In an interview with RadioAlty, England C manager Paul Fairclough sat down to discuss the momentous occasion as an England side full of non-league stars welcome a Cymru C side to the home of Altrincham.

Three Lions manager Paul Fairclough previewed the visit of Cymru and discussed other factors for the game taking place tomorrow evening on an interview.

  • Interest of England C when they face off 

The non-league game has been accustomed to some fine talent over the years, with this year the goal-scoring charts taking off in the national division.

Fairclough admits that the number of scouts is increasing just as the quality is, and how it builds up the coverage of his side.

“I had thought about who’d been doing well, I like to confer with the majority of managers when I can (when picking the England team). It works for players, I mean you only have to look at the number of scouts attending the game tomorrow - we were in excess of 40 club representatives yesterday and that number has been growing overnight, so there’s always a lot of interest when England C pitch up anywhere.”

  • Players “treated like royalty" to avoid injury

Fairclough admits when players report on duty for England C, the players are treated impeccably - although are still made to be put through their paces.

“We don’t exactly wrap the players in cotton wool, but they get looked after very well. We’ve had players who have said their experience with England C is like being treated like royalty.”

The fixture scheduling has come strangely, in the midst of the closing stages in the season - hence why the manager spoke about player welfare when on international duty.

  • Managing England gives Fairclough great pride

Paul Fairclough knows the ins and outs of being a manager of a non-league side, with him vastly experienced in that field, so to manage the national league consisting of non-league players comes as a great honour to Fairclough.

“As long as I’m enjoying it, thats the thing with any manager… I’m thoroughly enjoying it, I get tremendous pride from pulling on this kit each time we meet and this England C team has done things that no other England team has done - we travelled to the Falkland Islands to play against our forces as a morale boosting trip, we’ve spent time in Jordan with Syrian refugees, we’ve been to villages in the Caribbean to help with schools - there’s a lot of community work and we haven’t been able to do that because of the funding situation at the moment but we’re hoping we can get the funding back and spread the word again”

  • Langstaff “in bits” after missing out through injury

This afternoon, it had been announced that Notts County and National League leading scorer Macauley Langstaff had pulled out of the squad.

This came as a blow for England C and Fairclough shared his disappointment and showed his sheer empathy for the County striker.  

“Langstaff is in bits emotionally (about missing the game), he’s missing the trip. I was at his game on Saturday and he took a battering in that game - I kept my eyes on him throughout the game and he was in a bit of a mess on Sunday morning… he was so excited and so proud to be coming with us”

  • Revenge doesn’t cross Fairclough’s mind

Cymru C were rampant last time out against England, hammering the Three Lions 4-0, so this is something that Fairclough and his men are looking to turn on its head.

“Revenge is not a word that comes into my vocabulary when it comes to football - I think that type of word gets in the way. We’re about performance, and the team that went last year (and lost 4-0 to Cymru) was a third and fourth choice team… however the team we put out was still good enough to win that game but on the day, even to this point I’m mystified as to what went wrong”

“There were big players on the pitch that did not perform that day, and they know that, in fact full credit to the Welsh team - they mauled us and we didn’t respond to that”