“You make 10 passes and I give you £10,” Pascal Chimbonda shouts at the manager of Kendal Town, while witnessing them defeat his Skelmersdale United 3-1. The World Cup finalist was unhappy with the direct style of football on display in the Macron Cup, as he learned the realities of being a ninth-tier manager.
Quite what Chimbonda was expecting on a night of gales and rain in Burscough, where North West Counties League Premier Division Skelmersdale ground-share, is unknown. His opposite number, Jimmy Marshall, is a train driver who enjoyed a night of sweary badinage with the former Tottenham defender, while the assistant referee offered constant good humour despite every decision being questioned by Chimbonda, who made his presence known.
At one point Chimbonda came to the hoardings to discuss the match with Kendal’s chairman, Michael O’Neill, promising to buy him a steak dinner if Skelmersdale do not win the league fixture in late December. It gives Chimbonda, appointed by bottom-of-the-table Skelmersdale last Sunday, two months to make improvements or face coughing up for a sirloin. “If you’re winning 3-1 at any level, your players should be able to play 10 passes – it doesn’t matter what players you have,” Chimbonda said. “That is the way the league is and I know we are going to have to turn things around and make things better.”
Chimbonda’s side fell two goals behind in the opening eight minutes. They gradually improved, with all five substitutions made before the hour. A collection of would-be signings watched on, although not William Gallas or Emmerson Boyce, as fans joked who Chimbonda might bring with him.
Chimbonda was an unused France substitute at the 2006 World Cup final, giving him a perfect view of Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt on Marco Materazzi. His successful playing career has turned Skelmersdale into a media sensation, although the club insist this is not a publicity stunt and that they needed a new direction led by someone from outside the non-league bubble. Potential investors are set for talks with Skem and a shirt sponsor is in the pipeline thanks to what comes with appointing a former Premier League player at this level.
The club are seeking funding to lay a new pitch at their former JMO Sports Park stadium, at a cost of more than £300,000, to return to Skelmersdale. Burscough’s ground consists of one small stand, a club house and ring of fencing not high enough to prevent clearances from landing on vacant land, which rarely happened at White Hart Lane.
Skelmersdale’s season has been a relative embarrassment, one win from 16 league fixtures leaving them 10 points adrift. Chimbonda’s predecessor, Matt Potter, was dispensed with after a 5-0 home defeat by Wythenshawe in front of 145 spectators. In normal circumstances, the Macron Cup would have attracted about 50 people but there were plenty more for Chimbonda, including a man positively critiquing the quality of pies through a megaphone.
This is not Chimbonda’s first experience in non-league, short spells with Washington and Ashton Town at the end of a playing career that also took in clubs such as Wigan, Sunderland and Blackburn giving him knowledge of how tough it is and how the post-match debrief often takes place in a pub. His love of the game is shown by the fact he was playing in a veterans league in the north-east until recently and a charity match appearance brought him to Skelmersdale. Since retiring he has earned a Uefa A coaching licence, working mainly with young players, offering private one-on-one sessions and running an academy in Manchester, helping youngsters get into the non-league system.
A desire for greater fitness from his squad is an early demand from Chimbonda. “I’ve been inspired by Guardiola, Mourinho, Simeone and Zidane, and as such just like those great managers, my philosophy will be to play attractive football,” Chimbonda announced upon arrival.
According to a 2022 report 43% of Premier League and 34% of EFL players are black but only 4.4% of managers are black. Chimbonda thinks he can be an inspiration for the next generation of black managers. He has taken encouragement from the Huddersfield manager, Darren Moore, having followed his career from the start, and aims to progress up the leagues.
Chimbonda could have accepted that managing in the professional game was cut off for him and given up. Instead the 44-year-old has seized an opportunity that others who have reached the same heights would not consider. “This was a learning experience,” Chimbonda said after defeat in his opening match. “I am a young manager; I’ve been in football more than 20 years but playing and managing are two different things. I will learn more and understand things more as time goes on and we will get better. My job is to make things good here and if it’s a benefit to the club, it is good for me as well.”
The gales swirling around Lancashire made the passing football Chimbonda dreams of harder in practice than ideal, but he says he is in it for the long haul and aiming to bring the wind of change. There was a platform to build on but if Chimbonda gets it wrong, it might cost him a few steaks.
