Mo Maan returned to Corinthian-Casuals on his brother Mu’s coaching staff this summer and has poured his heart and soul into the role in the months since. Dominic Bliss caught up with him last week to talk about the Maan family work ethic, his hopes for the future and being ready to take the field when the situation demands it…
Can you give us an idea of the sense of excitement among the two Maan brothers when you found out you’d be returning to Corinthian-Casuals in the summer?
I remember this well. I was in the office [at Skip It] and he was outside working on the premises, and he rang me up and said, “Mo, guess what! I got the job.”
I said, “No way!” and since then he’s been like a kid at Christmas every single day. I was buzzing for him, because everyone knows how much he loves Casuals and what Casuals means to him, and I know that when he does something, he gives a million per cent.
He was like, “Mo, I want you to come in, I want you to do this, I want you to do that.”
To be brutally honest, I was a bit apprehensive when he first told me because, obviously, we’ve never done this, but then I was sitting at home with him and talking about his plans and what he wants to do. The more I spoke to him, the more I bought into it, and come pre-season, when we started training, I was like, “Wow, we’re actually here, we’re actually doing this.” It was one of the most exciting times I’ve had for a while.
What I respect about you two is that you set your sights on something and go out and do it, as you’ve shown in business, with Skip It, and as you’ve done here as well. It takes courage to take on a project and back your vision.
The thing is, with business, there’s been no fear of failing. If we fail, we pick ourselves up and go again. That’s why we’ve got a successful business. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had a lot of knock-backs and hard times, but we get back up and we go again. It’s the same with football. We’ve had hard days and good days, and the hard days make us what we are now.
How much of your time does Casuals take up?
Not as much as it does Mu’s! But we’ve not always got a kitman and stuff like that, and I enjoy going early to games. He’s always like, “You’re so early to everything!” but I’ve always been like that. Even playing football, I used to turn up long before the match and just sit around and zone in. But I enjoy doing something to switch off from work, and it’s worth it.
I’d say the same thing about my commitments at the club. It’s worth it and it’s enjoyable most of the time. It’s a good thing to do!
It is! And what these fans do for this club is just unbelievable and I’ve never played in front of a crowd like that, so it’s nice to be part of a club that has a big following.
Can you give us an idea of the sense of excitement among the two Maan brothers when you found out you’d be returning to Corinthian-Casuals in the summer?
I remember this well. I was in the office [at Skip It] and he was outside working on the premises, and he rang me up and said, “Mo, guess what! I got the job.”
I said, “No way!” and since then he’s been like a kid at Christmas every single day. I was buzzing for him, because everyone knows how much he loves Casuals and what Casuals means to him, and I know that when he does something, he gives a million per cent.
He was like, “Mo, I want you to come in, I want you to do this, I want you to do that.”
To be brutally honest, I was a bit apprehensive when he first told me because, obviously, we’ve never done this, but then I was sitting at home with him and talking about his plans and what he wants to do. The more I spoke to him, the more I bought into it, and come pre-season, when we started training, I was like, “Wow, we’re actually here, we’re actually doing this.” It was one of the most exciting times I’ve had for a while.
What I respect about you two is that you set your sights on something and go out and do it, as you’ve shown in business, with Skip It, and as you’ve done here as well. It takes courage to take on a project and back your vision.
The thing is, with business, there’s been no fear of failing. If we fail, we pick ourselves up and go again. That’s why we’ve got a successful business. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had a lot of knock-backs and hard times, but we get back up and we go again. It’s the same with football. We’ve had hard days and good days, and the hard days make us what we are now.
How much of your time does Casuals take up?
Not as much as it does Mu’s! But we’ve not always got a kitman and stuff like that, and I enjoy going early to games. He’s always like, “You’re so early to everything!” but I’ve always been like that. Even playing football, I used to turn up long before the match and just sit around and zone in. But I enjoy doing something to switch off from work, and it’s worth it.
I’d say the same thing about my commitments at the club. It’s worth it and it’s enjoyable most of the time. It’s a good thing to do!
It is! And what these fans do for this club is just unbelievable and I’ve never played in front of a crowd like that, so it’s nice to be part of a club that has a big following.
What appealed to you most about this project at this moment?
Prior to Mu getting the job, I used to follow Casuals on Football Web Pages to see how they get on. It’s been tough the last couple of years, obviously being relegated twice. So, coming into this, it was a case of, “Let’s go in there, start fresh and build this club back up to where it should be.”
I played here a couple of times a few years ago, before I got injured, and seeing the fans and the way the club was run when James Bracken was here was unbelievable. It was such a professional setup, with him at the helm, and I think that’s what Mu is trying to replicate. I know it’s not a professional club, but he wants to implement that setup. Turning up and having 200-300 fans there to support you is just unbelievable for anyone.
Can you paint a picture of the days when you and Mu used to play football as kids?
Where we lived, there was a park opposite and he used to go, “Mo, get in goal,” and he used to be the one there smashing… well, trying to smash balls past me. Even back then, we were very competitive, we were winners, we used to argue and set up little matches against each other, wanting to get the better of each other!
Then, when we were playing semi-pro, we played against each other a few times, although we played in different positions obviously. On matchday, we wouldn’t speak to each other if we were playing against each other – we took it proper serious! It was always competitive between us, and we have another brother, Ali – the eldest – so it was competitive between the three of us. We were always in the park playing football growing up, that’s all we knew. We came to the UK at nine years old, and that was it from the age of nine. That’s all we ever knew, playing football.
There’s a great picture of you with Mu and Ali after winning a boxing match at Clapham Grand in 2019, as part of your first Ring King Promotions card…
Yeah, I own a Sports Management company and work with professional boxers. I trained two or three times a week at my gym at Stonebridge Boxing Club and had one white-collar fight, which is when that photo was taken. Mu and Ali were both in my corner.
Prior to Mu getting the job, I used to follow Casuals on Football Web Pages to see how they get on. It’s been tough the last couple of years, obviously being relegated twice. So, coming into this, it was a case of, “Let’s go in there, start fresh and build this club back up to where it should be.”
I played here a couple of times a few years ago, before I got injured, and seeing the fans and the way the club was run when James Bracken was here was unbelievable. It was such a professional setup, with him at the helm, and I think that’s what Mu is trying to replicate. I know it’s not a professional club, but he wants to implement that setup. Turning up and having 200-300 fans there to support you is just unbelievable for anyone.
Can you paint a picture of the days when you and Mu used to play football as kids?
Where we lived, there was a park opposite and he used to go, “Mo, get in goal,” and he used to be the one there smashing… well, trying to smash balls past me. Even back then, we were very competitive, we were winners, we used to argue and set up little matches against each other, wanting to get the better of each other!
Then, when we were playing semi-pro, we played against each other a few times, although we played in different positions obviously. On matchday, we wouldn’t speak to each other if we were playing against each other – we took it proper serious! It was always competitive between us, and we have another brother, Ali – the eldest – so it was competitive between the three of us. We were always in the park playing football growing up, that’s all we knew. We came to the UK at nine years old, and that was it from the age of nine. That’s all we ever knew, playing football.
There’s a great picture of you with Mu and Ali after winning a boxing match at Clapham Grand in 2019, as part of your first Ring King Promotions card…
Yeah, I own a Sports Management company and work with professional boxers. I trained two or three times a week at my gym at Stonebridge Boxing Club and had one white-collar fight, which is when that photo was taken. Mu and Ali were both in my corner.
Did you and Mu ever play football on the same team?
We played together for Met Police, but not a lot, and we played together for Casuals once or twice. We played against each other when he was at Leatherhead and I was at Met Police. I remember one of their centre-backs, Jon Boswell, smashed me and Mu was like, “That’s my brother, mate!” So he did care a little bit!
Were they your best years as a player?
Yeah, Met Police. We got promoted from Ryman Div One and we also won the Surrey Senior Cup against AFC Wimbledon, which was a massive achievement.
Before that, I was at Sutton with Richard Blackwell and Alan Bray – we were there from youth team to reserves and then first team, although I never actually got to play for the first team, but I was on the bench a few times.
I got released from Sutton, then went to Met Police and, at that time, there was a lot of coppers in the team. I came along and sat on the bench for a bit, and when I got my chance
about six or seven games into the season, I became number one for about four years. Then I got injured and got displaced, but my time at Met Police was my best years.
After that, I went on to Walton & Hersham, Hendon, Casuals – I’ve done the rounds a little bit.
Did you expect to play this season, as you have done on a couple of occasions?
Not at all, because my mind tells me I want to play but my body disagrees with me. I didn’t want to play but when we were going through a bad spell, I was thinking, “I can contribute to this team, I can really help.”
The two games I played, I didn’t really have a save to make – I conceded a penalty and a worldie against Met Police, and another penalty against Knaphill. We’ve got such a good team that there aren’t a lot of shots at you.
Mu was very against playing me, to be honest! He was like, “Your body’s not gonna hack it!” And obviously I found out at Knaphill when I tore my groin.
You even got an outfield appearance off the bench at Abbey Rangers!
Yeah, I know! Mu said to me, “When I turned around and saw you getting dressed, I thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore!’” I said, “What do you want to do, play with nine men?!”
I didn’t expect to play but I quite enjoyed it. It gave me the hunger to want to do it again, but I’m glad we’ve got Sami in goal now, so I don’t have to worry about playing.
How does it feel to be part of such a unique club?
It’s unbelievable. I love every single bit of it. It’s such a breath of fresh air to turn up to a game knowing you’re going to have a following, home or away. Even at Jersey away, you saw the guys who spent hard-earned money turning up to support us. They’ve turned up to games where we’ve not given them the results that they wanted, but they were still there backing us 100 per cent, and it is refreshing.
It’s an honour to be part of a club such as Casuals. When we first took the job on, it was a case of, “Wow, we’re here. We need to make this work.” We are putting everything we can into it and we’re hoping to get back to where we want to be.
It’s a strong squad now. You’ve plugged the right gaps at the right times.
I think we have. We’ve discussed this and we think we’ve got enough depth now in the team. We’ve got players coming back from injury, players coming back from holiday. We’ve been missing Mike [Onovwigun], Reyon [Dillon], Wozza [Morgan] and we’ve got the right players coming back at the right time now. I think we’ll go on to have a nice little push.
You look on paper and this squad is up there with the best. It’s credit to Mu for getting these players in, and now it’s a gelling process, but we’ll get there. We’ll get there.
Interview: Dominic Bliss
Photos: Stuart Tree & Andy Nunn
We played together for Met Police, but not a lot, and we played together for Casuals once or twice. We played against each other when he was at Leatherhead and I was at Met Police. I remember one of their centre-backs, Jon Boswell, smashed me and Mu was like, “That’s my brother, mate!” So he did care a little bit!
Were they your best years as a player?
Yeah, Met Police. We got promoted from Ryman Div One and we also won the Surrey Senior Cup against AFC Wimbledon, which was a massive achievement.
Before that, I was at Sutton with Richard Blackwell and Alan Bray – we were there from youth team to reserves and then first team, although I never actually got to play for the first team, but I was on the bench a few times.
I got released from Sutton, then went to Met Police and, at that time, there was a lot of coppers in the team. I came along and sat on the bench for a bit, and when I got my chance
about six or seven games into the season, I became number one for about four years. Then I got injured and got displaced, but my time at Met Police was my best years.
After that, I went on to Walton & Hersham, Hendon, Casuals – I’ve done the rounds a little bit.
Did you expect to play this season, as you have done on a couple of occasions?
Not at all, because my mind tells me I want to play but my body disagrees with me. I didn’t want to play but when we were going through a bad spell, I was thinking, “I can contribute to this team, I can really help.”
The two games I played, I didn’t really have a save to make – I conceded a penalty and a worldie against Met Police, and another penalty against Knaphill. We’ve got such a good team that there aren’t a lot of shots at you.
Mu was very against playing me, to be honest! He was like, “Your body’s not gonna hack it!” And obviously I found out at Knaphill when I tore my groin.
You even got an outfield appearance off the bench at Abbey Rangers!
Yeah, I know! Mu said to me, “When I turned around and saw you getting dressed, I thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore!’” I said, “What do you want to do, play with nine men?!”
I didn’t expect to play but I quite enjoyed it. It gave me the hunger to want to do it again, but I’m glad we’ve got Sami in goal now, so I don’t have to worry about playing.
How does it feel to be part of such a unique club?
It’s unbelievable. I love every single bit of it. It’s such a breath of fresh air to turn up to a game knowing you’re going to have a following, home or away. Even at Jersey away, you saw the guys who spent hard-earned money turning up to support us. They’ve turned up to games where we’ve not given them the results that they wanted, but they were still there backing us 100 per cent, and it is refreshing.
It’s an honour to be part of a club such as Casuals. When we first took the job on, it was a case of, “Wow, we’re here. We need to make this work.” We are putting everything we can into it and we’re hoping to get back to where we want to be.
It’s a strong squad now. You’ve plugged the right gaps at the right times.
I think we have. We’ve discussed this and we think we’ve got enough depth now in the team. We’ve got players coming back from injury, players coming back from holiday. We’ve been missing Mike [Onovwigun], Reyon [Dillon], Wozza [Morgan] and we’ve got the right players coming back at the right time now. I think we’ll go on to have a nice little push.
You look on paper and this squad is up there with the best. It’s credit to Mu for getting these players in, and now it’s a gelling process, but we’ll get there. We’ll get there.
Interview: Dominic Bliss
Photos: Stuart Tree & Andy Nunn
