Speaking ahead of this weekend, Chris Beech spoke to the club website about Saturday’s clash with Yeovil Town.

 Chris, how would you sum up the start of the season now we’ve finished the first month?

I think the boys came back really good regarding fitness and pre-season. It was excellent and of course, we are still forming because with some of the things we’ve discussed out of season to get ready for the season, there are still a few things that need putting in place. And until we get to that point, we’re always going to continue to build. And even when you get to that point in football, you then continue building anyway – it’s just an evolving mechanism. 

I was really pleased with the opening fixture against a very good team who, well they were penalties away from being a football league team so for us to get that fixture first was a tough one, but we came through it really well.

I was also pretty pleased with the early parts of the Eastleigh game and of course the structure and the strategies we used against Oldham were really good. I think that the (Oldham) game really took its toll out of both sets of players looking at it, because it was a real fast, furious, football league-feel night.

On the Saturday, although we kept a clean sheet, we couldn’t get the better of Maidenhead. But if you look at Oldham that weekend, they were beaten 4-1 which shows how much that game took out of both of us.

I was personally a little bit disappointed with our performance and result at Wealdstone because we know we’re better than that.

So overall it’s a bit mixed, but all in all, I’m very pleased with the players and I do know we have capabilities within our squad, that can definitely look forward to September’s fixture list.

It was obviously a strange end to the month with the Southend Postponement, how did that impact the squad?

Yeah well, it’s something unique. I don’t want to say too much about it because they’re a massive club.  I don’t know how much it is to get in at Southend, but there’s a good seven, eight thousand who turn up every Saturday.

I know they’ve had their problems in the past that the Football League and the National League will have had to deal with in regards to supporting the club to stay in existence, but they’re in a great place now.

I think they’ve been taken over, but they’ve got a really good squad and I was really looking forward to the game. But obviously Pete, our Chief Operating Officer, called me around 11 o’clock to say, Chris, “I’m not too sure where you’re at, but, can we move the game back till five o’clock?” He then of course explained and I said yeah, we’ll do whatever it takes to play our fixture. It’s important our fans get an opportunity to see us at home again and it’s important we have a chance to fulfil what is normal calendar football.

But then maybe an hour later I was told they couldn’t get here. Of course, you can’t play a team if they’re not here, so it’ll fall under the National League umbrella in regards to what they’ll do and how they’ll arrange what happens next.

But ultimately, I think a club of that size and the professionalism of the manager and the squad, it’s probably disappointing for them too. I know it was on the eve of them selling their Striker and I think they’ve got a few issues with the captain, so it was probably a better time for their train to break down than not.

These things happen as they say,  but yeah, to get the last train possible before the fixture – even my missus makes me get to the airport earlier than that to catch that plane!

So it is what it is. There’s nothing we can do and we look forward to playing them again in the future.

In terms of signings, we’ve brought in Tyler Roberts. Firstly, what are your thoughts on seeing him day in, day out? And also, how are you still looking to add to the squad? 

Yeah, we’re pushing Alex and he’s in conversations with David more often now I’m obviously not doing both roles (Head Coach and Director of Football) like I was doing last year.

In terms of, Tyler he will bring more youth and energy and he’s got a lot of direct pace. I think in his interview, he shared with you his intentions to try and take players on and make things happen for this team.

As a person, he’s a great guy, and as a guide, the loans manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers is Harry Davis’s dad, so he’s never going to stitch us up, as you say, in regards to making a poor call because he wants us to do well with his son being the club captain.

But, when I watched (Tyler) train with us, you could see he had some skill sets that are different to what we’ve got and it’s something we do need to actively add. We’ve been searching for that and continue to search for that because I do feel we perhaps still need one or two more. 

But like I said before in this interview, I do feel that the capability of our squad, that you’ve already seen against Solihull and Oldham is very capable, but it’s about being ready for all the challenges of the National League. 

Ahead of this weekend, what are you expecting from Yeovil? 

They’re a very good team which have got great football league experiences in their playing ranks. Mark Cooper – I played with him at Hartlepool in midfield so I know Mark very well, and he’s done brilliant in regards to his longevity in football, his management career and he’s got his mojo back.

He did a brilliant job at Yeovil last season, so I have no doubt he’ll be trying to emulate previous successes of that football club and other clubs he’s worked for and I’m really looking forward to seeing him. They also have Marcus Stewart who’s been involved with them, and he’s a great guy,  the best player I ever played with,  so I apologise to all the other players I’ve played with, but what a guy! He’s got his own personal battle with MND, but it’s great that he can still add value to others by raising the profile of the disease whilst adding value to the football club during his current circumstances.

Yeovil have adjusted to life pretty well since being promoted. Is that a reflection of this division and that anyone can beat anyone?

I’d say not. I think Yeovil are very good and if you look at Fylde’s progress last season, in regards to winning the National League North, people regard the North to be more competitive than the Southern Division.  We won that league, and then we couldn’t find our feet for a good half of the season, really. We eventually picked up but at that point, teams are already in their rhythms so we improved but didn’t actually gain until around Christmas time.

So I think Yeovil are in a different place. They’ve been a big club in the past, in regards of football kudos, and it looks like they’ve got things going on again now. So I think you have to be right at it to make sure you’re capable of winning a game in the National League because there are so many varied challenges within each team and each different opponent, and the games come thick and fast.

So, every credit to Yeovil. We definitely know their strengths but we also know some opportunities where we might be able to get the better of them, but they’re in a good place.

And just finally, we’ve had some long trips already this season and obviously, we had last week’s disappointments with the postponement, so what’s your sort of message to the fans ahead of this weekend? 

I think to be fair, it’s great that our fans show their willingness to come and follow us and the support was excellent at Wealdstone. You have to credit any fans who travel and credit also goes to the chairman who looked after the Southend fans who had made the long trip last weekend.

I think I mentioned in the programme notes from last week, I’m always grateful to anybody who wishes you well. Of course, our supporters do, but hopefully, we can get back to our identity in respect of playing football that I enjoyed playing in and coaching, and we’re going to make sure that we’re respectful of Yeovil, but hopefully, we can share something together – fans and players on Saturday and have a great day at Mill Farm and hopefully restore that three-point feeling.

Finally, I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish Steve Bruce all the very best in his new role at our neighbours Blackpool Football Club. Steve managed both me and Marcus Stewart during his managerial role at Huddersfield Town and so I wish him good luck in the new role at our local side.