Marcus Braddock talks to Graham Coughlan ahead of the Rotherham game

Town Captain Graham Coughlan joined us at the start of last season and has shown his leadership qualities at the heart of the team ever since. Marcus Braddock spoke to him about his wealth of experience and his plans for the future.

MB: You started your career with a club called Cherry Orchard in Ireland, who have produced quite a few professional players over the years. Were you part of a good group of players from that team?
GC: I wasn't part of a group of players, I was the only one. I had many opportunities to go to the League of Ireland when I was 16 or 17, but I wanted to stay where I was because of the important education I was getting. There are a lot of lads, who got that sort of education at a professional club, but I got my education at an amateur club and it was the best education I could have got because it was an education in life as well as football. Other players to have done well from there were players like Willo Flood who is over at Celtic and Andy Reid at Sunderland, they were the most notable.

MB: And of course yourself.
GC: Not me, I'm only a small time player.

MB: You say that but you have spent time at some decent clubs, you started at in England with Blackburn, who were pretty big at the time.
GC: well I went to the league of Ireland with Bray Wanderers, and then I went for trials with Blackburn, the year they won the Premier League which was great. I was in the reserves with Blackburn, and I had a couple of seasons there, and I felt I was standing still there because of the way they were building with the chequebook, rather than through the ranks.

So I had an opportunity to go to Livingstone and I went there on loan initially and I had enjoyed it and they asked me to stay, and we won League 2. Then I had the chance of spending another season at Blackburn and continuing with it. I was enjoying first team football and it was maybe not as glamorous, but it was certainly what I wanted to do, which was to play. I did that and we were successful, first we missed out on the play-offs, and then we got promoted to the Premier League, the SPL. I was made captain up there and winning two leagues was successful.

MB: That is something I have noticed with a few players I have spoken to, they would rather play first team football at a lower league, than play in the reserves at a higher level.
GC: Yes, I think that's all players, you earn your corn on a Saturday afternoon, rather than during the week with the reserves. I think the reserves is for development and coming back from injury, but if you regard yourself as a first team player, you want to play every Saturday.

MB: From Livingstone you went on to Plymouth, which is a fair distance.
GC: Yes, Paul Sturrock took me to Plymouth, he was someone I liked from the first time I met him in Scotland. I had a cup of tea with him in a hotel, it was supposed to be a 10-15 minute chat and 3 or 4 hours later we were still chatting. From that day on, we gelled and just got on, it was a good partnership we had at Plymouth and then at Sheffield Wednesday. I enjoyed working with him and he was a really decent bloke to work with and I learned a lot from him, he has been a big influence on my career for definite.

MB: Do you remember him as a player?
GC: He used to show us on the bus, he always had a DVD, I don't know how, but he used to put it on any where you were. On the coaches on the long away trips, he used to put his own personal DVD collection on.

MB: He was quite a fan of his own career then?
GC: Yes, it was a bit of fun as well, that was the way he wanted us to play and he was hammering home a double message. The boys used to have a bit of banter with him about it as well.

MB: From Wednesday you went to Rotherham...
GC: I had a season at Rotherham, and I played about 50 games that season, but mentally I had a year out although I was there physically. I lost my younger brother, he was only 18, I was asked off the training ground at Sheffield Wednesday one day which was unusual. I knew there was something wrong somewhere along the lines, and I had to go back home to Dublin as I had lost my young brother, he was only 18.

He came and lived with me for a few years at Plymouth, when I went to Sheffield Wednesday he went home, he was working over here but that's by the by. I lost my way in life to be honest, and when I was at Rotherham and I will be forever grateful to Mark Robins as he guided me through that season. As I say, mentally I wasn't there but physically I played 50 games, so I don't suppose I did myself much justice that season but I suppose that's part of life. I am a pretty serious person when it comes to football, but that puts life into perspective and football into perspective.

MB: So a tough time at Rotherham, and then you came here. At the time I seem to remember you wanting to stay there, was that because of the support you were shown?
GC: I was shown immense support that year, they did get round me and get behind me, they knew what I had been through, and the club went into administration first and foremost, and I had one or two offers but I turned them down. I was the captain and there were young lads not getting paid, I just tried to stay and help them out to get on the ladder of football, even financially you would have to help one or two of them out as well because we weren't paid for 3 months, and you have to live.

I look back after two years and it was a good experience, but at the time it was a bit nerve jangling. Where are your wages coming from, how do you pay your way, how do you pay your mortgage. I had the opportunity to leave, but I didn't want to leave and people couldn't see that, they couldn't see why I wanted to say and I was promised money and all sorts of things. I was staying at a club that wasn't paying me, I suppose that's just the sort of person I am, loyalty is important to me and far outweighs money. I left at the end of the season; they spoke to me about the clubs financial plight and various bits and pieces, it was sad to leave yes.

I spoke to Paul Simpson at Shrewsbury, as soon as I spoke to Shrewsbury, I knew the way the club wanted to go, so I said, "yeah, that's the club for me". Then they were a little awkward letting me go, maybe it was because they didn't want me to go, maybe it was because they wanted a bit of money for me, I don't know the ins and outs of it. It delayed and delayed, and I found it really frustrating and I didn't know whether I was coming or going.

One minute I was told about the financial situation at the club was such that players had to go, and the next I was being told that the manager didn't want me to go. Every day brought a different tale, and I was resigned to the fact that I was going, and by then I wanted to go. I was desperate for another League title to be fair, and losing out at Rotherham to administration was pretty hard.

MB: So with you wanting a league title, last season wasn't as successful as you would have liked?
GC: For me no, you get judged on success and I have had no success at Shrewsbury Town Football Club. We lost out in the Play-offs, and with respect the Shropshire Senior cup I wouldn't look at as success. Success would be getting this club into League 1 and into the Championship, that for me is success, winning leagues and titles is success, not being nearly men and last season we were nearly men. I thought that 90 minutes at Wembley summed up our season, the whole 48 games we played was condensed into 90 minutes.

MB: So overall, the same as the bloke sat in the stands, disappointing?
GC: It was bitterly disappointing last season, and it's not been great this season, we have been a little bit inconsistent. By all means we have the players, the infrastructure and the manager, this club has everything to progress.

MB: Is it more disappointing as you are getting toward the end of your playing career?
GC: (Laughs) I was wondering when you were going to mention that...

MB: well you have a few years on me.
GC: I know when you get on in the game people say it, but I do actually feel fitter and better now than I have ever done in my career. I was never a quick player so I wouldn't be worried about my pace, what I never had, I'll never miss.

MB: That said, I have noticed you bombing up the pitch when things have gone a bit quiet.
GC: That's probably desperation, trying to lift the team and lift the crowd and the club.

MB: I think it's good to see that you give a damn...
GC: (more laughing) Yes but where am I going? As soon as I get across the halfway line I think, "I shouldn't be here". No that's just an effort to try and lift the team, give them a bit of a lift. I suppose captains in midfield and up front can do that with a goal or a bit of creativity, defenders can't really do that so you just try. It will hurt if I'm not successful here, it will hurt me because I am desperate for another league title.

MB: I notice that you have been doing a little bit of coaching with the centre of excellence, is that where you see your career going?
GC: I've completed all my coaching licenses; I got into it when I was at Plymouth, coaching the young kids. I have been lucky enough to coach kids that are now playing in the premiership, so that's nice to see them go and progress; it shows how old I am now. Obviously some of the people I am mixing with on coaching courses is fulfilling too, I have mixed with the likes of Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville, Solskjaer. Just to hear about Manchester United, I could have sat for hours listening, I am sure they didn't want to be talking about it. I am trying to put a few bits and pieces onto to my C.V. At the minute, trying to do the psychology courses and the management courses as bolt ons, because the coaching is done and the courses are done as far as they will allow me to go.

MB: is it managing or coaching that you would rather do?
GC: I don't know, I am enjoying playing and it's a conversation I had with Paul Simpson at the start of the season. I am enjoying playing at the minute, I'll re-assess at the end of the season, if I am of no value to Paul Simpson and Shrewsbury Town, I will be the first to hold my hand up and say enough is enough. At the minute I am feeling really good, and I am enjoying it, I would rather be winning a bit more and be a bit higher up the league but at the minute. I am my own biggest critic and I will know myself, and I will be the first one in to management to say that's that. I don't see that in the near future, that's being honest as I am feeling good.

MB: Finally, how do you think we will get on against your old club Rotherham?
GC: Let's be honest, Rotherham are a good team, they should be in league one. My first season there, administration robbed us, last season they were robbed because of points deducted, so in all honesty, Rotherham are a League one team. They will make league one, whether it be this season or next, but having said that, they are a team we beat twice last season. So it just goes to show that we can compete with that size of team, but we have just got to get that consistency, and cut out the individual errors.

Marcus Braddock