It had taken only one week since my exodus of applications got a response. The response was a semi-professional Welsh side called Port Talbot. Nestled within the bottom of South Wales, the small town has built it’s reputation for the Port Talbot Steelworks – one of the biggest in the world – as is estimated as 10% of town’s populations employers.
Sat on the eastern rim of the Swansea Bay, the town is indeed coast side with a popular 3 mile beach called Aberavon Sands. The high tides are keenly popular with surfers, which is good to know.
The town actually homes two Welsh Premier Division sides, Port Talbot Town and close rivals Afan Lido. The two teams are actually situated less than half a mile away, offering a nice healthy extra competition.
But before I could get carried away, I had to do the interview with the chairman Andrew Edwards.
Edwards: Mr. Snake, it’s bloody great to meet ya! Welcome to Port Talbot, hope the drive wasn’t too hellish.
It was 3 hour drive from my former home in England to the coast side, but if it all worked out, it would be worth it. The interview was fairly typical line of questioning, all relative to football.
What is your plans for the club? Where do you see us in five years?
It seemed, despite it all being within the footballing sphere, the interview stage was all the same. Which was good for me. Charming away, Edwards finally got to the details he hadn’t explained yet. The club had already told me there expectations, which was to attain a respectable league position – and any wins over our local rivals would come with an incentive.
Then came the gritty details, firstly the finances. It seemed that if I was with the job, I would have no money to work with and, at the current moment, the team was working at a loss with only a small margin of profit. I am no accountant, but that wasn’t something I would want for a long term.
A quick break down showed the team I would be working with…
A squad of already 28 players – one prospect already signing on a rolling contract – with a mid-twenties average age, it meant the squad could be either rather young with a few oldies with experience, or there was a lot of middle twenty year old. Though this guess went with the oldest player being 39 year old Gary Wager.
The interview started to conclude with a tour of the stadium, Victoria Road. The stadium has a capacity of 2,500 with 262 being seated, but the club has had a history of failing to full the stadium with only an average of 240 coming to home games since 1994.
Something worrying, though I was going to hope if I made a successful tenure here, then maybe I could break that record.
Edwards: Well Mr Snake, I can safely say you’ve made an impression with me. Though I can’t officially offer the job without going to the board, I am going to say you will have my full recommendation if you see full fit to commit to the role.
I shook the man’s hand, gleaming to have this golden opportunity to craft my own footballing career.