In the second of our interviews with current and former managers, Non League Yorkshire speaks to AFC Emley manager Darren Hepworth.
Club managed: AFC Emley (Nov 2010-present)
AFC Emley manager Darren Hepworth is meticulous in his planning. Picture: Mark Parsons
The parallels are stark. Darren Hepworth has had to work extremely hard to get to where he is now after starting at the bottom in his professional and football careers.
The 45-year-old Londoner combines his day job as director of customer services and global trading at TD Direct with the position of manager of Toolstation NCEL Division One promotion-chasers AFC Emley.
“It goes to show what you can do if you apply yourself,” says Hepworth, who moved to West Yorkshire in his teens and started on the shop floor of the financial services industry after a brief period of uncertainty after finding himself without a roof over his head and no money, shortly after leaving the Military Police.
He is now a very busy and driven man, who must work almost 24 hours a day on either TD or Emley business. With Emley alone, he’s taking charge of first team matches and training to watching several matches a week, ranging from Emley’s development squad and under 19s to upcoming first team opposition.
That’s not to mention the inevitable and constant phone calls he has to deal with.
“The job (at TD Direct) I do involves people and I love working with people and developing them,” he says when discussing how he manages Emley.
“Football and coaching is another way of doing that, but I’d say at this level that man management is probably more important than the technical side
“You don’t always get it right, but it is the most demanding side of it. You build a squad and you have to keep it motivated, keep the players interested, especially the ones on the fringe. That is the real test.
“To achieve anything you have to have a squad of 18 or 19 players, not eleven and that’s where the man management comes in. But with management, the reality is that it is 24/7, you don’t switch off.
“When you’re home at night, there’s the phone calls, games you want to go to. I have a vested interest in our under 19s and development squad which is a massive part of this football club so I make sure I get to nearly all their games.
“Work is work and I make sure football does not interfere with that, but literally as soon as you’re out of work you’re into football mode. I use the travelling time going home from work for my phone calls which is usually 45 minutes to an hour.
“Sometimes it may be longer and then I have to prepare for training. Luckily I have great people in (assistants) Joe (Howson) and Pat (Piercy). I think you have to surround yourself with people that are probably better than you.
“When you are picking people to have around you that they have the right personality, the right philosophy. You need them to believe in the same things you do in the way the game is played, but equally bring something different to the table. Which we do and we complement each other brilliantly.”
Darren Hepworth is known for a goal celebration. Picture: Mark Parsons
Darren Hepworth has been AFC Emley manager since 2010
Darren Hepworth celebrating the incredible FA Cup win over Wigan in 2013
AFC Emley manager Darren Hepworth is a passionate man
The sight of Hepworth running to celebrate with his team is a familiar sight. Picture: Mark Parsons
Hepworth with one of his assistants Joe Howson. Picture: Mark Parsons
By his own admission, his playing career as a “cultured centre-half” was not memorable. Few people remember him playing for the likes of Brighouse Town and Penistone Church before they came to NCEL recognition.
Another old club Huddersfield District League side Cumberworth twisted his arm after several attempts to become their manager. That’s where management for him began and not one to do things in half-measures, Hepworth set about spectacularly transforming their fortunes.
“It was real grassroots, District League level and Cumberworth hadn’t won anything for about 80 years,” he says. “I was there for three years and we won three promotions and we won a cup.
“I took them up into the first division and had a lot of fun, but I learned a lot. You had to do everything, putting the nets up, putting the corner flags out, cutting the oranges, literally everything.
“You have to have a vision and if you set that out and the players buy into it, you have a chance of winning things. We won things there and it was a massively successful period.”
Seeking a new challenge and a chance to further himself in 2009, Hepworth threw his hat into the ring to be the manager of Emley’s newly-formed reserve side in the West Riding County Amateur League.
“I threw my CV in, but I didn’t think I would get it,” he says.“I had previously had offers from other clubs in the local area with money, but I don’t need the money, I was more interested in the ambition.
“What’s important to me, if I see a club with the same level of ambition that I have, then that’s where I want to be.
“I could see in my own development that Emley would be a huge and right step for me.”
He was a revelation as Emley’s reserve side won promotion at the first attempt. Within a few months he found himself at the side of first team manager Darren Bland as his number two. But then Hepworth was propelled into the spotlight after Bland resigned.
As caretaker boss, Hepworth won six times in ten games, earning the job on a permanent basis. Apart from a bizarre 48 hours in September 2013 where he was sacked and then reinstated, he has held the role ever since. His vision has been implemented with the the under 19s and development team and the system works as several players are now regulars in the first team. The only missing element is the elusive promotion.
“Blandy was a terrific influence and support on me and he soon asked me to step up and become his assistant,” he says.
“He got the chance to go to Sheffield United and I was asked to take over. It was all by accident and sometimes that is what life is like. If you get the chance, just go for it.
“I’m ambitious, but so is the club and that’s why I’ve agreed to stay in charge next season.
“I’m six-years into the job and the one thing I have been blessed with is time. It is massively unusual, especially in the modern era.
“We have had a lot of change here and I think the club is in a great position to be successful for many years.
“We have to start with the basics and that’s to get out of this Division and progress. I don’t think Evo Stik is beyond this club and that’s where it needs to be.”
Eleven more games and we’ll know if this is Emley’s year.