How Peterborough unearth non-league gems

Barry, who are the best players you’ve unearthed from non-league football?

The best non-league player I’ve bought is Steve Finnan. When I was at Birmingham, we signed him from Welling United for £25,000. He went on to win the Champions League with Liverpool and play 60 or 70 times for the Republic of Ireland. Here at Peterborough, we went for Aaron Mclean from Grays Athletic. He came in and then we sold him on and he played in the Premier League for Hull. We bought George Boyd from Stevenage and he’s in the Premier League with Burnley. Dwight Gayle is another, we signed him from Dagenham before selling him to Crystal Palace for £6m. We’ve had £7.5m in add-ons from the Gayle deal and his goals per game record in the Premier League is unbelievable.  Now he has gone to Newcastle and he will take them back to the top flight. We signed Britt Assombalonga from Wealdstone for a lot of money and after 11 months he went to Nottingham Forest for £5.5m. We’re still getting add-ons every time he plays. He will play in the Premier League; he will go on to the highest level.

What qualities stand out in non-league players?

They’re all level-headed lads. They’ve come up from the lower leagues, so they don’t get carried away. They came here and wanted a chance, we gave them that chance, we put them in the shop window. Their performances earned them the moves they’ve had. But they’ve never changed. They always come back to the club and watch us here, there and everywhere. And they’re brilliant. I’m so pleased because there’s a lot of footballers who are just interested in the money. They haven’t got the hunger or the desire anymore. So that’s why I love getting non-league player and we’ve just bought another one, a little lad from St Albans called Junior Morias. Watch out for that name.

Tell us about him, how did he impress you?

Well, my boy Adam saw him. He went to watch St Albans and said, ‘there’s this young lad up front. He causes problems. He’s only small but he is very aggressive and scores goals.’ I went to see him and I was very impressed with his work rate and his attitude. With his shooting, he didn’t just score goals, he created them as well. He held the ball up and brought other players into play. Grant McCann went to watch him in the FA Cup when they played Carlisle and he got two unbelievable goals in that game. He gave their back four the busiest afternoon they’ve ever had. St Albans were very good; they allowed the boy to come in during the week and train with us, to catch up with fitness. He’s only 21. He’s young, hungry, wants to listen, wants to learn, he just wants an opportunity and was glad to sign a blank form – he didn’t even know how much he was getting. With his attitude and skill he has got a great chance. He came on as sub last week and scored two goals in five minutes. He actually cried after scoring his first goal, it meant so much to him. 

Are there any particular moments where you’ve watched a player and thought ‘wow?’

Dwight Gayle. He was a substitute for Dagenham and Redbridge and came on for the last 20 minutes. Most of the scouts had gone or were leaving. During that 20 minutes, he had a great header that hit the bar. He had a right-foot shot that forced the goalkeeper to make a wonderful save. He had a left-foot volley, which hit the outside of the post and in those 20 minutes, his runs were brilliant. I phoned the chairman and said, ‘I’ve seen a player. We’ve got to get him.’ He said go back in that boardroom and do a deal. I said you better talk to the manager first, which was Darren Ferguson. So he rang me back and said, “I’ve spoken to the gaffer, go and get him.’ So we went and got him.

How do you know about all these players? You seem like you’ve got the best scouting network in football…

Well the chairman is brilliant. Darragh McAnthony will text me or phone me and say, 'have you heard of this one?' Sometimes I have and I tell him about him; sometimes I haven’t so I go and watch him whenever I can. Then we tell the manager, ‘go and have a look.' Grant goes to see him or his staff go to see him. It is their decision at the end of the day. We just say, ‘we think this is the next one, go and have a look.’ Sometimes they say ‘yeah we agree’ and we go and try to do a deal for them. Sometimes we don’t agree so we don’t go for them.

Do you find now there are more scouts watching non-league players now?

Yeah, definitely. We started it and a lot of people are copying us and it makes it harder and harder. Because of our success, when we go in for a player you’ll find that the transfer fee is a lot higher because they’ve seen what we’ve done before, so they want more and it’s getting harder to do deals with clubs. But normally I give the clubs plenty of add-ons. If we’re getting money on a regular basis – they’re getting money. We wheel and deal and work a deal out but it’s good. 

What sets a non-league player apart from an academy graduate who has been at a Premier League club all his life?

Hunger. Desire. Determination. I think professional players are spoilt. You watch under-23 games now, nobody tackles, nobody does anything. That’s why when opposition, even in the Premier league, come up against non-league teams, they get a tough game, because the non-league is full of triers. They give 150%. Leicester City won the Premier League last year because every single player gave 150%. They’re struggling this year because they’re only giving half of that percentage in effort. Effort, desire and hunger is why the non-league player gets a contract.

What do you think is missing from academy football?

Being men really. We’d rather send our academy players out on-loan to play in a men’s team somewhere, because we think that helps. Certainly, the academy at the highest level has not worked. Millions have gone into it with little reward, mainly because the big clubs in the Premier League would sooner go and buy a player for £50m than put one of the kids in and give him a go. Like I said, when you watch an under-21 game it is very awkward. There’s no tackling and when you get a player from the Premier League that is playing in their academy or playing in the under-23s, they come and play in League One and they’re amazed by the physicality of it. They’re not used to it and it takes them four or five games to get used to it and you can’t carry people like that. It is a totally different game altogether. I think academy footballers have really got to look at it and make the games more competitive and more real, because once they come out of that to play in the Football League it is really cut throat.