By Oliver Brown
23/01/2008
The sense of restlessness that has sparked Havant's remarkable surge through the rounds of this season's FA Cup could hardly be better embodied than by the club's general manager, Adrian Aymes, who, with one distinguished sports career to his name, might have chosen early retirement on the South Coast.
But, at 43, the former Hampshire wicketkeeper has impressed his formidable work ethic and fitness regime upon the Havant part-timers, galvanising them into dedicated athletes who hold no fear of facing even Liverpool.
Of necessity, Aymes' duties at the Blue Square South club extend much further than physical conditioning. When he is not checking the floodlights at Havant's ramshackle Westleigh Park ground, he is carefully leafing through their allocation of 6,000 tickets for Saturday's Anfield adventure.
Where cricket made his name - and this is a man who could count Shane Warne and Malcolm Marshall among his team-mates - football plainly remains his game. Relishing the thought of the Liverpool test, Aymes, once a protege among Bristol Rovers reserves, admitted: "I'm so pleased for these players. They have their chance to play at a great stadium - it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
An enjoyment of this most implausible Cup run can be detected in Aymes' every utterance. "I've seen too many gifted footballers not enjoy playing," said the 43-year-old, who has been instrumental in setting up an academy from which every youngster earns a diploma. Such a project seems to define Havant, modest in means but extreme in ambitions.
With a 30 per cent share promised of the £800,000 in Anfield gate receipts, Aymes can only feel more empowered - indeed, he reflects that the money will be more than enough to ensure long-term stability and perhaps even a football in the community scheme.
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He is an earnest disciple of peak fitness in non-League football, as attested by goalkeeper (and bricklayer) Kevin Scriven's sacrifice of spending almost every morning in weight training.
Such an attitude can be found elsewhere in the team. Tom Jordan, son of Portsmouth assistant manager Joe Jordan, is a fitness trainer who can count Carol Vorderman among his clients.
Aymes has sensed the terror that has struck Havant's opponents throughout this Cup campaign. Once Notts County were vanquished in the second round, his prediction that Swansea City would be distracted by the apparent slenderness of their opposition proved eerily prescient.
"Football was my first love," he claims, and the affection is echoed in the passion of his players' Cup performances.
23/01/2008
The sense of restlessness that has sparked Havant's remarkable surge through the rounds of this season's FA Cup could hardly be better embodied than by the club's general manager, Adrian Aymes, who, with one distinguished sports career to his name, might have chosen early retirement on the South Coast.
But, at 43, the former Hampshire wicketkeeper has impressed his formidable work ethic and fitness regime upon the Havant part-timers, galvanising them into dedicated athletes who hold no fear of facing even Liverpool.
Of necessity, Aymes' duties at the Blue Square South club extend much further than physical conditioning. When he is not checking the floodlights at Havant's ramshackle Westleigh Park ground, he is carefully leafing through their allocation of 6,000 tickets for Saturday's Anfield adventure.
Where cricket made his name - and this is a man who could count Shane Warne and Malcolm Marshall among his team-mates - football plainly remains his game. Relishing the thought of the Liverpool test, Aymes, once a protege among Bristol Rovers reserves, admitted: "I'm so pleased for these players. They have their chance to play at a great stadium - it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
An enjoyment of this most implausible Cup run can be detected in Aymes' every utterance. "I've seen too many gifted footballers not enjoy playing," said the 43-year-old, who has been instrumental in setting up an academy from which every youngster earns a diploma. Such a project seems to define Havant, modest in means but extreme in ambitions.
With a 30 per cent share promised of the £800,000 in Anfield gate receipts, Aymes can only feel more empowered - indeed, he reflects that the money will be more than enough to ensure long-term stability and perhaps even a football in the community scheme.
advertisement
He is an earnest disciple of peak fitness in non-League football, as attested by goalkeeper (and bricklayer) Kevin Scriven's sacrifice of spending almost every morning in weight training.
Such an attitude can be found elsewhere in the team. Tom Jordan, son of Portsmouth assistant manager Joe Jordan, is a fitness trainer who can count Carol Vorderman among his clients.
Aymes has sensed the terror that has struck Havant's opponents throughout this Cup campaign. Once Notts County were vanquished in the second round, his prediction that Swansea City would be distracted by the apparent slenderness of their opposition proved eerily prescient.
"Football was my first love," he claims, and the affection is echoed in the passion of his players' Cup performances.
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