Matt Bodkin’s long and illustrious career around the counties non-League clubs is coming to an end – or is it?
Ahead of his Testimonial at the Bauvill Stadium, Chatham on Monday evening, KSN has been talking to the man himself about his career, winning a World Cup for England and calling time on his playing days – or not. As the 41-year-old prepares for an all-star game to celebrate more than two decades playing in Kent as a Chatham Town XI do “battle” with a Maidstone United XI – kick off 7pm.
“At the moment, it’s not quite the end on Monday, though it was originally the plan!” Matt admitted smiling.
“Originally that was the plan as when I was with Kev (Hake) at Chatham at the end of last season, I was only too well aware that my body wasn’t recovering very well after games, and I think Kev was aware of it as well. But I was available to play if he really, really, really needed me, but I was going to concentrate on the sports conditioning side of things.”
“Then I was offered the chance to go to Thailand with the England seniors, so I thought I would announce my retirement after that, but had already technically made my decision to stop by then anyway. Unfortunately, Kev had other ideas in terms of how he wanted my role to be at Chatham and sadly it in the end didn’t work out!”
“I ended up following Danny (Kedwell) to Ashford, again that was meant to be concentrating on the Sports Conditioning as he said if you can come on the bench and play every now and then to help out, that would be great! But I have actually started more games than I thought I would and have and scored on Saturday against Phoenix!”
Reflecting back twelve months and his involvement in the England Seniors winning the “World Cup”, Matt told us, “It actually nearly happened the year before when Chatham won the League in 2022/2023.
“Jamie Coyle gave me a call and asked when I actually turned 40, and I was three months “too young” as I was forty that September but if I had turned forty in the May or June, I could have played in 2023.
“Because I was a “little bit too young”, I didn’t squeeze in! So, when it came out the following year, Coyley told me he had put my name down to the manager and the rest is history and I agreed to go.
“Putting the Three Lions shirt on is something that playing at our level that I thought would be something that would ever be available to us. When it did come around it was a huge great honour and I knew that I couldn’t miss the opportunity!”
“We went on and won the competition and technically with Mr Coyle, I am a World Champion!”
And so, to Monday and Matt told us, “It will be a great evening hopefully. I have played with a lot of good people over the last 24 years, I have been racking my brains primarily for people who have played for both sides as the Maidstone team that I played with are all ageing a bit.
“I’m over 40, Coyley is over 40, Alex Flisher has retired already and you realise that some of the Chatham guys are a little bit fresher in terms of age, so I have desperately been trying to get some fresher legs for the Maidstone side!”
“I hope that we have managed to get together two half decent squads to be fair and I hope that everyone will enjoy a nice evening with some good football, some fun and entertainment with a few drinks together to celebrate the Festive Season as well!”
“I am so honoured that so many people have agreed to give up their time so close to Christmas! We looked at holding something between September and now but there wasn’t a single free midweek. We considered something for the end of the season but then the thought was that we were waiting too long after I announced things!
“I am very thankful to everyone who is coming out to play as with many being retired there is no commitment to playing and there are a few unfortunately who are away for Christmas. But those who have agreed to play will always have my thanks.”
Lee Worgan, Jamie Coyle, Frannie Collin, Alex Flischer, Alex Kofi, Micky Phillips are just some of the really good names from Matt’s Maidstone era who will be playing at the Bauvill.
Whilst for the home side there are a few of the current players – Simon Cooper, Jack Evans, Jordy Robins will get some minutes whilst Micky Dalton, Jon Pilbeam and “big” Dan Ellis will be there along with Ben Bridle Card as Dan has told Matt that he didn’t want to be “restricted” in goal.
Kick off Monday night is at 7pm
Image courtesy of Chatham Town FC