AFC Emley captain Paul Sykes praises Darren Hepworth

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)
AFC Emley captain Paul Sykes has spoken of his admiration for his manager Darren Hepworth.
Sykes is in the twilight of his glittering career that has seen him play for the likes of Stalybridge Celtic, Harrogate Town, Worksop Town and Ossett Town.
The centre-half, who has played in a variety of positions over the years, has featured for Glasshoughton Welfare, Ossett Town and Worksop Parramore in recent years before joining Emley last season.
And when comparing managers he had worked with, on Hepworth, Sykes said: “His strengths are his honesty. He says it like it is.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve in the dressing room and the dugout. He heads every ball.
“I’ve played for a number of managers and a lot of managers tell you what you want to hear and sometimes you want pure passion.
“Like the Wigan game where he was on the pitch, you want that.
“John Reed is very similar to Darren, he wears his heart on his sleeve and a very passionate man.
“I’ve played under the Steve Burr’s who are the quiet people. He did all his talking in private to players and he passed on all the responsibility to the players.
“He took the all the stick from the chairman, but he was all about telling the players to go out and express themselves.”



Sykes played under Reed at Harrogate during the 2002-03 season before playing under him at Stalybridge when Reed pulled off the great escape in the inaugural Conference North campaign.
When Reed stepped down in 2007, Sykes played two seasons for current Kidderminster Harriers boss Steve Burr, who guided Celtic to the Conference North play-offs final.
Whilst it doesn’t compare to a play-offs final, Sykes scored a ‘Roy of the Rovers’ penalty in the 97th minute of Emley’s sensational FA Cup victory over Wigan Robin Park in August – a moment that could have easily not happened.
“It was Darren who stopped me from retiring in the summer,” he said.
“Over the summer I changed job and I’m working a lot of long hours trying to set up a business.
“I questioning my motivation in pre-season and it was Darren who said it will be a long time before I retire.
“I enjoy it here. I am the old man, I’m nearly double the age of the lads. But, it’s nice the responsibility the club gives me or the manager gives me, like looking after the players.
“I’m skipper and all the lads get on with me. Its games like the Wigan match that keep me playing. You can’t beat the buzz of playing football.”



Sykes nearly retired again two weeks following the sacking of Hepworth. He scored with the last kick of the 4-0 victory at Appleby Frodingham and was all set to hang up his boots until Hepworth was reinstated.
On the recent events, Sykes said: “It is the first time in 20 years in adult football that I have ever experienced anything like it.
“We had a training session on the Thursday night and the manager got the sack on the Friday and then got reinstated on the Sunday, but to be told by the chairman an hour before kick-off (at Appleby Frodingham) that it wasn’t for football reasons, it is not how I see football.
“You expect football decisions to be based on football matters, not personal issues. I don’t know what the personal issues were and I don’t care what they were. But it left a sour taste. Things seemed to be going well for us.
“Yes (I was going to retire). I just thought that I don’t want to be involved in a situation where football decisions were made on personal issues and with a manager already being appointed, it sounded wrong and I thought ‘no’.
“As soon as I received a couple of phone calls on the Sunday saying the gaffer was back. I thought ‘well I made a commitment to the gaffer in the summer’.”



So what does the future hold? Sykes has dabbled with management during a spell as Phil Sharpe’s assistant at Ossett Town in 2010 and he also applied unsuccessfully for the Glasshoughton manager’s job in June 2012.
But, despite a couple of knockbacks, he would like to enter the world of management.
“It is something I want to do, I’ve spent a lot of time in football and learnt a lot of things off different managers,” he said.
“I was close to getting the Stocksbridge job three years ago. It is something I want to try my hand at and I feel I have something to offer.
“I’ve had a good career out of football and as much as anything, I want to give something back. I have earned a lot of money playing football, I’m not earning a lot now, but it’s about giving something back (here at Emley).”