(Main Photo Credit – https://x.com/grizzly_pics)
We are back with yet another TTTONLF meets and this time it is a big one!
I sat down with Tommy Haddon the manager of Ringmer AFC as well as the face of the brand new daily video diary series – Mind of a Gaffer. This series has captivated myself as to the ins and outs of the day to day life of a football manager in Non-League Football, there is SO much more than just the match day, that we all know but to see and hear everything is truly an eye opener.
I am sure if you don’t know about his content before this article, you will 100% be a follower of it come the end, so know that I have set the bar high – lets get stuck in!
Name – Tommy Haddon
Age – 41
Favourite team – Crystal Palace
Occupation – Building Company Owner
Thing I love about football – The passion and the moments that you can always look back on
My football pet hate – Lateness and not understanding a managers decision
What did your childhood look like around football and was you always playing?
So I was quite late to football, I don’t know why really. I suppose moving to Belgium and doing my education there, I did play in the playground in Belgium and actually briefly followed Club Bruges because they were the nearest, plus everyone in Belgium at that time in the 90s followed them. I then moved back to England and started playing with mates in Eastbourne, I knew some lads played for the school team but I never knew they played for clubs outside of it.
So I never really actually played proper football until I think 17 or 18?
That was down to my cousin, he was playing for a local team in Eastbourne and said, do you want to come down and play football one pre-season?
And I guess that’s why I’m quite passionate about it still now. Because really I am only about 20-something years deep, I’m still relatively new and fresh to it all. I see a lot of young lads who are maybe burnt out of football by 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 because they’ve been playing so long.
Starting later for me means I have a great passion for it still and hopefully that continues.
So when did you stop playing?
Technically, I actually never really stopped.
I actually went back in goal at like aged 35 to 37 when I was at my previous club, Ditchlin.
We did win the league and a cup so done the double! That was my last season in goal. But only because we couldn’t find anyone, you know how hard it is at real grass-roots level to find a goalkeeper. So I did that. But yeah, probably on pitch, realistically, probably 33, 34 was probably when I realised my legs were going. I didn’t have that edge anymore, i wasn’t the best player but I enjoyed the moments and enjoyed playing up front with a lot of the lads.
When did you first know you wanted to go from the pitch to the management side of things?
I sort of fell into it really, I never really again thought about it at any point
I got my first role at 30, so 11 years ago, that was at Montpellier Villa, I was playing and got bombed into the third team, played a few games towards the end of the season and then the manager left and the chairman, Gary Pleece, said to me, would you take the third team in pre-season and just go from there?
And I loved it. I love the organisation of it. I love to improve. What I love most is seeing players buy into what you’re doing, buy into what you’re saying and then go onto the pitch and do it.
They might not do it for two or three games, but you might hook up a move that you’ve been practicing in training and that feels like all of the work was worth it.
Since then I’ve never looked back. I am three clubs deep now, I went to Ditchling after Montpellier, for five years and now I am at Ringmer.
It’s been fantastic. It’s been a hell of a journey.
So you’ve been the manager of Ringmer for two seasons now, the upcoming one is going to be your third.. What’s that experience been like so far for you?
It’s been a complete whirlwind, to be honest. Me and my assistant John Hart have been working together I think this is our 10th year!
We had hit the height with Ditchling and they couldn’t go any higher. Well, we could have gone one more league into Mid Sussex Prem but we lost on the final day, would you believe, to a dodgy offside decision and a last-minute penalty. We only needed a point to go up and we lost 2-1. So we finished third, never went into the Prem. John Hart, by that point, my assistant, said, I need a new challenge.
We had been there five years and we had done everything. We in the end basically ran the whole entire club top to bottom. There’s was only two teams, but it was hard work for both of us. And we knew that it would hit a ceiling. It hit it at that point. He said, I’m going to go off and maybe try something else.
The Ringmer job popped up about a week after that conversation and we were still talking and he messaged me and said, look, if you get this job, I’ll go here with you for sure.
This would be good. This would be a good step for us. And I was like, yeah, you know what, it will be. We went and had an interview with Ringmer, for about three hours, because I talk a lot, as you can tell.
After two interviews I fell in love with the place. We had actually played there that season with Ditchling a couple of times, in the Cup and the previous season twice in the league.
So I knew the stadium and the overall facility was one of the best around. Fantastic, brand new. purpose-built facility, a 3G pitch, the lot. I just thought you know what yeah, actually this would be good. I got the role and then just from there, it’s just been honestly incredible.
And I think if you have that trust in football that people believe in you, gives me that platform to relax and to go on and deliver the product that i know we can deliver.
What’s been your biggest challenge and also your biggest success in general so far?
I suppose promotion last year, that was a massive challenge especially after the start we had.
I think we won two of our first six. It was awful. Like, it was a horrendous start. Okay, one of them was a cup game, but we just couldn’t get going. We had lost a couple of players in the summer, but to be fair, they had come back by the first league game, they just hadn’t had a pre-season. So they were lagging a little bit behind in that sense with us.
Biggest achievement is probably building squads. I think that’s really under appreciated from an outside perspective, if you look at a manager that can build a squad and challenge and build squads and challenge. I don’t have a budget, my lads aren’t paid to play, they pay to play even now, still the same, they pay to play.
So to get lads to come in, the calibre of player that we need and that we want to get them to come to the club with no budget and sell them a dream, I always think its a little bit like flirting.
You have to flirt with them. You have to sell them this dream, just come and have a look. And I always say, if I can get them to come in and train, then if they don’t like it after that, fine.
But if I can get them to train in and show them what we do, I know that we run a well-run club. We try and be as professional as we can possibly be at the level we are.
I know then that, they’ll love it once they come through that door. That’s the challenge and an achievement in itself.
So pre-season is the time where trialists are everywhere and you always get fans saying, Why are we not signing him? Now the fans only see that a person on the pitch but you see off the pitch as well does off the pitch form as much a part of your decision?
Yeah, that’s a fantastic question. Yeah, so you see these people, you hear these comments.
I always say this, know your players. Not just what they’re capable of on the pitch, but off the pitch too. What are they like? What do they do for a living? Silly things like that. Are they married? Are they not? Are they happy? What do they do? That sort of thing, right?
You’ve got to get to understand them. Then you can build a personal relationship with them. And then you can give them platform again to relax and enjoy from there.
But you hear these fans go, oh, he should be playing. Or, oh, he done well last week. Why is he not playing this week? Again, I went back to it before. Football is a matter of opinions.And what I see at training or what’s happened during the week, we might have had a conversation with that player and he says, oh, I’m not feeling too well. Okay, I think it’s a good idea that we don’t play this week. They don’t see that conversation.
This season, we’ve said it, we’ve got a bigger squad this year. We normally have 18, when we were in mid-Sussex or Step 7. Now we’re in Step 6, we’re up to 25 to 28, maybe with a couple of younger lads who might build that bridge.But you have to have that deeper squad. Good harmony and understanding all of them.
So you overlook all of the senior teams. How do you juggle that into your role?
I like to voice note alot! But seriously the key is to have good staff in in the right areas. I’m in charge of hiring and firing as brutal as it sounds but you’ve got to have the right people in the right places. We’ve just put a player player liaison officer in place – Mark Hutchins who was the chairman, is now in that role.
He can liaise between me, the committee and the players.
But in terms of the football – we have an idea of how we want to play. We call it the Ringmer way now because we’re here – it is a passing game of football in a high press. Which I know everybody plays now, but we want the whole club to be like that.
Overall though I love it. It is a hard balance. I won’t lie. It does put strain on personal life, my business work and the marriage and all that sort of stuff, but you’ve just got to, juggle it the best you can and make sure you switch off when you can.
Which I am really good, I like being under pressure, if that makes sense. I know it sounds weird, but I do like being under pressure.
You have to be able to juggle things and not let it weigh you down because I think if it weighs you down, you’ll just get consumed in it and you’ll probably make a rash decision either in-game or walk away from it all and then you’ll regret it down the line, right?
Delegation is key. Trust and delegation.
What’s your biggest takeaway from the role that pays you not with the money, but with something else?
Things like seeing a young player come through and really surprise you and then find the connection.
You know, I’m 41 years old. What have I got in common with an 18-year-old? Not a lot. Other than the passion of football? But it is all of the small things, the smiles, the thank yous, that sounds really stupid. But this year, I don’t know why, but this pre-season, they’ve all been coming up and saying thank you for training.
Now, I know that sounds really silly but they didn’t do it before. Not that they weren’t grateful because I’m sure they were grateful, but for some reason they’ve been coming up and saying, thanks for that.
Now, I do have a no wanker policy, and i know that sounds silly, but I don’t care if you’re the best player in county and you want to come down to us, if you don’t fit in with the lads and we think you’re going to pull them all in the wrong direction , then you are not for us.
So why did you look to setup and record these ‘Mind of a Gaffer’ videos on your page?
One reason, because we’re going into non-league. As I said, we’re now taking that step from step seven into this non-league pyramid, as people call it. So it feels like you’re entering the big stuff, right? So it’s important to document that and because non-league is very fashionable at the minute, isn’t it.
I think people think I turn up at half past six, put a session on, finish at 8.30 and at 8.35 I’m in the van on the way home. That isn’t the case. Even with the TikTok page, I’m only giving you the bits that I think people will be interested in. I don’t document all the boring phone calls, messages, things we have to deal with on a regular basis, and the little things and the washing of the kits and all that.
I think it’s important that people see that. Again, as I say in my videos, It’s not just me doing this, by the way, I know that there are, just in our league alone, right, another 20, 22 managers and coaches and staff that are all doing this. I think it’s important people understand and know that how much guys like me, my coaching staff, and the club do, and how much it takes to run a club.
I can only imagine what it must be like to run a Premier League team, it would blow my mind. But yeah, I think it’s important people see all of that.
How much have you personally enjoyed doing the videos and what’s the feedback being like?
I’ve really have as you can see, I think if you go back to my very first video, I was very nervous, like not smiling, being like really stiff to now just enjoying myself and, and talking freely.
Because I think once i did the first couple, you realize that really the people that like it will watch it. The people that don’t like it will share it and slag you off. So they’re doing a job anyway, because that’s what you want them to do.
You want them to share it and get people to view it. People like yourself, have been really complimentary and I appreciate that. That people are watching it and understanding from it. Yes, I’m aware that I’m going to get abused this season, probably from gaffers if it’s not going well against them, they’re going to give me some stick.
And the same for players. I know that players are going to be, you know, oh, you’re that guy who does TikTok. I understand that.
So do you intend to keep them going throughout the season? And if you do, how much are you going to show slash restrict from the season?
Yeah, so again, my assistant, who’s the level-headed one, he’s just like, we can’t do tactics on there, Tommy.
You can’t do that to you. You can’t have in the changing room shots and stuff like that. And I was like, yeah, I’m not going to.
I’ve got to understand that i want to keep it as professional as possible, but also make it interesting for people. So yeah, I will continue throughout the season. I will, try and get some game day stuff, some warm-up, maybe some warm-up stuff that we do and all that sort of thing.
But the trouble is, I feel that maybe me holding the phone on the pitch during a warm-up before a big game or before a game might come across as big time to the opposiiton and also to the lads a bit like, is he focused on being a manager today and getting these three points or is he focused on trying to get 300 views?
I think it’s probably going to continue much like it is, but maybe there might be some variations throughout the season where I might dip in and dip out.
And would you ever consider doing, like, a full documentary style production?
Yeah, I mean, a Bunch of Amateurs, right? We all know that, don’t we? We’ve all seen, you know!
You know, they filmed at Ringmer, two or three episodes are at Ringmer. Yeah, I’d love it personally, not because, again, I want to be famous or anything like that, but I think, again, it’s documenting what we do and there is so much interest in this level of football and it’s great exposure for the club.
The sponsorship and the branding and all of that would be fantastic. So, yeah, I mean, I’d always be open to something like that. We had the SNLF dugout diaries which I did and they also did the race to step six documentary on YouTube, which was good.
But yeah, I’d love to but no one’s approached me yet or knocked on my door yet.
Credit – https://x.com/thesnlfdod
What are your hopes for the season ahead?
I literally just got off the phone to John Hart a minute ago talking about that, funnily enough, because we’re about to start and we’re about to step into it.
I think you have to be realistic. Obviously, you have these dreams, don’t you? You can’t help but dream about football, dream about things when you’re in it this deep. We have our realistic goal in our head where we’d like to be or where we think would be a good finish.
But let’s get to Christmas and see where we are and re-evaluate. The squad might need a couple of players at that point. We might not need a couple of players We might be flying. You never know. So, yeah, I think it’s just break it into five, six game periods or even months. Break it into the months and evaluate every time.
Apart from that and I know i’m the manager, so i’m completely biased. But every person that comes down to the ground goes, oh, this is your ground, this is all right, you know. And It is. It’s a lovely facility. The bar area with the balcony overlooking the pitch is an incredible view to stand on there and watch the game from.
It has got great food, the beer is good. And we like to think we’re playing some attacking football and some attractive football.
So if you’re a non-league fan or a ground hopper – come on down and take it off your list.
Where would you like to see the club in the next five years?
I think it’s just to continue growing. It’s just to continue growing on our path all the time I enjoy it, all the time we enjoy it, all the time that we enjoy working with Ringwell together as a club.
Just let’s see how far it can go. I mean, the club’s set up for, We’re getting another 3G put down the side as we speak. So it’d be like a training ground / where the twos will play. If we’re at home on the Saturday, all games will play at the one facility. It’s going to be like a little complex. It’s going to be great. It’s going to be fantastic. The facility has got the potential to grow and grow.
But we need help with volunteers. We need help with sponsorships. We need all those things that every grassroots club announces that it needs and asks for.
If we continue to grow, can we get into step five? Can we play in the FA Cup preliminary rounds? And then we go again and see where it goes from there. But yeah, just continue building, really.
Non-league is seeing a massive surge in popularity. What do you personally put that down to?
I think the cost of it, you go to a game now, you’re talking £150, 200 a time, if you’ve got the train and the ticket and your drinks and your food.
Whereas non-league, we have to charge £6 now, and I just find that quite expensive in my mind, but we have to because that’s the FA rule. But you’re going to come down, bringing whoever down to watch you can become and feel part of something.
And I think that’s the thing about non-league is that everybody really friendly. Everybody wants to chat. I think they’re all there for the same and the right reason.
I think that’s why non-league is so popular. And I think it’s becoming fashionable. And I think that everybody wants to go. They can’t go to Brighton this weekend because it’s £50 a ticket, but they can go and watch the Lewes, the Ringmers, Jarvis Brooks around us because its affordable and they still get that football fix.
What is one tip or one piece of advice that you’ve been given that you swear by still today?
Be honest. I’ve always said this, and I like to think I’m honest. Sometimes I’m probably too honest of my opinion to people and get told off, especially at work. I think just be open and honest. If I make a mistake, I put my hands up and say, look, I made a mistake I shouldn’t have done that.
Don’t lie – own your decisions and be true to yourself.
A huge thank you to Tommy who gave up his time for this sit down interview, it was great to find out more about his journey and also just simply talk all things football.
I am a huge fan of the work he is doing with the content he is producing and I’ll also be a honorary Ringmer AFC fan as they make their steps into the Non-League world this season.
If you have enjoyed this interview please ensure to give ‘Mind of a Gaffer’ a follow – https://www.instagram.com/mind.of.a.gaffer/ or https://www.tiktok.com/@mind.of.a.gaffer
A Fan of Non-League Football?
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