Now have copy approval for the interviews to be published:
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Bristol Academy v Liverpool Ladies, Saturday August 18th, 2012.
INTERVIEW WITH NEW SIGNING HELEN GRIFFITHS:s (squad nr 21, right back)
At half-time I managed to grab a quick, impromptu interview with new signing Helen Griffiths, sister of RAWK’s very own “givemeguinness”.
“Helen, thanks for breaking into your warm-up for us, just wanted to grab a few words from you. Firstly, how does it feel to have signed for Liverpool Ladies?”
“It’s a matter of honour for me, it really is. I’ve been into football all my life, was brought up a red and all my family are reds, so it’s a great honour to sign for Liverpool. I’ve been playing for a long time with my old club, Mossley Hill, since I was 12, starting out as a centre back. They turned me into a right back, which I enjoy a lot more, so to be signing for Liverpool at the age now of 21 is simply an honour. ”
“Congratulations then on signing. I understand you’ve played in a couple of friendlies briefly?”
“Yeah, I got about 20 minutes against Watford, which was a really close game and it was hard for us because we arrived quite late due to traffic, so the first half was tough but we had a really good second half and picked it up.”
“Did you see much of the ball yourself?”
“Not really no!”
“Well, in warm-up you look fast and raring to go. Do you reckon you’ll get your WSL debut today?”
“Hard to say, depends on what kind of changes Matt wants to make towards the end, whether defensive or attacking. We’ll see.”
“Thanks Helen, finally a quick word about your brother! He’s chuffed at your signing and was on RAWK about it – did you know he calls himself “givemeguinness”? What do say about that?”
Helen rolled her eyes and laughed, saying, “He’s a gimp.”
There you go, officially from a Liverpool FC player, givemeguinness is a gimp J
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INTERVIEW WITH NEW MANAGER, MATT BEARD:
How closely aligned is Ladies FC to the philosophy, aims, ambitions and ethos of the men’s team.
“Exactly the same. Brendan will bring a different style of football just as I will. I like attacking football and pushing bodies forward to create problems for the oppositon.”
“I’ve inherited someone else’s squad and performance-wise there’s a lot of room for improvement but I’ve only had a week with them. I have worked a little on the shape I want and their application is superb. The way we defended, especially Nicky, I felt we deserved a point from today.”
It was encouraging to see how much you pushed them forward all the way to the final whistle today, I think there were more attacks in the last 15 mins than in the whole game.
“Yeah, we were chasing the game at that point, you have to, and one of the things I try to get them to do when they have possession is to make the pitch as big as possible and build attacks.”
“We rode our luck a few times, but as I say I haven’t had much time with them, so I’ve had to adjust slightly how I like to play the game but the fitness levels for example looked a lot better today to be fair to them, they’ve worked really hard in training this week. I’m pleased with what I saw in the 90 minutes.”
How long do you think it will take you to reach the fitness levels you are looking for?
“If you’re fit, the passing improves and that becomes more important the longer the game goes. To be fair I doubt we’ll get there this season, maybe significant improvements by game 5 or 6 but by then the season’s finished but we’ll have made progress certainly.”
No relegation this season – thankfully! – so it’s an opportunity to build in preparation for the hard work next year. I’ve heard mention of a few new signings to come – you just signed Helen for example – and although you might not be able to name any names, what changes are you looking to make this year?
“I’m going to assess what we’ve got first and foremost. The players here have an opportunity but I’m not going lie, I’m an honest person, the squad needs revamping, so I’m perhaps looking at 8 or 9 players in the closed season.”
“What we need to do is challenge the top clubs. With the ambition we have here at this club there’s no reason why we should not be able to do that.”
Do you mean 8 or 9 new, additional players to boost the current squad or to ‘recycle’?
“Mixture of both. Everything we have talked about in the team so far has gone well but the one thing I cannot change is the mindset of the players. Whatever’s gone before doesn’t matter, I need a mindset of confidence, no fear in play, expression of self on the ball, get into the habit of picking points up, to really compete.”
I noticed a couple of occasions in the 2nd half where we had the chance to touch and go but it needed commitment to go into situations where that touch can be gained. It was as if the player pulled back. Do you intend to instill more of a braveheart, die-hard approach?
“Definitely, of course. This week though we really worked hardest on defensive shape because first and foremost if you don’t concede you don’t lose games.”
Well, what a first half to prove that!
“Exactly. Even in the 2nd half. Look at the goal we conceded and the way we played. It came from a mistake and that was really disappointing for us given how hard we’d worked.“
“That’s been the story all season though, really, I’ve seen all the games now and many of the goals come from silly errors. We need to change that. That said there are lots of positives to take forward though and I’m looking forward to it.”
Me too, Matt, me too because one of things I’d like to try and do is to promote the ladies’ team as much as I can.
“Thanks for that!”
On that subject then, the final question I wanted to ask, and I’ll ask Vicky Jones the same thing, it’s a bit an “out there” question, but realistically, not talking genie-in-a-bottle, if you could change just one thing in the women’s game to make it better, what would it be?
Pause. Intense stare into the distance. “That’s a good question…….have I got time to think about it?”
Take as much time as you need!
“Well, in terms of improving the profile, the Olympics was a great thing and everyone’s trying to do positive things but it would be good if the media would take more of an interest in it, not so much for the players as individuals but for the actual game, to get more people interested in it.”
“Don’t know what else I can say really……the club itself is fantastic in the way they support us and the way they try to drive it forward. I wouldn’t have moved my family from London and quit my day job if I didn’t think this was the right job for me, and the ambition of the club is fantastic and I am confident that I can take this forward and we can challenge in the future.”
Matt Beard there, new manager of Liverpool Ladies FC, disappointed not to have taken a point away from his first game in charge but happy with the performance of the team overall. Let’s not forget that this was match away to a team third in the table and after the summer break.
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INTERVIEW WITH CLUB CAPTAIN VICKY JONES (squad nr 3):
Vicky, first of all, what are your thoughts on the game today?
“I can speak on behalf of the whole team when I say we were extremely disappointed not to have taken a point from today. We battled hard, especially in the first half, we kept our shape well, we defended well, especially Nicky in goal, who pulled off a fantastic penalty save, she was fantastic all game….we’ve worked really hard the last few weeks and with a new manager coming in I felt we deserved to take something away from this game.”
Lots of positives though to think about, Vicky, not least the defensive strength. Matt was talking about he sees things developing, changing, for the rest of this season and next. How do you see things developing?
“No doubt he’ll bring in some new things that we’re not used to and we’ll apply ourselves to that. Every single one of us is fighting for our place in this team but we all want to prove to Matt that we are capable of playing at this level and show him towards the end of this season that we are in his plans. We just have to take one game at a time at the moment.”
Okay, moving on from today’s game then, I just wanted to ask you some things about the women’s game in general. Having come from working in the Swedish set up, and the effect of the Olympics this year on the profile of the game notwithstanding, it’s clear there are big differences still in how Women’s Football is seen in the UK . What can be done to boost the profile?
“The Olympics was clearly very good for the game and to get 70k+ at Wembley proves to me that there is an audience and an appetite out there. Maybe today’s EPL start detracted today’s game with just a couple of hundred turning up and we might be a bit in competition with the men’s game. But we just need to raise the profile and get the message out there that the women’s game is around. I think overall it is improving, it will just take time.”
Okay, Vicky, the same carte-blance style question that I asked Matt. What one thing would you change in the women’s game to improve things?
“For the benefit of the women’s game, we need the audience, to get people out there to come and watch us. The Olympics has given us a fantastic opportunity to showcase the sport. If more people came to watch they would see how good the women’s game is.”
Pretty loud and clear message there, Vicky – let’s get people out there watching, with open minds, put their prejudices aside.
“That’s the thing – the Olympics showed that – 70k at Wembley and it wasn’t even an England or Team GB game. The audience is there.”
I heard one of the pundits saying that he had to keep reminding himself that he was watching women’s football. One way you could interpret that is, “It’s not always this good!” but on the other hand, it’s probably meant as a compliment. What do you think?
“Yeah, of course it’s a compliment! The audience is there and to make a comment like that is good. You get 40k+ at Anfield, you get 70k+ at Wembley, you have good games and bad games in both men’s and women’s football. Our game is affordable, people coming to watch it will enjoy it.”
Thanks so much there to Vicky Jones, captain of Liverpool Ladies FC. All the very best to you and the team for the rest of this season. We look forward to seeing how things develop from here.
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I am very grateful to Carly Baldwin for putting me in touch with Colin Charlton the Club Secretary.
Colin was really helpful and was able to get me the above interviews and I thank him for that. Once again, Liverpool Ladies FC proves its willingness to engage with the fanbase and to cooperate fully with the aim of promoting the game to a new audience.
We should get behind them. They wear the same kit, have the same sponsor, are under the same overall management, have the same philosophy, ethos and ambition - they wear the same liver bird on their chests - they deserve the same support.
(On a personal level, no disrespect to Skem, but if Liverpool Ladies FC wants to get more people through the gates, I think the club has to be looking at a venue that is more easily accessible to more people, especially in the heart of the potential and actual fanbase – it’s almost an “If you build it, they will come!” thing…..but we’ll see what happens…..)