“Dream Accomplished”, Now For More – Jack Broadhead Interview (Part 2)

After talking to Jack about the particulars of the Football Development Officer Role, we talked more broadly about his career highlights so far, and touched on some of the highlights he feels are yet to come.

TM: What sort of achievements do you feel you've accomplished so far in your career, what are some stand-out moments for you?

JB: “In my playing career, in the youth team at Chesterfield early on, I was doing really well, sort of excelling. I got the Young Player of the Year Award, which was a prestigious thing, something looked upon as "who's been the best player in the youth team over that year", and I won that, which I was very happy with. I got brought out at half-time in a Chesterfield game and got a round of applause from the fans, which was brilliant. Getting offered my first professional contract with Chesterfield was brilliant, I'll never forget that meeting at Chesterfield with the manager and various members of the board, my youth team manager, that was, yeah, you know; me and my Dad went to the meeting and when I came out we had a massive hug, couldn't believe what was said, and yeah, at that point you're just thinking "dream accomplished", that was a massive deal for me.

“I made my first team debut [for Chesterfield] against Scunthorpe in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, that was a huge deal. I didn't actually know I was making my debut until a few days before so I didn't really have time to get nervous! That was a positive, but yeah, it was something I'll never forget, even though they beat us it was a great day. I made my League 1 debut where someone got sent off, and I had to go on, that's something that - you know, you're away, at Port Vale, which was quite a hostile ground at the time, and we were winning 2-1, hanging on, and obviously we'd had a man sent off, so it was a big deal, three-points-on-the-line sort of thing - that was amazing, I'll never forget that day.

“In terms of Non-League, we’ve had some brilliant days, FA Cup runs, specific games where the team I've played for have been the underdogs. One that stands out as a highlight for me would be the Chester game we had at Worksop last year in the FA Cup. We lost on penalties in the end but considering we're playing against a team that's a few tiers above us and, you know, winning 2-0 with 20 minutes to go, and I scored one of, well, what would have to be the best goal I've ever scored in that game, and yeah, a shame we couldn't hang on but yeah, in terms of playing career that was a highlight definitely.”

TM: So, now we've talked about your achievements in the past, what are your goals for this next step, and this new role, in terms of the Academy and the club in general?

JB: “In the Academy, the main achievement is to establish Worksop as an academy that's respected in the community, and not only in terms of football but in terms of the community in general, as an establishment that's inclusive to everyone. It's a very inclusive environment, something we can incorporate, bringing football into every walk of life - be that people with disabilities, learning difficulties, we run walking football events for people who are older, I really want it to be a hub for the community. We've got a fantastic management operation behind the whole infrastructure here at Worksop, we can't thank those guys enough for giving us the opportunities, bringing people like myself in, it just shows we're on the right path.

“Again, my ambition is to grow this academy, grow the football club, obviously playing as well with my role in the first team, trying to get the club as high up the ladder as we can, whilst maintaining a proper academy that's developing footballers, and benefiting the community - you know there's a role for everyone here, we're training people, providing jobs for people, and then we're also looking at opportunities to aid people who have difficulties in learning, things we can do for people with disabilities… there's a load of ideas in my head, and it's on me to put those into action, but the important thing is that right now I've got the right infrastructure behind me, the right setup to help me develop these ideas into functional programmes that can benefit people in the long run.

TM: Awesome. Great to hear. Finally then, as a closing statement of sorts: What are you excited about that's coming up soon, and what are you excited about that's maybe in the more distant future, for yourself and for the club?

JB: “In terms of coming up soon, we've got some Walking Football tournaments, and some games with the Academy at foundation phase, which I'm really looking forward to. In terms of the further future, I'm focused on getting the first team up the league system, getting promoted, that's something that I want to be a massive part of, and I think something we can be successful in. So yeah, lots to look forward to for me.”