Northampton Town boss Jon Brady took some painful lessons into his managerial career.
Brady, 47, was determined not to make the same mistakes he saw at close hand during his playing days when he finally got a chance in management at the place he now calls home.
Aussie-born Brady was a journeyman winger, starting out at Brentford and eventually playing for 14 clubs but wanted to create the right “environment” for his squad which is now bearing fruit after a year in charge at the League Two promotion chasers.
Brady said: “Environment and being happy is such a key thing. That’s what I try to create at my clubs where players want to train, they want to work hard and no-one wants to leave.
“I had a tough journey really, it didn’t work out at Brentford after a scholarship. I went to Swansea for a year and a bit. But I had a real tough time, I wasn’t treated well, Bobby Smith the manager punched me at half time during a reserve team friendly.
“I think he got frustrated with me, trying a trick, losing the ball and that’s what happened. It was those times in the late 80s, 90s, which felt like the norm but I didn’t like it.
“There were times where, after a defeat, the manager would walk down the corridor, you’d say: ‘good morning’ and they’d either grunt or just ignore you. No-one wants to lose. You have to acknowledge people and treat them as human beings.
“I don’t like the attitude when managers ignore players when they are injured or not in the team. It shouldn’t be like that. ‘How’s the family? How’s everything?’ That’s really important. Maybe you have to go through that yourself to realise.
“Maybe things have gone full circle and I definitely didn’t realise at the time that I would be a manager at this level. But I promised myself that it doesn’t have to be like that.
“Now it would be a big thing, a manager hitting a player, but back then you couldn’t say anything because it would be a sign of weakness. I tried very hard but the environments weren’t great for a young guy who was a bit homesick but desperate not to give up.”
Brady refused to give up after a tough start to his playing career, had good times at non-league Hayes with the likes of Jason Roberts and then got promoted into the Football League with Rushden and Diamonds.
Meanwhile, Brady had launched a successful coaching business but was lured back to play for Brackley Town where he was suddenly given the chance to become manager and masterminded giant killing success in the FA Cup.
It feels like a long journey for him to be back at Northampton which he made home after signing for Rushden in 1998 and would dearly love to get them back into League One.
Brady could not stop relegation last season, has endured difficult times this time - including 21 days without a game after a Covid outbreak - and trying to reassemble a squad to get straight back up.
He added: “It’s my home town club and know a lot of people in Northampton. I played for Kettering and got promotion out of Conference North, got promotion out of the Southern League with Brackley and we had good FA Cup success.
“We won the Conference with Rushden, getting into the play-off final, nearly getting into League One so I’ve got promotions with all of those teams. So without spelling it out, that would be a longer term goal here at Northampton.”
