MAGHULL HAVING FUN AGAIN IN DIVISION ONE

Date: 16th June 2015

A Paul Edwards copyright exclusive for L&DCC Official Website.

Veni vidi vici ........

As a writer one is used to potential interviewees finding excuses not to talk to me but when Maghull skipper Greg Gillespie tells me that it’s a bit tricky to speak at the moment because he’s in Venice, I reckon he might be stretching things a bit.

All the same, given the unavailability of “Gondola” Gillespie, I’m perfectly happy to speak to Ryan Swiers about a season which, he admits, is a lot more fun than the 2014 campaign.

The reasons for the greater happiness of Maghull’s players are evident to all. Last season it was plain from quite early on that Gillespie’s side was going to be relegated from the Premier League. This year they have won five of their eight games and lie second to Colwyn Bay in the middle tier of the Med Imaging Liverpool Competition.

“Last season was a disaster really,” admits Swiers. “We lost a few players and we just weren’t good enough to be in that league. We’re one of those clubs who will always be playing for something, whether it’s staying up or going up, but last year we had very little to play for from June onwards.

“It’s a lot more fun this year and everybody’s enjoying it, which is what we were missing last year. It wasn’t much fun for the senior players to be turning up and paying your subs and knowing that the game was probably going to be over by five o’clock - and not in a good way - but it was also very difficult to introduce young players into the team and to keep their enthusiasm while explaining to them that this wasn’t what first-team cricket at Maghull was all about.

“This year I don’t think we quite expected to be where we are. We’ve recruited a couple of players but also lost a couple. We doing as well as we possibly thought we might and it has been the tonic we needed.

“It’s helped young players to think that they do want to be part of this. We’ve brought Liam Crilly - Mr Promotion - back. He does take wickets, he does get runs and he helps sides to be promoted. We’ve brought John Murphy out of retirement and he’s beginning to bowl well and he’s a great guy to be around for some of the younger lads. We’ve also got Joel Brockley from Sydney; we’ve only scored 200 once this year and he got 175 of them. He’s a good player and as it gets drier and faster he’ll do well for us.

“We’re probably still a bit light, particularly in batting, but we have a reasonable balance and getting off to a good start was really crucial to us.”

So far, so good then but Maghull success may bring its own problems, albeit that they are the type few sides would turn down. At this rate, Maghull will be returning to the Premier League next year and Swiers accepts that it is fair to ask whether they are better equipped for life among the Ormskirks and the New Brightons than they were in 2014.

“We’re not ready to go up at the moment,” he says, with predictable directness. “We thought in the off-season that it might help us to have a couple of seasons finishing in mid table in the First Division. The problem is that we’re losing players at the end of this year. John Murphy is going to retire finally, Paul Walters is moving down to Portsmouth and I’m relocating to the Midlands.

“We know we’ll be short next year so it’s a tough one for Maghull at the moment. However, I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

All of which raises the question as to whether Maghull and any clubs in a similar position in any division should not be allowed the option of refusing promotion if they can show it is not in their best interests. The example of Hightown a season or so ago is beginning to show that placing a club in a division can, exceptionally, be the right thing to do.

There are, I’m sure, many arguments for and against such a policy and, come September, Maghull may be dead keen to play in the Premier League. But I think it’s fair to raise the issue.