Hereford FC manager Josh Gowling’s first monthly column for the Guardian (Available on The Guardian now):

When I am interviewing prospective signings for Hereford FC, one of the best questions is the shortest one: “Why?” I want to know why they are sitting in front of me, why their career has taken them down this path and why they think we would be a good match. We speak about their personality, their background and their ambitions. It is all designed to see whether they buy into what we are trying to do, and whether they have the right mentality for our environment.

But that is not where the process ends. We cannot afford to get too many decisions wrong as a sixth-tier club, playing in the National League North, on a tight budget and amid competition that gets tougher by the year. The financial margins are wafer-thin, particularly after the Covid-19 shutdown that denied us precious gate receipts and commercial revenue. We were hit harder than most and sustainability comes before anything. Every penny counts towards staying alive but, at the same time, this club has a historic name and a sizeable fanbase so our aims need to be bigger.

That is why I have spent the summer enhancing our recruitment process with a strategy based on data and analytics, which has become commonplace higher up the leagues but I believe is groundbreaking in our division. I have hired a team of a dozen undergraduates from one of the UK’s leading football analysis courses to work alongside me, my assistant and our analyst in profiling the players we need. We look for key markers in players to see whether they fit our approach: high pressing, quick transitions and intensity. Collating this information means I am armed with all the detail I need when I meet them.

I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character but you can’t guarantee, from an interview, whether somebody will perform. Consistency is a particular issue in the National League and the mental side of the game is a big reason why a lot of players are at this level. We are fortunate to welcome crowds of about 3,000 to Hereford, so I need players who are comfortable playing under that pressure. The idea is that, by adding analytics to old-fashioned intuition, I have a far better chance of getting these decisions right.

We will also use the system to analyse our opponents. Last season we played Aldershot in the FA Trophy and knew that a team that scores first against them has an 80% chance of winning. That informed my gameplan: we had to have a go at them. We scored after six minutes; we were pegged back at the end and eventually won on penalties, but it gave us a platform to succeed against a team in the division above us.

During my playing career at clubs such as Bournemouth and Kidderminster, we never had access to this kind of detail. Sean O’Driscoll, my manager at Bournemouth, did a lot of his own video analysis and in many ways was ahead of his time. We want to implement something that helps our players and management to a unique degree; a system that we can adapt, improve and, as we hopefully move up the levels, shape to become different from anyone else’s. Models like this have worked spectacularly at places such as Brentford and Brighton; Notts County are on that path too, although at an earlier stage. When I eventually have to move on from Hereford, this is the legacy and structure I want to leave.

With or without data, pre-season has been a challenge. We have kept about half of our 22-strong squad – when I arrived last year we retained only three or four – but the level of flux still poses problems. Bringing in quality players who fit the budget and are happy to be part‑time is a juggling act. Getting deals over the line means constant phone calls and, in practice, little sleep. I have two young children and live in Grimsby, so it is perfectly normal for me to rack up 1,000 miles a week. We train in the Midlands, at Aston University, as it gives us access to a wider talent pool and most of our players are based in the area, but it is a four-hour drive from my home to Hereford.

Last season the theme we presented to the squad was: “This year only.” The circumstances everyone faced were extraordinary and I just asked them to squeeze everything they could out of it. We reached the FA Trophy final and had a day at Wembley, even if we were deeply frustrated to lose against Hornchurch. But we were pushing for the play-offs when the league was declared null and void in February, so this time it is about “Elevation”. We want to take last season’s work to another level, starting when we host Farsley Celtic on Saturday.

Hereford is a massive club and its natural resting place should be in the Football League, but we have big outgoings and that means we have to be smarter in everything we do. It can be hard to think long term at National League level because so many factors can lie beyond your control, but the clubs that put in the right infrastructure and commit to their targets, such as Stockport and Chesterfield in the division above us, will be rewarded. Recruitment is a fundamental part of that and it is my job, through the new approach, to ensure we can steal a march on the rest.

Josh Gowling will be writing for the Guardian through the 2021-22 season.

Be. is delighted to announce our first official football client is Hereford FC’s and Afghanistan international Maziar Kouhyar. We had been working unofficially with Maz to help him find a new club during the Covid-19 pandemic, and he has now officially signed as part of Be.

Maz (pictured here with Be. founder Razi Hassan) is an attacking midfielder for National League North side Hereford FC. Having spent a year out of the sport, the former Walsall youth player impressed Hereford coach Josh Gowling during a short spell at the club at the back end of last season which included making his Wembley debut. Be. is delighted to have helped Maz, as one of only a handful of British Asians playing professionally, make his return to the game and are excited to watch his first steps back into the Football League.

Be. client Maziar Kouhyar has signed a one-year contract with Hereford FC – cementing his return to football and significantly boosting the number of British Asians playing professional football.

Having come through the youth ranks at EFL club Walsall, Maziar was released in April 2020 following a couple of knee injuries at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

After struggling to find a club, he took jobs at KFC and then as a car salesman, fearing his dream of playing pro football was over.

However, last autumn he began working with athlete life management company Be. who secured him a trial with Hereford.

There he impressed manager Josh Gowling, and in just his second appearance Maziar made his Wembley debut in May’s FA Trophy Final, before he was recalled to the Afghanistan squad for their June World Cup Qualifiers.

Hereford head coach has claimed “Maz is a fantastic character with bags of talent, when you first meet him you find it hard not to like him straight away. His talent on the football pitch speaks for itself and understanding his previous experiences in the game I felt it was my responsibility to give him a second chance. The Asian community is drastically unrepresented in football and my hopes is that maz is one of the players that young Asian men and women aspire to be like.”

Following a strong 2021/22 pre-season campaign, Maziar has signed with both Hereford and Be., which aims to improve the under-representation of British Asian footballers.

As one of a handful of British Asians playing professionally, Maz’s return to the game has boosted that number by around 10%, and he has set his sights on a return to the Football League.

After signing his 1-year deal Kouhyar went on to say “I’m happy to sign for such a big club and I am raring to go and make up for lost time, I have great ambitions for this club and a big thanks to BE for making it all possible”

BRAVE Kay Prosper slipped to a points defeat over the weekend in his EBU European Super-Lightweight title fight against Sandor Martin.

The English champion, who was stepping up in class and fighting abroad for the first time, was expected to be out of his depth.

But 36-year-old showed that was not the case as he settled in to a relatively even and cagey first couple rounds, albeit landing scoring shots rather than hurting his Spanish opponent in his hometown of Barcelona.

Prosper – who came into the fight with a 14-1-1 record – tried to match the tricky southpaw’s stance, but it quickly became apparent that this was not working against a man known for his technical ability.

Martin, 27, quickly moved ahead on the scorecards and never let that lead slip as he’s successfully done in so many of his previous fights.

With Prosper knowing he had to be more aggressive, he switched back to his orthodox stance and had some joy up close.

But his hopes of getting back into the bout were not helped by some questionable officiating by the hometown referee, who drew criticism from the commentators for deducting two points from the Luton man.

A comfortable victory for Sandor Martin – who moved 38-2-0 – sees him remain in the mix at world level, while Prosper’s performance and experience leaves him well positioned to challenge for the British title.

BE has been working with Hereford manager Josh Gowling ahead of his side’s big FA Trophy semi-final game against Woking tomorrow, and here the psychology graduate tells The Guardian all about how he’s been using computer games such as Call Of Duty to bond with his players during lockdown, plus his fascination with the analytical side of the game which he initially developed partly through a love of Football Manager, and how he’s using analytics to build a sustainable future for Hereford FC. Good luck tomorrow Josh – let’s get to Wembley!

The article can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/26/hereford-josh-gowling-fa-trophy-semi-final-woking

Today it was announced that Beyond Entertainment’s Faisal Malik has signed a contract with Cage Warriors. The 5-0 Mixed Martial Artist has made the biggest step in his career to date signing for a promotion that has seen global MMA stars such as Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Michael Bisping and even Conor McGregor. This is a massive step up in quality in Malik’s quest to find himself at the pinnacle of the sport as a UFC Champion.

Beyond Entertainment’s Kay Prospere will fight for the European
super-lightweight title live on DAZN on April 23rd.

The English champion, nicknamed Special K, will headline the Matchroom
Boxing event as he challenges Spaniard Sandor Martin in the champion’s
home country.

Martin, 28, is ranked 7 by both the WBC and WBO. He won the vacant EBU belt in convincing fashion against Andrea Scarpa in July 2019, and has a 37-2 record.

Prospere, 36, has been English champion since beating Sam O’maison in September 2019 following a controversial draw in their first bout six
months earlier. He then successfully defended it with a unanimous points decision against Bilal Rehman last March and is 14-1.

Prospere has given Martin his credit and said “he’s good, but he’s beatable” as his sets his aspirations to win the EBU title and move towards a world title opportunity.

The fight is an opportunity for both men to prove their credentials to
step up in class, and the winner will move a step closer to a world
title shot.

Kay Prospere against Sandor Martin is live on DAZN from the Badalona’s
Palau Olímpic arena on April 23rd.

A British Asian player says he was called a terrorist by a team-mate, but felt unable to speak out at the time for fear of being branded a “troublemaker”.

Maziar Kouhyar moved with his family to Birmingham as an infant seeking asylum from Afghanistan and signed professionally for Walsall in 2016.

Kouhyar says he holds the club in high regard for giving him a chance in the professional game, but alleges he was subjected to abuse from very early on in his time there.

“We were just training and one of the lads said something to me about being a terrorist,” Kouhyar told the PA news agency.

“I laughed it off, but he said it again. When he said it again, I commented back something like ‘you’re forcing the laughter now’ or ‘you’ve already tried once, don’t try it again’ – just something to make people laugh at him.

“He didn’t like that. We started pushing each other and the players split us up. A member of staff was there while all this happened, and heard it all and saw it all.

“So I expected I’d get called into the office maybe after training to see if I was alright, maybe the player would have some sanctions, but it never got mentioned again.

“I didn’t want to bring anything up. I was trying to get into the first team and get more minutes, so I didn’t want to cause any bad blood, any trouble that would stop me from playing, so I didn’t mention anything either, even though it was hurtful to me.

Calling me a terrorist was hurtful to me – my family fled from Afghanistan because of terrorists. Calling me that is a bit close to home.

Maziar Kouhyar

“Calling me a terrorist was hurtful to me – my family fled from Afghanistan because of terrorists. Calling me that is a bit close to home.”

Kouhyar’s comments come as a new research from sports and entertainment business Beyond Entertainment and the Football Supporters’ Association is published.

A Savanta survey of more than 2,000 people found only 29.1 per cent believed the football industry was doing enough to bring more British Asian people into the sport at professional level.

Just 13 per cent felt racism towards British Asians was treated seriously enough by the football industry.

Greg Clarke’s comments about South Asians and their “career preferences” – highlighting how many worked in the Football Association’s IT department – caused outrage and he has since resigned as the governing body’s chairman.

Kouhyar, who said Clarke’s comments were “outdated” and hoped they would open the debate over British Asian participation in the game, recalled other comments which were directed at him during his time at the club.

“We’d go on the bus to Luton, which has got a large Asian community. They (his team-mates) would see an Asian family outside the bus and say ‘ah, look, there’s your auntie’. It’s on a coach so it’s in front of everyone.

“You have to take it on the chin. You don’t want to be the awkward one who can’t take a joke, which was how it got perceived back then.

“Now, with the Black Lives Matter movement pushing forward that kind of banter wouldn’t happen any more, people understand the implications of it. Back then, they just saw it as a joke, so I had to see it as a joke.

“I’ve never thought to speak out because I’ve always thought in my head ‘you’re going to be labelled a troublemaker’, but now seeing people like Raheem Sterling speak out about it, it’s given me the confidence to say, ‘if you’ve got a voice, you should tell your story’.”

Walsall said in a statement: “As a club we have always prided ourselves on being all inclusive.0.25The percentage of British Asians within professional football – 10 out of 4,000.Beyond Entertainment/PFA

“Should Maz have raised any of his concerns at the time with the hierarchy here at the club, they would have been taken very seriously and dealt with swiftly.

“We have a zero tolerance policy on discrimination of any kind and would not condone any such behaviour. Even though he has now left the club we would of course like to deal with his concerns if he is able to provide specific detail.

“He was a valuable member of the club from the age 15 where he progressed through the youth ranks to earn a professional contract before sadly rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in April 2019. Despite being out of contract in June, Maz completed his rehabilitation with the club before we parted ways in January 2020.

“Maz is one of a number of British Asian players who have followed a similar path with Walsall FC in recent years such as Netan Sansara, Malvind Benning and Jordon Sangha.”

Only 10 of the 4,000 professional players in England are from a British Asian background. Kouhyar, who has been without a club since leaving the Saddlers, believes an increase in the number of role models to aspire to could lead to exponential growth.

“If you’re going to do something you always look at someone else who’s already done it and follow their example, having more Asian players will create a domino effect,” he said.

Original article available here: https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/sport/british-asian-player-called-terrorist-by-team-mate-but-felt-unable-to-speak-out/

Saturday night saw Faisal Malik secure his fifth professional victory in as many fights with a 1st round stoppage victory over Andrei Bogus at UFL 4. Coming into the fight Faisal was yet to go longer than 1 minute and 4 seconds in the cage and his fifth bout was not dissimilar.

Within seconds of the start Malik countered a side kick with a near perfect entry on a single leg takedown, and instantly began to swarm Bogus with some lethal ground and pound. After some sustained punishment and some unanswered blows the bout was stopped in the very first round.

This victory moves Malik to 5-0 beckoning the question of if anybody in the national bracket can come close to him or if he is already ready for a step up in quality on his rise to the top.

Yan Dhanda proves his racist abusers wrong every time he steps onto a football pitch.

Dhanda is coming of age at Swansea City, thriving in a team chasing promotion to the Premier League.

With each accomplished performance, the 21-year-old sticks two fingers up at those who told him he would not make the professional game because of his British Asian background.

“When I was young I got a lot of racism, being Asian, probably because I was better than other kids,” Dhanda said.

“I got a lot of kids saying ‘you should be doing this job or should be doing that’, or ‘you’re not going to make it – you’re Asian’.

“There were obviously a lot worse words than that, but I am not going to say them.”

Dhanda, a former England Under-17 international who hails from the West Midlands, is one of only 10 British Asians among around 4,000 professional footballers in the United Kingdom.

He says the support of his mother Zoe, who is English, and father Jaz, who was born in England to Indian parents, was key in helping him deal with abuse he faced as a child.

“I think because I had so much self-belief and I knew I was better than everyone, I never let it affect me,” Dhanda said.

“But I can see it affecting other kids who don’t have the backing of their parents, or don’t have the self-belief I had or the relationship with their dad that I had.

“My dad would always say ‘you are better than them – don’t let it get to you and we’ll see where they are and where you are in the future’.”

Dhanda spent five years in Liverpool’s academy before moving to Swansea in search of first-team football in 2018.

He has had to be patient – he has made 30 appearances to date – but has turned a corner in recent weeks and now looks a player capable of nailing down a place in Swansea’s side.

Away from the training ground, Dhanda’s background comes up most days.

“On social media I get a lot of messages with people asking for advice,” he said.

“They want to become footballers, how do they do it, or they are proud of me and what I have done.

“Because I hear it so often, I am so aware of the lack of Asians in football. There’s no point sugar-coating it and saying it’s fine because it’s not.

“I am quite passionate about it, that things need to change and Asian kids need to get more opportunities and not get overlooked.”

Dhanda is delighted to be viewed as a role model.

“I am so proud of where I am from and my family’s background,” he added.

“I want to be the first person of Asian background to do great things.

“The lack of Asian players now – it can’t get any worse.

“But the number of Asian kids I know are playing football and are really good – they are going to be coming through in the next few years.”

Dhanda has long stood out as a gifted attacking midfielder, but has shown of late that he can cope with the physical demands of the Championship – and believes his progress could help others.

“I think a lot of Asian kids, because there are not a lot of professionals, are stereotyped as not strong enough,” Dhanda said.

“I think with the right coaching and with someone believing in them, anyone can do anything – no matter where you are from, what race you are and what background you are.

“Asian kids need the same opportunity as everyone else. They need to be given a chance.”

A long-standing problem “getting worse”

Research released today suggests there is plenty of work to be done before British Asians are properly represented in professional football.

A national poll of more than 2,000 people was commissioned by athlete management company Beyond Entertainment and the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA), while there was also an FSA survey of 500 football fans.

Among the findings of the surveys are:

• Less than a third of people believed the football industry was doing enough to ensure better representation of British Asians in the professional game. 29.1% believed the industry was doing enough.
• 13% felt racism towards British Asians was treated seriously enough by the football industry.
• Among those within the survey group who identified as football fans, 46% said the game needed to do more to improve British Asian representation.
• 64% of the FSA survey group felt the small number of British Asians playing professionally “shamed” football.
• Of those within that group who identified as being British Asian – around one-fifth – 71% said the game is better structured to support the development of white and black players than people from their community.
• A similar number from that group (72%) also said the British Asian community needs to do more to get its youngsters involved in the game.
• 72% of the FSA survey group would be proud to see a British Asian captain England, but just 15% feel that will happen by 2050.

British Asians make up 7% of the UK population. However, only 0.25% of professional footballers are British Asians.

“There are twice as many people of Asian heritage as people of black heritage in the UK yet there are 100 times more black pro players than Asian pro players. That’s a massive statistical anomaly,” said Kick It Out executive chair Sanjay Bhandari.

“It is clear that football has a long-standing problem getting British Asian players into the game and it is getting worse. Football needs to address this.”

‘One of the lads said something about being a terrorist’

Maziar Kouhyar, 23, says he was called a “terrorist” by a team-mate during his time at Walsall.

Kouhyar came to Britain aged one as a result of conflict in his native Afghanistan, for whom he has played international football.

He made 33 Walsall appearances before being released in 2019, and says there were “a lot of good experiences” at the club.

“But also there were a lot of racist things I experienced that made it a bit sour,” he said.

The worst incident was during a warm-up before a training session.

“One of the lads said something to me, something about being a terrorist,” Kouhyar said.

“The guy said it again so we ended up having a confrontation, pushing each other. The lads split it up.”

Kouhyar expected to “get called into the office” to discuss what happened. When nothing was said, he stayed quiet because he “didn’t want to be a troublemaker”.

Kouhyar, a midfielder, now works as a car salesman. He says “racist banter” was “thrown about” during his time in the professional game.

“For example on one occasion we went to Luton. It was a predominantly Asian area we were driving past – some of the lads would say ‘Maz, there’s your cousin’,” Kouhyar said.

“In football, it’s sad to say but that’s just the banter. If you don’t play along with it, you are not going to get along with the lads.

“Now I work at Toyota, there’s no racist banter. Why is it okay as part of football culture? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

In a statement, Walsall said: “As a club we have always prided ourselves on being all inclusive.

“Should Maz have raised any of his concerns at the time with the hierarchy here at the club, they would have been taken very seriously and dealt with swiftly.

“We have a zero tolerance policy on discrimination of any kind and would not condone any such behaviour. Even though he has now left the club we would of course like to deal with his concerns if he is able to provide specific detail.

“He was a valuable member of the club from the age 15 where he progressed through the youth ranks to earn a professional contract before sadly rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in April 2019. Despite being out of contract in June, Maz completed his rehabilitation with the club before we parted ways in January 2020.

“Maz is one of a number of British Asian players who have followed a similar path with Walsall FC in recent years such as Netan Sansara, Malvind Benning and Jordon Sangha.”

Original article available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54843694