A shorter version of this interview appeared in the programme for the match against Bury on 18th December 2004, in the week Herve Renard lost his job.

Warren Goodhind

It has been an eventful week off the pitch and Warren Goodhind shares his thoughts on the recent changes at the club, and his season so far.

Manager Herve Renard's contract was terminated after the defeat at Oxford last weekend and he broke the news to the players in the dressing room when they got back to Cambridge.

"There was a mixed reaction," admits 27-year-old Goodhind. "In every dressing room some players like the manager and some players fall out with the manager, and basically Herve was honest with one or two of them. It's sometimes hard to hear the truth and accept it, and those players were basically told that they weren't going to figure much in future.

"In that respect, as Herve has said, they were probably happy to see him go, whereas the majority of us were disappointed for him. He was a really nice bloke, he worked very, very hard with the players and he had fantastic enthusiasm.

"I feel for him because he hasn't achieved what he hoped to. I know he'll be bitterly disappointed, but he's also a strong enough person that - whatever he goes on to do - this will probably just be a horrible experience and will make him stronger."

Renard and Claude Le Roy oversaw a big change in fortunes for the final eight games of last season, in which the team won four games and were only beaten by champions Doncaster. Unfortunately that form was not repeated this season and just three League wins cost the Frenchman his job.

When announcing the news, Chairman Gary Harwood said that the club's League position meant there was not time to let Renard's philosophy flow through to the team, and Warren rues the narrow defeats and individual mistakes that cost those vital points.

"We've only been one or two ingredients away from getting better results. You could probably count on one hand the number of horrific games we've played this year, and in the third division every year you're going to have a handful or more of games where the team really doesn't perform.

"That's the difference between playing at a higher level and playing in the third division," he states.

"In general we feel we have played good football but we know we have to play better football, and although we haven't had the rub of the green so far you can't just blame that. We know we haven't scored enough goals and the goals we have conceded - although less than in previous years - have been through individual mistakes and we don't seem to be correcting them."

Warren points out that until a few weeks ago the team had one of the best defensive records in the division: "It was in the top four in our division, and when you consider our position in the table that was hard to understand. We know we can still be better defensively but we obviously need to start scoring a lot more goals than we have in the first 20-odd games of this season.

"When you look back to the side we had two years ago we had four people who were on top of their game in Tom Youngs, Omer Riza, Dave Kitson and Shane Tudor," he adds.

"Tudes has had his problems with injuries but he seems to be on his way back, which is good and hopefully he can start scoring a few of those wonderful goals he scored that season.

"Dave Kitson (right) is a big miss and I think losing him was one of the biggest disappointments of last year, because players like him are not easy to find and he's gone on to be just as successful in the higher leagues as he was here.

"Tom Youngs was a very, very important player that linked up everything, but for whatever reason he was allowed to leave the club, which wasn't a good move in my opinion, and obviously Omer Riza was always going to leave because he was only on a year's contract and he's gone on to better things playing for a higher team in Turkey.

"They were free-scoring people and two of them had experience from being at bigger clubs before, while the lads we have here now are very young. They're good players in their own rights but there's a lot of pressure on them and they're not necessarily proven goal scorers to shoulder the burden by themselves.

"None of those four were exactly old but even Tom Youngs had been playing for four or five years. At Barnet we had Ken Charlery who was an experienced third division campaigner and Sean Devine who always scored goals, and when we sold them off we had the same problem at that club. We couldn't score goals and it was a bit too much to place on 19- and 20-year-old strikers.

"While ours are potentially good enough and very promising, they really could do with an older head to guide them along. If I had a magic wand and could add one person to the squad, it would definitely be an experienced striker."

In pre-season Warren was invited for a trial in South Africa and a return to the country of his birth is clearly something that appeals to him in the future.

"Herve understood and was fantastic about it, but my decision was to stay here this year, although unfortunately so far it hasn't been how I thought it would be! I've always thought that one day I would go back to live there because it's such a great country. So if I can go there and play football too, I'd be made up."

Returning to Cambridge, 'Wozza' was then injured in a pre-season match and was unable to return to action until the end of September, and he admits it was difficult to sit on the sidelines after such a good finish to last season.

"It was extremely frustrating because for personal reasons as well as footballing issues I wanted to stay this year. I felt under Herve, after the fantastic change around at the back end of last season, that there was a very good chance that we would be pushing for play-off places, playing good football, and I also felt that personally that he would help me in my general improvement.

"I came back from South Africa and then two weeks later - in my first pre-season game! - I suffered that injury, and I had a gut feeling it was a nasty one. As it turned out it was probably a partial rupture of a tendon in my groin, which I'm still having problems with now, but long-term I'm doing the work that will hopefully get over it completely."

Training this week has been led by caretaker boss Ricky Duncan, who until a month ago was the youth team manager, and he has stressed that the players have a fresh start with a clean sheet, and they will all be needed during the busy holiday campaign.

"There was a very positive reaction in the changing room," says Warren. "Ricky's said one or two things in the dressing room that should stay in the dressing room, but perhaps they were home truths that needed to be said.

"A change of manager always brings a little bit more 'fear' into players because different managers have different opinions about players and no one knows that they're guaranteed a starting place."

Personally, the amiable defender is looking no further ahead than recording some vital wins and keeping Cambridge United up.

"I've already had one relegation out of the Football League on my C.V. and it was a horrible experience and something that took the best part of the summer to get over," he reveals, "so my main concern is not having another relegation. I want to enjoy my Christmas but the only way that will happen is if we start digging ourselves out of this hole and basically keep the club in the Football League.

"The bottom line is we don't want to put the club in a worse situation than it already is, where people could be saying there's no option but to shut it down, because that would break my heart a little bit.

"It's going to be a really busy period over Christmas so we just hope we can get ourselves out of this situation. We know what has to be done, we've got to turn it around, and only we can do that."

Andrea Thrussell

In The Hot Seat

Warren answers some questions posed by supporters:

Cufcdaves asks:
Warren, where do you feel that you play best?

My position since I've been involved with a professional football club has always been as a centre-half. At Barnet I grew up always in a back three, whether that was as a sweeper in the middle or on the right so I could have a bit more of the ball and get down the flanks. I enjoy filling in at right-back when I have to, but playing right-back is easy if you haven't got a flying left winger! I enjoy both, but I'd say centre-half is probably where I play best.

Cufcdaves also asks:
What type of manager would you like to see appointed next?

That's a tough one. I think the type of players in our changing room perhaps need someone who they can almost be a bit in awe of and have that kind of respect for.

I'm not saying they didn't have that with Herve, but obviously it was always a little bit foreign to them when he arrived and wasn't sure of this and that.

So someone who's got a real presence about them, who can motivate and get the best out of everyone - and that includes senior players and young players - and someone who just knows what it's all about.

I think that was always going to be a tough thing for Herve because he didn't really know what the third division was all about, and unfortunately he wasn't here long enough to truly find out over the course of a whole season what it is all about.

So for me, just someone with a real presence and who commands a real respect and can get the best out of everyone.

Holly in Lincoln asks:
Who does Warren feel he works best with in defence out of the current players?

That's a tough one too! Whoever I've played alongside, especially in the centre of defence, I've enjoyed playing with. The three I have played the most with would be Andy Duncan, Stev Angus, and Tanny (Adam Tann).

In my opinion they're all different types of player, and then coming through there is Dan Gleeson too, and he's looking a more promising player every day.

I would say probably my favourite of those players would be Tanny. Me and Duncs have a good understanding but I think with me and Tanny there's just a certain something else that means we know where each other is, if that makes sense.

Holly also asks:
If your next contract happens to not be with United, would you prefer to play football in South Africa or in England?

I think I would prefer to play abroad. When you've played nine years in the third division you can feel like you've had enough of it and just want a change - not necessarily just the football, but the whole lifestyle would be a complete change.

Matt from Royston asks:
I think we have the squad and the ability to survive, but do you think we could do it without the likes of John Ruddy, Luke Guttridge and John Turner?

No. I think they are big players for us and you need to have them. You only have to look at the difference that Luke brings to the team and he's not match fit and sharp yet.

Just for the sake of their own individual careers I would love to say that it would be great for the club to sell those players, because I would love to see what they could go on and do and I would hate to think that people would hold any one of those players back for selfish reasons.

I'd hate the thought that players might miss an opportunity because sometimes you don't get a second opportunity. But the bottom line is that I think we would miss those players if they went.

The Amber Psycho asks:
Do you feel that the team as a whole has under-performed this year considering that, at least on paper, the squad is stronger than the one that finished last season?

I don't think we've played to our full potential. I think you've seen it in spurts but I wouldn't say there is any one match that the lads have walked off the pitch and thought 'yes, we played really, really well today'. In every season you should have at least five or six of them as well as the five or six really bad games, so I'm hoping that we've got those games to come.

Royston Kissarmy asks:
Warren, at one point when you were with Barnet you were being linked with a big money move to Spurs. Do you ever think about what might have been, if not for the injury?

Every day! Of course, and that's why I said I hope the other players don't miss the opportunity, because to a certain small degree I always thought I'd get a second chance but it hasn't really happened for me and at 27 you begin to question whether it ever will. Perhaps it won't, but then I don't feel I've ever found the form I had when I was 21 and ever played as well as I was playing then. So yes I do, and it's hard not to be bitter about it, but sometimes you are and that's how it is

Guyver Omega X asks:
Which of your teammates do you admire most as a footballer?

I have a mutual respect for all the players and I wouldn't say there's any one individual who stands out.

Guyver also asks:
When you were learning your trade, did you try to base your style on another player or did you tend to do your own thing?

I think I tended to do my own thing. People always used to say 'you resemble so-and-so' but I don't think there was anyone I modelled myself on. When I was growing up, Glenn Hoddle was my idol but he was never a defender. I used to watch videos of defenders - Bobby Moore and people like that because my Dad had the tapes because they were his generation - but I never specifically watched anyone, no.

Guyver's final question is:
Which of the current youth players are you most impressed with?

That's a really tough one because there is a whole number of young lads doing really, really well. Obviously in the first team at the moment I think Dan Gleeson has played really well this year and Darren Quinton (right) has just come into the team again and there has been a real progression from him.

In the youngsters, I think Dave Daniels is a very good player and I hope he'll get an opportunity to show what he can do. I don't think he's had as much of a chance as others, but he probably knows in his own mind that even in training he hasn't shown exactly what he can do so that's something he perhaps needs to think about.

Then, there's 'Smudger' (Stephen) Smith who plays in midfield, I like him, and going younger there's a little lad called Rob Macdonald who's a winger and he's caught my eye as well.

Coxy asks:
Who's your best mate in football?

Sam Stockley who's now at Colchester is probably my closest friend in football. At Barnet there were always three of us who would go out together socialising and that, and was Sam and Darren Currie who's just moved to Ipswich.

Since I've been at Cambridge, Luke Guttridge is the person I've been closest to and he helped me settle in - and he'd get the hump if I didn't mention him! So they're my three closest friends in football.

Warren also answers some general questions from the message board at cambridgeunited.com:

If you stay in a hotel for an away game, who do you room with?

Luke Guttridge.

The best player you've played with, and against?

'Against' was probably Robbie Keane, when I was 21 and we played Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Coca-Cola Cup and him and Steve Bull were brilliant. 'With' would probably be Darren Currie.

Do you mind being recognised when you're out and chatting to fans?

No, I love speaking to people. I feel a little bit embarrassed sometimes but I always have time for people and it's always nice to listen to what people have got to say.

The last CD you bought?

The Eminem 'Encore' album.

Do you agree with penalty shoot-outs and, if not, what should be in its place?

I prefer the American version, where they have a one-on-one with the goalkeeper from the halfway line.

Is there any one thing that you always take with you to an away game?

My shin pads.

Which website do you visit most often?

Probably Friends Reunited.

What TV show did you never miss as a kid?

The A-Team

And what TV show do you never miss now?

Phoenix Nights.

What's your most embarrassing moment?

Probably when I was captain of Barnet and got sent off and we lost 9-0 to Peterborough! I felt really embarrassed that weekend.

What type of music do you like to listen to?

I have the biggest mix on my jukebox that you could imagine! Anything - there's no specifics.

If your house was on fire, what three things would you save?

My girlfriend, my cat, and my collection of shirts that I've gathered over the years.

*A shorter version of this interview appeared in the programme for the match against Bury on 18th December, 2004.

You can hear exclusive interviews with the players and management on our U's World multimedia website, which also offers video match highlights and live match commentary on U's matches. Click here for details.

Previous Featured Players:
22Dec04: Darren Quinton
06Dec04: Andy Duncan
24Nov04: John Ruddy
22Oct04: Kingsley Mbome
13Oct04: Jermaine Easter
17Sep04: Justin Walker
09Sep04: John Turner
26Aug04: Luke Guttridge

Last season's Featured Players:
21May04: Your Players of the Year 2003/04
14May04: Ryan Lockett & Stephen Smith
06May04: Matt Robinson
21Apr04: Dan Gleeson
07Apr04: Jermaine Easter
31Mar04: Ashley Nicholls
12Mar04: Alex Revell
04Mar04: David Bridges
20Feb04: Fred Murray
13Feb04: Daniel Webb
02Feb04: Daniel Chillingworth
19Jan04: Shaun Marshall
04Jan04: Adam Tann
29Dec03: Gareth Williams
23Dec03: Franco Nacca
18Dec03: Shane Tudor
11Dec03: Andy Duncan
04Dec03: Stevland Angus
28Nov03: John Turner
21Nov03: Luke Guttridge
29Oct03: Stuart Bimson
21Sep03: Warren Goodhind
21Aug03: Dave Kitson
13Aug03: Justin Walker

Anything to say about the interview? Make your click count for the U's by discussing it on the Message Board!

You are respectfully reminded that any article, as with all content on this website (unless otherwise stated), is subject to copyright and the Official Cambridge United Website must be acknowledged as the original source.

AT050208