A Defensive Discussion with.......Nathan Pond

Meet Nathan!

There are many avenues a footballer can take to become a professional footballer. There is the traditional way where you progress through the youth ranks moving into the first team, maybe you are released by a professional club and to play first team football you have to move down the leagues, or you could take the Nathan Pond route. Nathan Pond, may not be a famous name around the world, or England, or even his home county of Lancashire, but he is a legend in the small fishing town of Fleetwood. “Pondy”, as he is known, plays for England’s newest member of their football league, Fleetwood Town after winning promotion to League 2 on Saturday. Here is the story of Nathan Pond and the rise of his club Fleetwood Town F.C.

I met Nathan in 2005 when I signed for Fleetwood Town, who were in the tenth tier in the English League system at the time. To say the man is tough to miss is an understatement, the man stands at 6 ft 3 inches, supremely athletic, and articulates with that strong Preston accent so naturally he was the first person’s name I remembered. While speaking with the Preston born defender I asked him if he remembered his first season at Fleetwood and how did he end up in the small fishing town? “It was a while ago but I signed just before 2002/03 season. I did not have the opportunity to become an apprentice playing for a professional club so I just played junior league football on Sunday’s with my mates. Luckily, someone at Fleetwood noticed me and asked me to sign when they were in the North West Counties League”. This league for our viewers is a collection of part time football clubs where a select few pay players but football is not their primary income. The clubs that did pay, which included Fleetwood Town, would not hand many packets that exceeded £100, so a career was needed to pay the bills. “I worked as a multi-drop driver up and down the country, which made training that was twice a week in the evenings very tough” Pond added.

The Boss!

As we carried on our conversation one name kept coming up and that was “Pilley” who is the chairman and the man responsible for dragging his home town club from the depths of non league to only being three promotions away from the Premier League. Andrew Pilley, took ownership of the club a year after Pond arrived and to say he has turned the club around is no exaggeration, “Our pitch was awful and to call Highbury a stadium was pushing it. The crowds during the first few years were the same as the one’s I played in front of on a Sunday apart from the rivalry games. We would see three figure crowds turn out for these games like Squires Gate F.C. (a local side from nearby Blackpool) The Chairmen and his backing as you can see has transformed the club, even from your short time at the club. The ground is at a football league standard, the pitch is one of the best around, and talent we have in the squad certainly merits League status”. Everything the man said was true, I returned to my former club which I left in 2005 and seven years later it is unrecognizable. The old club house is now a two tier stand with luxury boxes, stands erected in all four part of the ground, and the pitch is like one you see in the Premier League every weekend. It may not be a big deal to some but for Pond, myself, and the Cod Army it really is amazing to see how far this club has come in such a short period of time.

League 2 Standard? I think so!

"Alan was the best defender
I have played with" Pond

Another way to measure how far this club and Pond’s career has come is the players that put on the red of Fleetwood Town. Pond again gives all the credit to his chairmen. “He has created a very ambitious club over a short period of time. It all started playing with the like of Chris Beech then we saw players such as Alan Wright, Stuart Barlow, Claus Jorgason, George Santos, Jamie Milligan (Still at FTC), and Lee Fowler at Highbury. Alan Wright and Stuart Barlow played in the Premier League, I used to watch them on Match of the Day so it was a little surreal to line up next to these guys.”

Wasted at the back!

Pond is a very modest man, talking to some current and ex players Pond has certainly played his part in the success that Fleetwood has seen over the years. As we are a defensive minded website Pond is obviously a man that plays at the back but it has not always been that way. Nathan started his career in central midfield and when I asked him what his job entailed “I was mainly used as that ball winning midfielder using my presence to my advantage. I always had the attributes to play at the back but midfield was where the manager put me, so that is where I played” he replied. Pond gave me the same response to me questioning whether he preferred to play at the back or further forward, as long as he is playing and contributing he is happy to play anywhere. Ten years is a long time at a club, especially one like Fleetwood who has seen a lot of players come and go during the chairmen’s tenure. This being said, Nathan has been the main stay and in the fans eyes he is a legend. Ryan Lea, who is part of the Cod Army, was quoted saying “He is an absolute LEGEND! He once had to go in goal after our keeper was sent off, came up for a corner and scored”.

You cannot speak about Nathan Pond without talking about Fleetwood Town Football Club but you cannot leave out his name when you it comes to the club either. Ten years of service usually earns you a testimonial and I asked the centre half to give me his greatest eleven that he had played with over the years. Who knows, maybe we will see this team play with each other once the 27 year old retires but hopefully that is a long way off. I told him that he had to be in the team and if he wanted to add me that was fine too, he didn’t! So here is the team playing in a

4-3-3 formation:

GK-Scott Davies
  Shaun Beeley              Adam Tong                             Nathan Pond            A.Wright

           

                     Anthony Barry                        Jamie Milligan             Lee Fowler

Magno Viera                                                                                                            Adam Warlow

                                                            Jamie Vardy               

I would like to congratulate Nathan, his team mates, and Mr. Pilley on their promotion to League 2. Clearly the best team in the league and I am sure this will not be the end to the clubs success. I would like to thank Nathan for taking the time to speak with us and wish him all the best for next season.