THE BIG INTERVIEW - DAVE SYERS

Non-League shaped the career I've loved...

- MATT BADCOCK

DAVE SYERS holds Graham Potter responsible for one of the worst hangovers he’s ever had.

“We went to play Guernsey,” Syers recalls of playing for English Universities back in 2008 where former Brighton and Chelsea boss was assistant manager.

“We played them and, as uni lads, then went out. I remember sometime in the early hours coming back into the hotel and Graham Potter was sat in the bar with a bottle of red. He said to join him and, when you’ve been on a night out, it seems a good idea.

“The next thing I remember is someone banging on my hotel door saying: Everyone is on the bus, we’re going to miss the plane, get up now. A bus in Guernsey to a small plane and then a five-hour journey to Leeds from Gatwick!”

It was all part of Syers’ journey that took the Ancient History graduate from Ossett Albion to Bradford City and then the League Two title with Doncaster Rovers, famously won at promotion rivals Brentford when the Bees missed a penalty in stoppage time before Rovers went straight up another end to clinch it.

“I can still remember standing on the edge of the box thinking, ‘argh, three more weeks of training and the play-offs’, Syers says.

“When you’ve worked all season, been in top spot and aiming for that, you can see why the team that drops into the play-offs find it very hard to get back up for the playoffs.

“That was a complete freak couple of minutes. We were brutal that season – horrendously hard to break down, so good at defending our box. That game we were top when it started but we didn’t care about being champions, we just wanted to get automatic promotion.