FLP SPECIAL FOCUS ON FOREST GREEN ROVERS
‘There's a plan to try to move things forward, be like a leading light, even though we're a smaller club'
Rob Edwards
IF YOU had to pick a candidate for the EFL team of the year so far, then you couldn't look far past Forest Green Rovers.
Heading into yesterday's big game at promotion rivals Tranmere, the small Gloucestershire club had only lost twice in League Two this term. To put that into context, even runaway Championship leaders Fulham had lost four times.
In their own division, the next best record pre-weekend in terms of losses was provided by Exeter, in eighth, who had lost five games.
Their remarkable consistency had given them an 11-point buffer over the sides outside the automatic promotion places. They are too professional to say it themselves, but the Nailsworth-based club look odds on to be playing their football in League One for the first time next season.
Gamble
Forest Green owner Dale Vince has worked wonders with the club over the years, but appointing Rob Edwards as manager last summer looks to have been his best decision of the lot.
It appeared a gamble in many ways considering that the former Wolves and Blackpool defender was embarking on his first permanent manager's role in the EFL. However, stints in charge of AFC Telford United, Wolves U23s and England U16s had clearly given the 39-year-old an array of experiences he could bring to the Football League table.
Nonetheless, no one could have predicted that Rovers would storm to the top of the table and stay there. Perhaps only one man hasn't been surprised at how well they've performed – Edwards himself.
Ahead of yesterday's game, he said: “At the very beginning and watching a lot of last year, I believed in the group of players we had, a really good group of lads.
“We have high standards and we expect to go into every game and try to win it. We know that's not always going to be the case but we're really pleased with where we are.
“It's been a really good half a season but that's all it is. We have to make sure we back it up with another half.”
It's clear that the Forest Green players are buying into Edwards' vision. Influential right wing-back Kane Wilson, who had scored twice and notched nine assists pre-weekend, has been one of those impressed by the manager's approach.
“The main thing he's done is that he's instilled belief into not only myself but the whole team,” said the 21-year-old, who is in his second season with the club.
“Even the lads that aren't playing, you can see that when they come in they believe in what we're doing.
They know that they're not going to get a boot thrown at their head or get crucified if they come in and don't have the best game.
“He understands what we need. He knew straightaway that with a player like me, the more freedom you give me, let me do my own thing, the better I can play.
“He told me that when he played he didn't always have the best time, he didn't always play regularly. The first thing he said to me when he joined in pre-season was that he loves the way that I'm so free when I'm on the ball. He said ‘I want you to keep that, I don't want you to lose that because when I played I didn't feel like that'.
Understanding
“His man-management skills and understanding different players and what differ- ent players need has been the best thing he's done this year.”
Edwards, left, himself reck- ons this season has already been a useful one in his own coaching journey, one that is still in its infancy but already looks destined for bigger things. “You learn con- stantly whatever job or role you're doing,” he explained. “What I 've learned here is it's all about people. It's confirmed some things for me around honesty and respect.
“A consistent message is really important as well, to try and keep things simple and have clarity.”
Of course, it helps if you've got strikers who are hitting the goal trail on a regular basis, and Jamille Matt and Matty Stevens – nicknamed the ‘Matt attack' – have both been in superb form. Pre-weekend, Matt, 32, had netted 17 goals in league and cup, while Stevens, 23, a promising boxer in his early teens, had 19 to his name.
Wilson said: “Jamille is at the stage of his career where he understands his own game and he doesn't change it for anyone or any game. He's so good at it that he doesn't need to.
“It then gives Matty the freedom to go and do what he does best – poach goals and put the ball in the back of the net. Working together suits both of them to a tee.”
On the back of a 14-game unbeaten league run heading into the weekend, some teams might get cocky. However, Wilson is adamant Rovers will stay humble, albeit with big ambitions.
“We've got really good confidence, but we only take one game at a time, or Rob talks about us only taking 45 minutes at a time, really!” explained Wilson.
“But you've got to have that belief, you're got to really want to go and achieve it and if you don't think about it or believe in it, then I'm a strong believer that it won't come.
“We want to win promotion, we want to win the league, we want to do it all, but we understand that we're so far away from it that it's silly. We're only at the end of January and there are so many twists and turns that are going to come at us.
Pressure
“It's nice to have the cushion, but, at the same time, there is pressure on us because nothing's been done. We put pressure on ourselves, the pressure now is to maintain it and stay there, do what the best teams do, like the Man Citys and the teams that go on and win leagues. We've got to stay on it.”
It's not just on the pitch that these are exciting times for Forest Green. Just a few days ago, the club revealed updated plans for their new Eco Park home, next to junction 13 of the M5 motorway in Gloucestershire.
They include an all-wooden 5,000-seater stadium, a green tech business park and a new training complex which will bring together the first team, women's team and academy.
Subject to planning approval, green energy company Ecotricity, founded by Forest Green chairman Vince, hope to begin work on initial training facilities this spring.
Edwards, who has been proud to see midfielder Ebou Adams, 26, represent Gambia at the current Africa Cup of Nations, said: “We're lucky with where we are now, but to have our own place, our own home, somewhere where we can all be joined up together is big. That's what we're all about, trying to be one club, one family. It's really important. As a catchment area, it might bring in Birmingham as well, because it's only just over an hour away.
“There's a plan to try to move things forward, be like a leading light, even though we're a smaller club. To be trend-setters, if you like, is quite exciting.”
Former West Brom youngster Wilson also reckons there is a bright future ahead.
“When I joined, one of the first things I was told was that Forest Green want to be a Championship team one day,” he added. “We've seen the plans for the stadium and stuff, so it's something we all want to do and push as high as we can.”
