get the ball down and pass it.

"It is being drilled into us that we all have to be comfortable on the ball, be positive, be hard working."

But he's equally determined that the new Stockport County will not concede a yard of turf or a single 50-50 ball, without a fight.

"I enjoy getting stuck in, that's no secret. At this level, in fact at any level, as a centre midfielder you have to do that or you simply won't survive in a game," he said.

"If everyone in the team gives their all and we go in for everything then the fans cannot ask for much more than that. We have a squad of good quality players - the manager has made sure of that.

"I can tell you this, I don't care what has happened with Stockport County teams in the past but, we won't be losing any games this season because we have been bullied on the pitch.

"I'm getting to know the lads in the team well and I can tell you, the lads here now - they just won't have that."

First things first, though.

Frame of mind and expectation is the order of the day.

As far as Jamie Hand is concerned he won't even countenance talk about putting this club back in the Football League.

"Stockport County is a big club - you only have to walk into the stadium to see that. Everything about this club is Football League but we have no divine right to be there.

"The Football League is not my concern this season. All we are thinking about as a team is winning enough games to put this club back in the Conference National. That's a big problem with a lot of teams, they're looking too far ahead.

"By all means plan for it, but we really can't afford to be looking two seasons ahead as players. We need to focus on the here and now or we'll forget what needs to be done right now.

"It is down to us as a group of players to get us back in the Conference National. Then, and only then should we start thinking about the Football League.

"Our only goal this season is promotion - nothing more, nothing less.

"I'm not being disrespectful to anyone else in our league this season but if we do not get promotion it simply isn't good enough for the team we have got here."

Hand feels Ian Bogie is assembling the right mix of youth and experience to mount that challenge and believes the training the team is doing - repeating basic after basic until everyone is getting it right, every time - is the kind of preparation that will result in plenty of wins during the season.

He said: "Football is all about habits and doing the little things well. In football it is very hard to train badly all week and then play well on a Saturday. We are doing the basics well - training hard. If we can take that into games and do the jobs that are asked of us then it makes all the difference between winning and losing matches.

"Much of my game is about talking to other players. I try to get others around me doing their jobs and keep them organised. Me, Ian Craney and Phil Jevons all have that in our game - I guess it comes from our experience.

"Ian Bogie has brought in players he knows will work well together. Me and Craney, for example. We both know what needs to be done. As long as we continue to work well together then things in the midfield will be fine for us this season."

If his actions are half as direct as his words, it looks like the Cheadle End may have themselves a new hero in the making.

BOGIEMAN OFFERS RELIEF FROM COUNTY HORROR SHOW

AMID the acrimony and sheer frustration at Stockport County's spectacular nose-dive into the dark and dismal depths of sub-professional, part-time, regional football, one club icon remains absolutely unblemished.

Edgeley Park – the football holy land any blue-blooded Cheadle Ender happily calls home – is, indeed, forever being beautiful.

Don't believe for one deluded minute that this is mere royal blue-tinted conjecture; a throwaway, emotional statement summoned from the tired heart of an over sensitive, overwhelmed season ticket holder.

Nope. It is stone cold fact.

So, while a section of fans aim their ire at what many of them claim are little short of pantomime villains in the club’s boardroom; and former board members fire salvos back across their bows in the form of legal threats for online name-calling, Edgeley Park remains unsullied by the in-fighting.

Don’t take this humble scribe’s word for it – just ask any of the new players recently signed up to do battle for the Hatters in next season’s Conference North Division.

Not one of them asked if the irate former board member was really intending to sue a fans forum or whether a fans organisation would actually launch a coup aimed at swiping the carpet from under the feet of those currently sitting around the boardroom table.

They were all interested in one thing and one thing only – walking out onto the pitch on a Saturday afternoon to the earsplitting soundtrack of 3,000 raucous voices inside a bear-pit of a football ground swathed in blue and white.

Ian Bogie, the proud Geordie football boss charged with the Herculean task of bringing the good times back to SK3, used the lure of atmospheric match days on the stunning green baize in front of that 3,000-strong baying mob of football mad Stopfordians to convince the new breed to sign on the dotted line.

The fans have the almost otherworldly magnetic pull of Edgeley Park to thank for the unexpected calibre of new recruits ready to pull on the team’s blue Umbro kit and fight to put County back where the club belongs next season.

Ian Bogie may not have had to try too hard to convince his chosen match-day assassins why their immediate future lay at Edgeley Park but his canny Geordie football heart knew exactly how to turn ‘interested’ into ‘where do I sign?’.

“I just brought them to Edgeley Park. Walked them, slowly, around the ground. Let them soak up the atmosphere of this old place,” he tells me, his words falling effortlessly from his lips like the enchanting, whispered tones of a grandfather relaying folklore and legend to his open-mouthed, goggle-eyed grandkids.

“Then I talked to them about the crowds. We’d be walking around the ground and I’d tell them about 3,000 supporters cheering them on. Tell them what the Cheadle End sounds like when it roars for a goal. It’s quite something. I didn’t have to say much more than that.”

Is it any wonder he’s got such an unexpectedly mouth-watering group of players to commit to the cause already, with more equally-impressive signatures on the way?

Sitting in Ian Bogie’s presence, listening to the way he talks about the game, how his sentences fall away into an almost inaudible hush before they reach their conclusion – it is intoxicating for anyone with a love of football.

His words give hope. His heart is big and his desire for victory, to become a hero among football-lovers, is tangible.

He compares Edgeley Park and those who come to worship at its altar to the most passionate of supporters from his home town of Newcastle.

Geordie supporters are universally renowned for their passion for the beautiful game. It is infectious and the stuff of legend how much the game means to them.

In Bogie’s eyes, the slumbering giant that is Stockport County is not much different.

“Places like Stockport and Newcastle are very similar,” he says. “The fans here live for the game on a Saturday. It is massively important for them. A way of life for many.

“Having played at Edgeley Park in front of these fans and now managed the club on match day, I can tell you without a moment’s hesitation that these fans deserve so much more.

“They’re hurting. And I totally understand why. I know what it feels like to hurt that way. This is a proper football club with proper fans. Last season we were at the bottom of the table for a great deal of it and yet this team was still the fourth best supported in the whole Conference National.

“So, if you ask how I convinced these new players to sign for Stockport County, I didn’t really have to. The ground and the fans sell this place to anyone who cares about proper football.”

Bogie aims to right a few wrongs during his tenure at Edgeley Park.

Football first.

“We are delighted with the players we have got so far,” he says. “There will be another four or five who will join us before August 17. And there’s a couple of crackers among those yet to arrive.

“They have to be the right players though – we don’t want or need anyone here who doesn’t want to be here for the right reasons. Next season will be tough, we’re not kidding ourselves, which is why we are going for mostly players who are proven at this level and above.

“Clubs will be coming to Stockport and will raise their game. Every week. This new squad of players has to be able to handle that. To expect it and be prepared for it.

“Having said that, we are really optimistic about the new season. It will be a good season for Stockport County. We will have an 18 or 19 man squad and I won’t be starting the season off with any loan players – I want players here who feel a sense of belonging to this club, feel this is their club.

“We aim to have six defenders, six midfielders, four strikers and two goalkeepers in the squad and a few of those players must have a utility aspect to their game so that they can play in a few different positions if necessary.

“We are putting together a team of players here who are prepared to run through brick walls for this team. With that attitude we will win a lot of games next season.

“Look, we have had a royal kick in the bollocks as a club over the last five years. But I am positive about how we are doing and I believe we will be more than capable of getting promotion at the first attempt. This time next season I fully intend that me and Alan (Lord) will be sitting here planning for our first games back in the Conference National.”

If, following the public shenanigans between board and supporters last season and following relegation in the final game, supporters are still unsure about which side the club’s bread is buttered, Ian Bogie has absolutely no doubt.

“The supporters are the most important part of this club.

“Come August 17 we will give them a squad that will strike fear in the heart of every team they play next season.”

And there’s a future star tantalisingly teetering on the horizon, according to Bogie.

“There’s Rhys Turner, part of the Myerscough set up, and Alan Lord reckons he’s the most talented footballer he’s seen in years. He’s a young lad but we are all massively excited about him.”

How ironic that, after the horror show of the last few seasons, the end of the nightmare could be down to the Bogieman.