Normality is slowly returning. It was the first training session for Corinthian-Casuals this past Thursday, approximately a month later than normal and with social distancing guidelines in place.
The encouraging news for the return of grassroots football was met with optimism by many in the non-league circles. Preparations for playing were off and running and life has slowly been returning to the club. We chatted with Club Captain Danny Bracken about the voided season, getting through lockdown and his thoughts going into the new league campaign, whenever that may be.
“It’s great to be back training with the team as it’s been an isolated few months being on your own, cut off from others. Thankfully, I’ve been busy with working from home. My teaching has taken up most of my time in the lockdown period. Now, getting to meet up with the squad again is refreshing. We’ve all kept in contact together by doing online quizzes, WhatsApp chats, etc, - there’s a few Liverpool fans in the squad, so they’ve been a little more vocal than usual. All joking aside, it’s great to see them all again as we’ve got a good bunch of lads here.
“As for many clubs, it was frustrating how the season finished. From our point of view, we were on good form. We’d pulled away from the relegation places and after two or three more matches, we’d have definitely made ourselves safe from the drop anyway. In my eyes, there were a few sides that were struggling, so they got a little lucky with how it all turned out. Conversely, those at the top of the league would be equally disappointed. But we must accept the situation as there’s much bigger issues going on in the world at the moment.
"From the outside looking in, we look like we’ve overachieved in the last few years, competing at this level and staying in the division. For me personally, I think we’ve underachieved."
“We’re hoping to get back to football as soon as possible. It depends on what happens with the pandemic in the coming weeks and months. Some have mooted an October start, but we would certainly like to be playing sooner rather than later. Watching West Ham on the TV has been killing me inside – I want to be getting out and playing myself.
Looking ahead to how the new season might look, post-Covid-19, Dan conveyed his optimism despite the usual obstacles in place.
“Undoubtedly, there’ll still be teams that will have massive budgets and throw money at winning the league. From the outside looking in, we look like we’ve overachieved in the last few years, competing at this level and staying in the division. For me personally, I think we’ve underachieved. Every week, we play these sides and never come off the pitch thinking they were better than us. Naturally, with optimism of the new season ahead, our aim is promotion – everyone in the league should always be looking to try and win it. We’ll see where that philosophy takes us.
“In terms of name value and careers, we’ve got some big players here. When my brother, James first came to the club, his squad was built upon a lot of young, unproven players making their first steps into senior football. As we’ve matured as a team, we’ve appealed to the more established players. They no longer see us as the ‘lowly’ Corinthian-Casuals but as an established non-league side that we absolutely are at this level. I really think that attracts players. It’s widely recognised now that we’re as professionally run as can be in non-league. Naturally, money has held us back, but players now look upon us, seeing that we’re able to continually compete at this level, so we must be doing something right. That’s appealing to a lot of players.”
The encouraging news for the return of grassroots football was met with optimism by many in the non-league circles. Preparations for playing were off and running and life has slowly been returning to the club. We chatted with Club Captain Danny Bracken about the voided season, getting through lockdown and his thoughts going into the new league campaign, whenever that may be.
“It’s great to be back training with the team as it’s been an isolated few months being on your own, cut off from others. Thankfully, I’ve been busy with working from home. My teaching has taken up most of my time in the lockdown period. Now, getting to meet up with the squad again is refreshing. We’ve all kept in contact together by doing online quizzes, WhatsApp chats, etc, - there’s a few Liverpool fans in the squad, so they’ve been a little more vocal than usual. All joking aside, it’s great to see them all again as we’ve got a good bunch of lads here.
“As for many clubs, it was frustrating how the season finished. From our point of view, we were on good form. We’d pulled away from the relegation places and after two or three more matches, we’d have definitely made ourselves safe from the drop anyway. In my eyes, there were a few sides that were struggling, so they got a little lucky with how it all turned out. Conversely, those at the top of the league would be equally disappointed. But we must accept the situation as there’s much bigger issues going on in the world at the moment.
"From the outside looking in, we look like we’ve overachieved in the last few years, competing at this level and staying in the division. For me personally, I think we’ve underachieved."
“We’re hoping to get back to football as soon as possible. It depends on what happens with the pandemic in the coming weeks and months. Some have mooted an October start, but we would certainly like to be playing sooner rather than later. Watching West Ham on the TV has been killing me inside – I want to be getting out and playing myself.
Looking ahead to how the new season might look, post-Covid-19, Dan conveyed his optimism despite the usual obstacles in place.
“Undoubtedly, there’ll still be teams that will have massive budgets and throw money at winning the league. From the outside looking in, we look like we’ve overachieved in the last few years, competing at this level and staying in the division. For me personally, I think we’ve underachieved. Every week, we play these sides and never come off the pitch thinking they were better than us. Naturally, with optimism of the new season ahead, our aim is promotion – everyone in the league should always be looking to try and win it. We’ll see where that philosophy takes us.
“In terms of name value and careers, we’ve got some big players here. When my brother, James first came to the club, his squad was built upon a lot of young, unproven players making their first steps into senior football. As we’ve matured as a team, we’ve appealed to the more established players. They no longer see us as the ‘lowly’ Corinthian-Casuals but as an established non-league side that we absolutely are at this level. I really think that attracts players. It’s widely recognised now that we’re as professionally run as can be in non-league. Naturally, money has held us back, but players now look upon us, seeing that we’re able to continually compete at this level, so we must be doing something right. That’s appealing to a lot of players.”