Willo spoke to RedMatchday last month and looked back on an eventful campaign

With the helter-skelter speed of modern day football, it’s sometimes tough to see the wood for the trees, especially at the end of an exhausting campaign. 

There’s nothing more valuable then than the voice of experience, someone who can give it all context, perspective, one who will tell it like it really is. And who better to do that than Willo Flood?

For Willo personally it was a difficult season. Injury and the length of time it took him to get back to his best meant we were without one of our key players for a long stretch of the season. But in the last few weeks of the campaign, he reminded us what we have been missing with a couple of man of the match performances.

“It was a very frustrating season for me. I felt my form was very good at the start and then I got a bad hamstring injury and I was out for 12 weeks. Injuries are part and parcel of the game but they can affect you, not just physically but mentally. You can come back and feel fit but you don’t see things as easily. You just have to get over it and get back to doing what you know you can do. You have to have self belief.

“I had two knee injuries when I was at Middlesbrough. I took them better because I knew how long I would be out for. At first, you cannot walk so you know you can’t play football. With a hamstring injury you can walk and you can do other work in the gym but you are never totally sure what will happen when you start running again. You have that at the back of your mind, so mentally, that can be quite tough to get over. You know that you’ve had a tear in the hamstring but you can’t see it and you are not sure how it will react.

“So it was a tough season for me and it took me a long time to get fully over the injury and to get back to my top form. I am looking forward to getting a good preseason under my belt and being ready for the new campaign.”

Which will be upon us before we know it.

After the previous season’s last day heartbreak against Motherwell, the season just ended was characterised by a real determination to secure second place and with it, theoretically, the chance to enter the Europa League qualifiers a little later this summer. Part one of the job is long since accomplished but unfortunately, it hasn’t brought the summer dividend with it as, once again, we will be entering Europe at the earliest possible opportunity.

That means that the Dons will be exposed to virtually year round football once more. In which case, as Willo Flood explains, it’s just as well that there is a harmonious dressing room.

“It was a long season – it felt like the longest season in the world. We were all in that dressing together for a long time. I had to go home to the missus for banter! I don’t think any team has played together for 12 months.

“Being serious though, I think it is something that Scottish Football and those running the game need to look at. You need to have a break so you can go away and have some family time. You need to get away from the place and you need your rest. I don’t think anyone in any job can work for 12 months of the year.

“If Scottish clubs are always going to be playing in Europe at the start of July, then the season must finish earlier. I don’t understand why the season could not finish during the first couple of weeks in May and have the Scottish Cup final in the middle of the month. I hope it won’t but it could take its toll with boys picking up injuries. But then again if you want to be a successful side you have to get used to playing more matches.

“Going back to that first game of last season against Dundee United, we simply did not have the legs after our exertions on the Thursday night against Sociedad. The European games took a lot out of us. I think we will definitely be better prepared this time. Playing in Europe is still a big deal for the players. The league is still your bread and butter but playing in Europe is a great bonus.

“They talk about fair play in Europe but having seeded teams and unseeded teams I think is unfair. All the teams should just be put in the pot together. For me, UEFA just want the big teams to get to the group stages in Europe. We know that we will be going in with our backs to the wall again.  We had to beat a seeded team in round two and then we landed up playing another seeded team.

“It is stacked against the Scottish clubs until we get the ratings back up. It is a vicious circle. We can only get the ratings back up by all the teams performing better and that goes back to the teams being given longer off during the summer. Everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction.

“There are a lot of good things happening in Scottish football. For example The U20 league seems to be producing a lot of good young players and many are getting a chance at many of the clubs but they do need to get the teams prepared better for Europe.”

Talk of young players coming through inevitably leads us to the fact that Willo is now one of the senior pros around Pittodrie.

“Tell me about it! Football is strange though. You are stuck in a bubble. You think you are 17. I was speaking to Barry Robson about it and he was making the point that because you are around younger people and you have the banter in the changing room every day you just feel young. But then there are some days you realise you are getting on!

“I am one of those players who tries to speak to the young lads. I will speak to them before a game, I will speak to them during a game and have a go at them when I want! And I will speak to them after a game. During the week I will speak to the young players and see how they are feeling.

“For me, the most important thing is to instil confidence in them. If a player is not confident then it will affect his performance and, in the end, the performance of the team. When you lack confidence, you start to over think things. I just try to give them examples of different situations that I have been in through my career and hopefully that will help them get back on track if they are struggling.

“My advice is to always give everything you do 100%, especially when you are on a football pitch. Every day in training is an opportunity to impress. I have seen some players over the years take training for granted, especially some of the young lads I have played with at previous clubs. You see them moping about. They have to realise the unbelievable opportunity they have been given. They have a great opportunity to make a living from this game, so go and grab it with both hands. For me every day is a day to impress.

“There are a lot of very good young players at the club at the moment. We have seen Cammy Smith come into the side during the season and he did very well in my opinion. Then you have Lawrence Shankland, Frank Ross, Scott Wright and Daniel Harvie. 

Of course, for those youngsters to get in the side, they will have to challenge the likes of Willo. Signed up until 2017 and now back to full fitness after early season injuries, Flood has made it very clear that he will take some shifting.

“Competition for places is so fierce that everyone should be looking to do their best in training. Training is certainly competitive. Some days we play young versus old versus the middle agers, three teams of seven. Let’s just say that gets quite feisty! The young boys try and batter the older boys but the other morning, the old boys won which was good! It is competitive and for me that is the way it should be. You train the way you play.”

That commitment to training has shone through on matchdays when the Dons were admirably consistent. What’s been the secret?

“Playing well. It is as simple as that! The manager sets us up well and gives us all the information we need on the opposition. He gives us every bit of detail that we need, and the smallest bit of detail can be the difference between winning and losing in this league. Sometimes he will change the shape of the side to try and give us an advantage. His tactics have worked and the boys have gone out and done the business.

“There have been a number of outstanding players last season. Rooney with his goals, Jonny Hayes with his consistency, Ryan Jack has been very consistent. Shay Logan and Andrew Considine have been excellent in the full back areas, so a lot of boys have done very well.

“I think you have to have respect for your teammates. You do not need to be best mates with them but on the pitch you want to help them and they want to help you. There is a big togetherness in the changing room and that is vital.”

The press has been full of tales of the title race all season which, ironically, overshadowed the achievements of a fine season for the Dons.

“I think we made a lot of progress. It was an unbelievable season league wise. Some people thought it was a bit of a downer that we did not do better in the cups especially after what happened the season before, but that can happen in cup football. It is a one off game and sometimes it just is not your day.

“Dundee knocked us out of the Scottish Cup but we played very well that day. I was actually injured for that game but I remember watching it and I thought the boys were brilliant and dominated the game from start to finish. In the League Cup semi-final we had a big decision that went against us when Adam’s header was disallowed, but that is football. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and that is much more the case in cup football.”