Mutterings for the Minority

Eamesy - Probably the Best Kitman in the Premier League

In a world where the Barclays Premier League is a haven for multi-million pound footballers and household names such as Rooney, Drogba, Van Persie and Tate, little (if any) mention is given to the behind the scenes heroes at every club – the kitman or kitlady.

So step forward Michael Eames, not only Swansea City’s kitman but the best kitman in the Premier League by a football pitch or two.

Contrary to what many people think – ‘Eamesy’ as he’s known to everyone at the club – has been in the Swansea City family since the tender age of 8.

Initially plying his trade as a goalkeeper with the Swans junior teams, he later became a free-scoring centre midfielder, which caught the attention of Welsh Premiership side Llanelli.

However, after a season long spell at Llanelli things hadn’t worked out as he’d hoped and at the age of 14, Michael returned to the Swans before eventually moving into coaching through the club’s Football in the Community scheme.

During the summer of 2011, he had an offer to become assistant kitman (or rather kitlady) which was too good to refuse, and he jumped at the chance to work alongside his Mam – Suzanne – in the Swans backroom team.

Nowadays, when not helping with the Swansea team kit, he can be found playing the odd game of football for Swansea local league side Brunswick United – whom he played for in last year’s West Wales Cup Final.

I caught up with ‘Eamesy’ at Swansea’s training ground in Llandarcy and asked him a few questions about his job and some other bits and bobs…

Q1: How and when did you start being a kitman with the Swans?

Well, the adventure began really with the pre-season tour to Austria when my Mam and I had to drive the kit bus all the way over there.

Unfortunately we arrived too late at the hotel complex where the team were staying and ended up sleeping in the van!  I did the gentlemanly thing though and let my Mam sleep in the front seats, whilst I slept on the kitbags in the back!  Everyone else thought this was hilarious… apart from us.

Austria was also the venue for Michael’s Swans initiation, which took place in a hilltop restaurant high in the snow capped Austria mountains.  The initiation involves standing on a chair and singing a song of your choice – the start of which is signalled by the senior players chiming their glasses with cutlery before allowing the victim to proceed with their ‘number’.

Every time we went for something to eat, all of us new guys kept thinking – “is it going to be me today” and when the chiming started up this mountain, I knew it was my turn!

I sang Oasis’ ’Wonderwall’ and gave it everything.  I think I got a good reception, but to be fair it’s usually the guys who can’t sing that are the most entertaining… as they get the mickey taking out of them the most!

Q2: What’s a typical day in the life of a kit man/lady?

Basically for a normal week, like when there’s a game on a Saturday, I come down to Llandarcy by around 8am – having picked up all the clean kit, etc at the stadium first.

I then have to ensure that all the training kit (shirts, boots, shin pads, hats, gloves, tracksuits, etc) is ready for the players for the start of training at around 10:30am.

As my Mam stays at the stadium to do her daily tasks, she usually phones me a couple of times just to make sure everything is ok and that I haven’t forgotten anything!

I then hang about at training helping with bits and bobs  - which includes getting the ball from the undergrowth after some wayward shooting – until after training.  It’s then a case of ensuring that all the kit is then taken back to the stadium for washing, etc ready for the next day.

Still harbouring hopes of a future role in coaching – and getting his coaching badges – Michael uses the ‘downtime’ during training as an opportunity to watch and learn from the club’s coaching staff.

In Swansea, there’s 2 or 3 of us looking after all of the kit and ensuring that everything runs to plan and goes smoothly.  It’s a completely different league to teams like Arsenal or Chelsea, whom have a team of 6-8 kit people working with them all the time.  They even have kit ‘teams’ for home and away games!

On a match day – depending on where we’re playing – we usually drive to the ground about 2-3 hours before kick-off to get the playing kit ready, etc.  If it’s a long drive like say Newcastle or Norwich, then we drive up with or mini-bus the day before.  For places like Wolves, we’d drive up on the morning of the match.  We never fly as it costs to much to fly all the kit!

Q3: What are the things you love and hate about the job?

Oww, that’s a tough one…. as there’s nothing to hate about this job!  I really love everything about it, it’s like living a dream.

I mean, the Swans are my local team – whom I’ve supported all my life.  They’re in the Premier League and I’m doing the kit for Premier League players.  What more can I say!  It’s just amazing and everyday is different.

I suppose the only downside is when I go home… as my Mam still nags me about having done this or having done that!  You don’t tend to get that in a normal day to day job do you, well not unless you’re living with the boss I guess!

Q4: When it comes to the kit, who’s the fussiest Swans player?

In fairness, none of them are fussy as such, they’ve all got their own little routines and because we know them all so well it’s no hassle.  It’s just a case of remembering who likes what really.

Someone like Stephen Dobbie for example, likes to wear a long sleeve under-armour top and will only use white sticky tape. Others like to have a ‘mini’ sock underneath their playing sock in order to get a more snug fit when wearing their playing boots.

Craig Beattie on the other hand will cut out the heal on his socks and use them as extra heal padding.  They’re all different but no hassle in fairness.

The cutting of the socks can be quite annoying though and slightly worrying at times, as you can be left wondering if you’ve got enough whole socks packed!!

Q5: Do kit men have groupies following them around? If so what or who would your ideal groupie look like?

[Laughs] well we’re usually either arrive too early or too late at the ground to see any of the girls that hang about waiting for the players.  Although if there are any still around, we (that’s Eamesy and the sports science lads) make ourselves known to them!

Hmmm, my ideal groupie would definitely be blonde… and there’d be lots of them! And just for the record, I am single at the moment.

So ladies, if you’re interested in getting to know the Premier League’s Best Kitman that wee bit better, you can find him on Twitter at @kitman_swans or on Facebook

Q6: Is the best kit lady in the Premier League going to join Twitter?

I was hoping you’d ask me about this.  My Mam has even told me what to say if I was asked about twitter [laughs].  She doesn’t have a clue when it comes to technology, but she admits she’s jealous of the fan club I’ve built up for myself on Twitter in particular.

As she points out though, she is THE BOSS and I am officially only her assistant, although I am solely responsible for the Swans reserve team kit.

I think she’ll be on twitter soon, but I just might have to help her out a bit…. which could be interesting [said with a mischievious smile].

It’s worth noting the Swan’s very own Danny Graham helped Michael setup his twitter account and showed him the ropes during the early stages.  Michael also jokes about Wayne Routledge having over 49k followers but only managing to ‘recruit’ 40 odd for him!

Michael and Danny Graham

It also turns out that not only is Danny Graham a dab hand at Twitter, but he’s an ace table tennis player as well.  Despite several pretenders to the table tennis throne, no-one as of yet, has managed to beat DG10.

Q7: What makes you the best kit man in the Premier League? 

Wow that’s a tough one.  I suppose a good starting point is that I’m Swansea’s kitman… well only kitMAN in fact, as my Mam is the boss really and she’s the kitLADY [laughs].

I’m also a dab hand at the crossbar challenge having already taken Gerhard Tremmel and Darnel Situ to the cleaners, and they still both owe me as a result!

Gerhard’s meant to buy me a Nandos, but he’s a bit tight like that despite being on Premier League wages.  And as for Darnel, well he’s supposed to sing into his video phone and upload it to YouTube… but I’m still waiting and don’t think I’ll see it to be honest!

However, as you can see from the picture below, Michael did get Darnel to pose with a note stating his claim to crossbar challenge fame.

I reckon I should be on Soccer AM though.  They could do a Premier League kitman crossbar challenge or something like that [laughs]

Seriously though, a lot has got to be said for someone who works for their mother every day – I deserve a medal sometimes – and reckon that’s just one of the reasons why I am probably the best kitman in the Premier League.

Whilst interviewing Michael, I bumped into Ashley Williams and Danny Graham whom both commented on Eamesy’s wonderful kit washing abilities.

Ashley did however request that his kit was warmed up prior to training during the winter months, but I suspect this was more to do with winding Michael up than anything else, especially if Michael’s facial expression was anything to go by!

Before finishing off my interview, Eamesy took me to meet a person whom many people locally claim is the ‘Best groundsman in the Premier League’ – Michael Kayes.

Michael (The Groundsman) was very modest as to this grand title, but took great pride in mowing the pitches to perfection and filling in any nasty divots caused by the players.

I did ask if they were mainly caused by Andrea Orlandi practicing his conversions, but I didn’t get a reply.  I mean, you must have noticed how all his shots always sail way above the bar a la Johnny Wilkinson? Si señor

Shortly afterwards it was time to say farewell and thank Michael (The Kitman) for his time and honesty.

It was refreshing to meet such a down to earth young man whom obviously has a passion for his job and takes great pride in the way he goes about it.

He is obviously a well liked member of the Swans backroom staff and it was evident that he has a good rapport with the players.

So if you’re a Swans fan or simply someone who loves football, then start following the Premier League’s Best Kitman – Michael Eames on Twitter and help spread the word about him being the no. 1 kitman.

You never know, you might even win a prize in one of the many competitions he runs – the current one being a chance to win a pair of Danny Graham’s boots.

We’ve never been ones to buy special occasion cakes from the big supermarkets, always preferring to order them direct from the local bakery shop.

But as with anything in life, it’s nice to have a change every now and then, so we were intrigued when our next door neighbour told us about the stunning birthday cake and specially made cupcakes they’d had made for their son’s 4th birthday.

The cake was made by a local lady from Swansea, better known as Mrs Cupcake.  After hearing of our neighbour’s rave review, I was curious to find out more and went to see what was being said about Mrs Cupcake on Facebook - which is where my neighbour first heard of her.

It quickly became obvious that these were pretty unique cupcakes.  There were loads of pictures and comments from people commenting on cupcakes they’d had made for all manner of occasions – new baby, birthdays, corporate events, anniversaries, christenings, wedding cupcakes and even thank you cupcakes for teachers!

Now being of sweet tooth (as I’ve mentioned previously in my blog) it didn’t take me long to head off over to the Mrs Cupcake website to get in touch with her and place an order.

With my order placed, I couldn’t wait to see if these homemade cupcakes – which everyone was raving about – really were as nice as everyone had said.

I’d ordered a box of 6 cupcakes (tempting though it was to order 12!) which comprised of 3 different flavoured cupcakes – vanilla, lemon and chocolate.

Given that it was the whole family that was going to be munching the cakes, I thought it best to get a mixture – just to keep everyone happy.

A couple of days later my cupcakes turned up and I was mightily impressed.  The cupcakes arrived in a pretty giftbox complete with hand tied ribbon and were actually hand delivered by Mrs Cupcake herself!

We even got to meet Mr Cupcake (who was driving) and what a lovely, friendly couple they were.

Tea time couldn’t come quick enough as we were all eager to taste the picture perfect cupcakes which smelt as enticing as they looked.

Being the gent that I am, I decided to let the ladies have first choice on what flavoured cupcake they’d like to try first – whilst at the same time secretly praying it wasn’t the chocolate ones!

Thankfully my mam, wife and daughter chose to try the lemon and vanilla ones respectively.

Lemon cupcake

Vanilla Cupcake

My son and I took care of the chocolate cupcakes, but not before sharing a slight (and I mean slight!) slither of each with the girls just for them to have a taste.

Chocolate cupcake

Everyone remarked how soft and light the sponge of each cupcake was and how the toppings added the right balance of sweetness and flavour to give the cupcakes a perfect mix of taste and texture.

The general concensus from all was “MMMmmmm”  quickly followed by “Do you mind if I try that one?”.

Whilst none of us could agree on which was THE favourite out of the 3 flavours, we were all in agreement on one thing – that Mrs Cupcake sure does make some exceedingly gorgeous homemade cupcakes.

And with Halloween and Christmas fast approaching, I’m rather tempted to place a few more orders, but not before trying to win some cupcakes by following Mrs Cupcake on Twitter first!

So all in all, everything I’d read and heard about the homemade cupcakes from Mrs Cupcake was spot on and I’d recommend ordering some special cupcakes for that special occasion – or just because you love cakes.

And if you’re not happy with the cupcakes, then I’ll happily take them off your hands and eat them for you

With Wales’ chances of qualifying for Euro 2012 extinguished quite some time ago, perhaps the most significant point about this match was that it was the very first senior competitive international to be held at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.

Switzerland still harboured hopes of qualification – pending other results going their way – whereas for Wales the game was all about building on the win over Montenegro and the encouraging (if undeserved) defeat against England.

On a personal note, this was my son’s very first Wales international game and it’s somewhat bizarre to think that almost 30 years ago today, I too went to watch my very first Wales game at Swansea’s now defunct Vetch Field.

I remember that game for all the wrong reasons, as it was the infamous 1982 World Cup qualifier against Iceland on 14th October 1981, when the floodlights failed and the game was abandoned at 2-2 .  It was also the night the lights went out on our qualifying campaign too!

Fast forward 30 years and here I was explaining to my son about the subtle differences between watching the Swans play and international football – the anthems, the away fans travelling from Europe, the different languages (not dissimilar to the Premier League I know!), qualification for a tournament, play acting, etc.  The majority of which – as you can imagine – flew right over the head of a 7 year old!!

Thankfully the inclusion of Swans’ Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor and Joe Allen in the starting line-up did at least mean he recognised some of the players

Spot the Swans

Prior to kick-off, in my heart I was praying for an exciting game with goals and a Wales win, but my head felt we were more likely to see a drab stalemate between what I felt were two evenly matched sides.

After an impeccably observed minutes silence from the 12,300 odd crowd (take note some West Bromwich Albion fans) - in memory of Mike Dye and the Gleision Miners – the game kicked off with Wales quickly on the front foot.

Regular readers will know that I’m no Henry Winter or Harry Harris and as a result I’ll always leave the match reporting stuff to the professionals.  I will however give my take on what I saw (possibly through rose tinted spectacles I hasten to add).

• The Welsh build up play was excellent but the final pass or movement in the final 3rd was poor and as a result numerous half decent chances were wasted;
• Switzerland seemed content to rely on breaking quickly and attacking at set-peices.  Tactics which I suspect is the reason they don’t score that many goals;
• Wayne Hennessey didn’t have a great deal to do, although I do find him suspect under crosses;
• Craig Bellamy is as exciting as he is frustrating – good one minute, poor the next.  He does some good creative work with the ball creating opportunities for himself/others and yet on other occasions gives the ball away far too easily;
• Ashley Williams and Neil Taylor were excellent in defence and you can see the benefit of them having played in Premier League – even after only a short time.  Confident, classy and experienced;
• Joe Allen did extremely well in his first full start in a Wales senior jersey, although he didn’t have as much foot on the ball time as he is accustomed to due to that role being assumed by skipper Aaron Ramsey.  One sublime trap and swivel on the edge of the penalty area and subsequent pass upfield sticks in my mind though;

Spot the ball

• The 700 or so colourful Switzerland fans were in good – if repetitive – voice until the hour mark (when Wales scored).  I do hope they found their cow(s) eventually as well… although the constant ringing of the bells seemed to indicate that they hadn’t.  They also had a class “Love Swiss Football and Welsh Pubs” banner too;
• Those in the crowd can’t have failed to be impressed by the constant Swiss chanting throughout the game of “Ole“, which actually sounded sort of like “Ashley” - but spoken with a German accent ;-)
• The Welsh fans chanting/singing (if you can call it that) was sporadic to say the least and was mainly undertaken by the large numbers of exuberant teenagers in attendance – which was great to see.  ’Twas a bit chilly for being topless though lads!;
• The various Welsh flags draped around the Liberty – Jacs y Gogledd, Wrexham Reds, Y Fflint, Carmarthen Jacks, Caneri Cymraeg – seemed to indicate a good cross-Wales spread of support, but one which didn’t necessarily always ‘come together’ for their country (which is a shame);

• I counted at least two occasions when Aaron Ramsey and Craig Bellamy had a difference of opinion on certain passages of play.  Both of which Ramsey appeared to largely ignore, rather than react.  In troubled times, I suspect this sort of behaviour could become divisive;
• Gareth Bale is incredibly fast and caused Switzerland umpteen problems on the wing.  I’d love to see him and Nathan Dyer have a race down the wing;
• After Wales scored the 2nd goal, they sat back inviting pressure from Switzerland.  This wasn’t helped by some casual defending by Darcy Blake, Andrew Crofts and David Vaughan – much to the displeasure of Ashley Williams (whom told them so too!);
• Steve Morison’s workrate was excellent and I can see him being a handful for Norwich when they entertain the Swans a week Saturday;
• Never give children in your company too much to drink (non-alcoholic) whilst watching the game, as invariably they need to go to the toilet during either half!
• The Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers was the target of abuse from both sets of fans – which illustrates what a great game he had (not).  Maybe he should stick to running his supermarket;
• The £3 match programme was shocking – lacking in content (and any real depth) and sparse at 50 pages – including 15 pages of adverts!  In fact I’ve seen better League One programmes;

The home of Premier League football in Wales

Now being someone whom has an extremely sweet tooth I am, as you can imagine, a big lover of sweets.

In years gone by, a shopping trip to the high street also meant a visit to Woolworths or a good old-fashioned sweets shop for a big bag of pick ‘n’ mix sweets.  Cola bottles, pear drops, fruit salad, black jacks, candy necklaces, jelly beans – you name it and I’d have tried it!

Sadly, the demise of these high street shops meant that I had to take my quest for retro sweets online and this is where I came across the rather cool concept of The Sweet Club.

As the name suggests, the Sweet Club is just that – an online sweet shop where as a member, you get to choose from hundreds of different and old-fashioned sweets.  The sweets are then delivered to your door (home, work or wherever) once a month or fortnight, it’s your choice of what and when.

The way it works is simple, you choose your 8 packets of sweets online and they get delivered in an attractive red box, with each pack of your chosen sweets individually wrapped and labelled – which is handy should you get your different flavoured bonbons mixed up!

My Sweet Club selection box

New Sweet Club members also get to try the ‘Introductory Sweet Box Offer’ of a their chosen sweet selection box for Just £4.95 including FREE delivery.

This is a saving of £5 off usual price of £9.95 and there’s also no on-going committment to buy again – but after trying them, I’m sure you will!

Right now I’ve described how this online sweet club works, it’s time to talk about the important bits – the sweets themselves.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my 7 year old son helped me choose which packets of retro sweets we bought.  The choice of sweets was huge ranging from candy to fudge, chocolate to liquorice and even sugar free sweets!

My favourite - Pear Drops

Top of my sweetie shopping list however were the legendary Pear Drops – my all time favourite hard boiled sweet.  Their long lasting flavour, tinged with a little sour kick once at the core, really keeps me wanting to pop ‘just one more’ into my mouth.

Once they’d been added to the shopping cart, it was time to satisfy my son’s craving or rather curious need to try some Bubble Gum!  This was quickly followed by his new found favourite – ABC Letters.

This was rather amusing, as not only did he love the sweet, crumbly candy taste, but also the fact that he could spell out words with them as well.  Who said sweets were bad for you

Learn the alphabet with sweets!

After a quick consultation with my wife, some more of the traditional sweets were added to our pack of 8, in the shape of Chocolate flavoured Bonbons, Orange Chocolate Nibbles, Jelly Beans and her all time favourite hard boiled sweets Rhubard & Custard.

The REAL Rhubarb and Custard

She wasn’t disappointed either and remarked how “they taste as good now as they did when I was a teenager” – which without wanting to incur her wrath – I’ll say was only 20 or so years ago… give or take a year.

So here I am now writing this – having spent most of the week munching my way (with the family)  through lots of different sweets – down to the last packet, the Mixed Selection.

Retro sweets anyone?

We’ll savour it that’s for sure – especially as it’s the last one – but not before making a visit to www.thesweetclub.co.uk to see what other wonderful selection of sweets our new found retro sweet shop can provide us with.

And whilst I slowly let this solitary fizzy cola bottle disintegrate in my mouth, I might start following The Sweet Club on Twitter or start entering some of the sweet competitions run on The Sweet Club Facebook page in the hope of winning or finding a discount code for my next shop.

Right, now where did those other sweets go…..