We’ve been lucky enough at “Going Down The Oteley Road” to speak to some ex Shrewsbury Town players and staff, this week Daz Carding met up with ex goalkeeper coach and “Going Down The Oteley Road” sponsored Dave Timmins in Glasgow.
Dave was goalkeeper coach at Shrewsbury from the mid 90’s to the mid 2000’s. He had a massive part to play in Salop being known for bringing through good goalkeepers, most famously Joe Hart. Dave is now working at Greenock Morton in Scotland. We are proud to confirm that for this season “Going Down The Oteley Road” will be sponsoring Dave.
How did you get into football?
I always played as a kid, at Wolves and played locally in Shropshire. I’ve always liked the mechanics of the game and coaching. What really did it for me was a bloke called Pete Williams who worked at Shrewsbury many years ago, he brought me into the club and was a really good person. I got a part time goalkeeping job and did a course at Idsall school and that’s how I got hooked up with Wolves.
When I got the job at Shrewsbury I knew I had to be bang on with what I was doing, so I watched other teams and coaches. I started at Town when I was 26 and the keeper at the time was Paul Edwards who was about 34 at the time. Obviously I didn’t coach Paul but I’d keep him happy and do everything he needed, lucky for me Paul was a good guy. Then we brought in Ian Dunbavin, at the time a young keeper from Liverpool, but we were trying to bring our own keepers through but it took a few years to do so when we had Joe Hart. I kept a diary of all the training sessions I did and decided to put it into a PowerPoint and it’s over 800 pages.
You were at Salop when we were relegated from the football league, how did the club turn it around?
To be fair to Jimmy Quinn coming in he got players who knew the league and he knew the league. When he took training, he sometimes trained with the boys. The strikers we had then it was a great opportunity for them and Jimmy did a great job with them. Jimmy brought back Gregor Ricoh who did alright in the Football League, Jimmy brought him back as he knew he could do a job in the conference. He did an amazing job.
He knew what the league was like and that there were two places for promotion, one automatic and one via the play offs. He got players that had to work hard every game and got the fans back on side, by the players showing passion and pride. That’s been bred into me, he definitely brought that to that team.
How was that feeling of being relegated?
For having been at the club for so long I was gutted and angry. As much as a I loved it at Gay Meadow, it caught up with us off the field with training facilities and everything else. We went 1-0 down and we we just knew we couldn’t pull it back. Then onto the last game of the season against Scunthorpe, by which time Kevin had left and Mark Atkins and Nigel Vaughn took charge, we knew already knew we were down and it was a shame. It’s funny because we had a best FA Cup fun that season and we only won one league game after that, after being in a play-off position.
What was it like after the great escape game at Exeter?
The changing room was buzzing, it was a really small tight changing room at Exeter. The chairman and Mal Starkey came down, on the coach home they had champagne for us. I remember the changing room just being a mess.
Do you feel like leaving clubs with a good goalkeeping plan for years to come, will be your legacy in football?
I hope so I definitely did it at Blackpool and at Shrewsbury, even at Carlisle with Tim Krul. With coaching at Shrewsbury and Wolves at the same time, I coached Wayne Hennessy and Joe Hart at the same time as they are the same age, but Wayne had better facilities at Wolves. So on a Tuesday night indoors on the lush artificial pitch at Wolves but then on a Thursday with Joe I had second hand light on the grass or at RAF Cosford indoors with a sand based astro turf.
Do you ever wish you could take Joe with you to Wolves training for a session?
That would have been good but could have cost me my job. To be fair to Joe though he would come in and train with Town’s first team keepers, I think that toughened him up.
Did you have anything to do with Joe choosing between cricket and football?
Well what an interesting story that is, Town were relegated and we thought he was going to choose cricket after that as he’d played cricket for England under 19’s by that point. Warwickshire cricket club and been in contact and we thought we were in big trouble. But I had a good conversation with his dad and I think his dad believed in his football ability and a lot of people including myself all said to him we think football is the right choice. Shrewsbury was the right place to be as he had a chance to break into the first team, as he had been on the bench already. What some Salop fans might not like is that Kevin Ratcliffe did a lot for Joe as he believed in me, he saw Joe train at 15 years old and let him train with the first team, putting Joe in goal for all the shooting practice. If he hadn’t thought anything of Joe he wouldn’t have put him on the bench and pushed for him to get a contract at Shrewsbury. Then Jimmy Quinn came in and played him at the end of the conference season when we had already made the play offs, then some games in the Football League and the rest is history.
Who were your footballing heroes as a child?
I used to like Ray Clemence, Peter Shilton, Neville Southall and Dino Zoff. I met Ray Clemence when I got my coaching badge, he actually signed my goalkeeping day off at Lilleshall and I’ve still got the session sheet signed by him. Met Neville Southall when he signed for Shrewsbury. Met Peter Shilton at a sportsman dinner while I was still with Shrewsbury and sat next to him at the Lord Hill Hotel, which was brilliant. Never got to meet Dino Zoff though.
How did you feel when Neville Southall signed for Town?
That was interesting, Kevin Ratcliffe was manager at the time and Mark Cartwright had an injury with no other backup and Neville wasn’t doing anything and we just needed someone on the bench. I remember the first morning he came in and spoke with Brian the groundsman and told him he was going to be annoyed with me as we needed to train on the pitch. I just needed a corner to use and asked which would be ok and that it’s going to mess his pitch up a bit, he gave me a bit of stick but gave in. Myself and Neville did a bit of work which was great and a learnt a lot from him, mainly the mental side which was really interesting. I remember watching him play when I was a kid, but liked how he had the mentality just to keep the ball out of the net, whereas now keepers like to use their feet a lot. Which has changed the way we have to train goalkeepers now, where it’s a lot more pass based.
Who was your favourite manager you worked under at Shrewsbury?
I’m going to say Kevin Ratcliffe, I was already at the club when he came in as Jake King brought me in. I learnt a lot from Kevin, how he saw things and what he wanted. The main thing is how he got defenders to look after half the goal and the keeper look after the other half, which forces the attacker to hit it straight at the keeper and also the positional play. It was just a shame how it ended with the relegation and then Jimmy Quinn came in as an ex striker and wanted something totally different from the goalkeepers. I also worked with some good assistant managers at Town like Mick Wadsworth who was an amazing coach, Dave Fogg who was an up and at em coach and very knowledgable.
Did you have any interactions with Chic Bates?
He was the director of youth when I first started, an ex striker and Town legend. I’ve got a lot of respect and time for Chic, he just sat back and looked at things and then said his bit. When he managed Shrewsbury I was a young coach and still learning and he just helped me settle.
Who was the best outfield player during your time with Salop?
I liked Mark Atkins, great in training and had all the tools in his locker. Another was Luke Rodgers, what a lad and honest player and he’s an agent now. Dave Edwards was another one, when he was coming through at Town and he worked his socks off.
How’s the job at Greenock Morton?
I love it, loving where I live in Gourock. When David Hopkins rang me up and told me of his interest of bringing me in, I had been talking to him for a year or so about different things but never about a job. I’ve always wanted to come work in Scotland for years as when I was at Preston I would come up a lot and watch games. I like the idea that David has as he is building a team up and taken on a massive rebuilding job, similar to what he did at Livingston with success. He’s a very honest man and has been really good to me. He was brought up in Greenock and lived two minutes from the ground, he’s Morton through and through.
At your current job at Greenock Morton, did you bring in your own keepers?
When I got to Greenock, there were no keepers so it was basically like starting again. I’ve put a plan together and we’ve gone with it. We’ve got good facilities with a great training pitch, I don’t coach them as I’ve got two coaches who have got good knowledge of the players and I’ve backed them up so hopefully we can bring through some good keepers. We’ve got an 18 year old lad who plays for the reserves but made it onto the bench and trains with the first team. We’ve brought a lad in from Aberdeen on loan as one of our keepers picked up an injury. We want to have two keepers at each age group so we can have a plan for the next couple of years.
Is there any player you’d love to have one coaching session with?
I’d like to do a session with Joe again, just to see the difference in him and myself. I was a different coach then and he’s a different keeper now, I would love to do that. When Joe started his YouTube channel I was thinking it would be really interesting to do it, back then we trained on a muddy pitch and it’s nothing like that now. I went to watch him train at Burnley with Tom Heaton, chatted to him briefly. The training methods have totally changed mechanically now.
Which position of player do you think makes the best managers?
That’s a really good question, it should be a goalkeeper as they see all the positions. But I would say a defender.
Are there any players you’ve worked with that you think would make a good manager?
Theres a few to be fair Jay Spearing at Blackpool, he will make a very good manager. He’s ruthless, been there and done it football and I think he’s got his coaching badges. Jim McAllister who was at Blackpool but now at Morton also.
What about any ex Shrewsbury players?
I thought Gregor Ricoh would go into management, he’s academy manager at Wigan and has done a good job there. Darren Currie is doing a decent job at Barnet, steadied the ship in a tough league. I think my first season at Shrewsbury was Darren’s last.
What do you think of some of the new rules brought in for penalties this year?
It’s harsh, if your a keeper on that line all your concentrating is on the ball. As the player is about to hit it and you move and the linesman sees you come off the line your getting booked. Now you’ve literally got to wait until the balls kicked and try to save it.
So I’ve had every penalty taker in the league in my book, so I watched him and I find that a lot of players you know where it’s going from the run up. But now you can’t really judge that, you’ve got to wait till he’s made that first contact before moving. I think now it’s harder and the fact that your going to get booked, I don’t think they’ve really thought it through. As much as it’s hard for the penalty taker, it’s now even harder for the keepers. I think they will change how penalties are taken in the next few years.
Why do you love football?
I was brought up with it by my dad and older brother who played for Telford United as a striker. I enjoyed going to the games and remember going to Gay Meadow when they played Ipswich. It’s in my blood and I think I’ve maybe gone a bit too far with it really as it’s taken over my life and it’s been like that for 10 years I’d say.
Huge thanks to Dave for meeting up with us and chatting Shrewsbury Town and all things football.
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Daz Carding
“Going Down The Oteley Road”
Going Down The Oteley Road 