The club sat down with Joe Monks to learn more about how his first few months are going and he shares what he has been busy with since his arrival!
HRBFC: Well Joe, your arrival was announced in mid-July but you've been at the club for a little while now, how have the first few months in your new role been?
JM: It's great to be back at Beveree, I first came down here to watch games as a teenager when Alan Devonshire was manager. I was raised in West London so watching games here has been an ongoing theme through the years when Dev, Dowse (in his first stint!) and Gary McCann were managing. My work then took me up North but the developments at club off the pitch along with the ground developments make it a very exciting time to be involved. There's obviously been a lot going on but with the new pitch now finished - we are hoping it can kick start the season after a disappointing beginning.
HRBFC/JVL: For those who do not know, your role is titled: Managing Director of Football & Business Development, what does that entail a) on a day-to-day basis? and b) from a long-term strategy perspective?
JM: Essentially, I am here to help develop the Club both on and off the pitch. On the pitch the First Team is led by Dowse whose experience at this level both with the club and more generally is rivalled by very few. So, my focus has been on off-pitch developments, including working with football programmes manager Jason Valentine on various projects. Overseeing the day-to-day operations of the club and helping identify areas where we can develop is key to my role.
Mark George has done an unbelievable job keeping the place operating to the high level, but for Mark to shoulder so much pressure neither a realistic nor sustainable model. We have appointed additional experienced staff alongside myself to enable the club to keep growing. We have also given opportunities to young talent to hone their craft in the football world and take on some responsibilities, but I am sure we’ll get to that a little later!
HRBFC: We have lots of good stuff to get into but let's start with matters closest to the First Team and work our way out. With the lads now training at Beveree and the opportunity for extra sessions throughout the week, how does this alter the current part-time model?
JM: The new pitch is an excellent development. Firstly, with training now at the club it means we do not have to constantly seek other venues as we have been doing prior to the 20th of August. Secondly, having our own site has led to us being able to add additional sessions into the schedule alongside the traditional Tuesday and Thursday nights.
The players are now training on Fridays during the daytime before Saturday matches. Adding the additional match preparation session adds to our professionalism in an increasingly competitive league. We know there is work to do on the football side, both in terms of results and performances, and all departments within the football operation are focused on making the improvements required. Many of the teams in the National League South are now full time so we felt it was vital to get closer to a ‘Hybrid model’ in order for us to remain competitive this season.
HRBFC: Continuing with the theme of further professionalisation, we’ve heard the equipment shed will be transformed into a recovery centre added to Strength & Conditioning Coach Ryan Augustine and the players’ disposal. What can you tell everyone about those plans?
JM: Yes, we are developing all the support departments. At the moment the players are given access to the gym at Ryan's facility he operates through his business. We are further upgrading our Beveree Stadium provisions by adding that new facility. The shed will be converted and equipment added, to aid post-match recovery, meaning the squad can maximise their conditioning, especially during those grueling parts of the season, which, let’s face it, are more common than not in the National League South!
Some of the young talent I mentioned earlier are key to this too. We have created a university programme, utilising three full-time students who are completing their year of industry experience with us. Sam Richardson is assisting Ryan with Strength and Conditioning and Milo Ferretti and Casper Warwick are working alongside Jem Dennis doing Performance Analysis and Kit/Equipment. These recruits provide more resources and help to the coaching staff and players, assisting during training sessions and on matchdays as well as around the club throughout the week.
HRBFC: A crucial feature of any club is its Academy. What updates do you have on that front?
JM: There are two different youth segments for us at HRBFC.
Firstly, HRBFC Youth where Ian Garrett is the Chairman of the Committee. The HRBFC Youth leadership team have selflessly served the extended community for years with their training and footballing provision, and we are delighted to be working with Ian to host youth matches and training sessions at The Bev as well as providing HRBFC Youth with access to the newly redeveloped ‘Top Pitch’
Secondly, we will be restarting our own 16-19 Academy for the 27/28 season. As many will know the Academy was previously outsourced to an external education provider. I am leading the project to launch a new model for 27/28 season and beyond. For this season, I am pleased to say we will still have a standalone youth team and we will be competing in the FA Youth Cup and Middlesex County Cup.
HRBFC: Further integration between Club and community has been one of the primary motivations for the substantial investment seen over the summer. I have heard that there are some exciting opportunities for our younger members of the community coming up quite soon! What can you tell us about those?
JM: Our priority is offering access to Beveree Stadium for our key community partners. HRBFC Youth will be using the facility as will of course our First Team. We will have other developments in due course, and both Jason and I want to develop programmes for women and girls in the coming months.
HRBFC: Am I correct in thinking these opportunities also extend to our local school neighbour Twickenham Prep too?
JM: Yes, I have been working closely with the Headmaster at Twickenham Prep over the summer. They will have access to our high-level football venue during some school hours. Jason and I are working on developing a closer partnership with the school which will hopefully see us collaborate more in future.
HRBFC: Now the opportunities are not just football-related are they? How can one take advantage of the revamped Beaver Lodge bars if they like?
JM: Mark George has done an outstanding job with both the stadium and the bar area. It should be noted that Mark worked tirelessly on Beveree development this summer to ensure everyone would be able to enable enjoy the first matchday. The bars have double the amount of taps we had last season and have a great new selection of drinks available.
In addition, the staff are happily enjoying all the new equipment. We hope this will enable us to utilise the bar in more diverse ways. We will shortly be announcing new opening hours for the bar and the ability to hire it out for events.
HRBFC: With the addition of Jason as well as yourself, the commercial arm of the club has developed quite a bit, do you have any other projects you can share with the fans at this time?
JM: If I circle back round to the first question, it is a really exciting time to be involved at the club! There is so much scope and potential to develop on the foundations already here and in the coming months we will see many new opportunities for fans to get involved.
The priority always remains on having the most competitive team on the pitch as possible, and we hope all of these off-field developments will enable us to provide more resources to compete in a league that becomes increasingly more professional with every passing year.
HRBFC: Thank you very much for your time!