Behind-the-scenes with Barry

Jack Barry has given a rare insight into life at Romford in an interview which shares behind closed doors life with fans, writes Peter Gilbert.

It’s normally an area off limits to the press and supporters, but Barry tells us about what makes Romford such an enjoyable place to play and what role manager Paul ‘Magic’ Martin has to play in it.

He said: “Our team spirit is brilliant. You just can’t buy a great team spirit.

“Everybody gets on amazing and whenever possible we socialise and go out together.

“Last week before the game I wanted to train but the gaffer took us all for a curry and it was a great laugh. Maybe we should do that every week now!”

A big part of management is to assess your team not just physically, but mentally to make sure your players are ready for games.

This was definitely the case when boss Martin decided his players needed a change in routine and that a curry night was the order of the day instead of training.

This proved to be a great call as he needed that team spirit when his team went 1-0 down at Soham only 48 hours later.

Barry also revealed the boss doesn’t just organise team bonding activities, he is often in the thick of it.

“The manager loves the club and the lads,” said Barry.

“He’s always getting involved and encouraging the banter between us. On away games he always tries to puts his music on in the changing room, but the lads think it’s shocking.

“We also give him stick about his dodgy gear because he looks like he gets it from Dagenham Market every week.

“It’s great that it’s like this between us all because it just helps everyone settle in and feel comfortable straight away.”

Often when managers are looking to bring in players they try to find out what type of character he is. That’s how important they think players are who bring humour to the dressing room.

It famously brought a lot of success to Wimbledon when they started in non-league and rose to the Premier League.

With small budgets managers have to look to other methods of keeping everyone happy and enjoying their football.

Barry said he’s not always involved, but there are a couple of lads never far away from it.

“Normally Paul Clayton and Matt Toms get the banter going,” he added.

“They both love bringing the lads together with it and it’s not long before everybody’s involved. I try to keep my head down but it’s great to be around.

“On away games if we win we have karaoke on the bus which is brilliant. There’s some shocking choice of songs. I know Magic’s gear is bad but his song choices are worse!”