Cheltenham Saracens under-18s manager Beckem Foley spoke on his team’s performance this season as he revealed: “Listen it’s not ideal the way that we have started, but in terms of youth football it’s all learning curves for the players.
“So, I will take starts like that, if it gives them something to learn from. Ideally, we’d have gone through that during preseason but it’s more about the mindset than it is anything else.
He continued the importance of a good mindset as he said “It wasn’t anything to do with tactics and ability, it was mainly down to their mindset and their ability to work as a group and deal with setbacks which during those first few weeks of the season, we certainly had a few.
“So, it took a bit longer than I wanted to get that mindset and mentality that we needed and what we’re finally seeing now which has massively changed especially from the other week, playing against Bishop’s Cleeve in the cup.”
U18s manager Becks gives his thoughts on the result.#CSFC 💛💙 pic.twitter.com/T4XBzM5Ljg
— Cheltenham Saracens FC (@SaracensFC) January 16, 2025
Foley spoke on his role within the club, and said: “We are detriment to our own success really and we have been from the very beginning. We are massive in pushing players into the first team and it’s my job to get as many players in there as possible.
“So far, every season we have had a good cohort getting first team debuts, so that is something that I have to manage. I try and get a good balance of turning around players every season, to make sure we have a good cohort that are still there.
“Whether they are first years or under-16’s playing up, it’s important to me to make sure that you’ve got a good balance of those players so that it’s not foreign to some people or you’re not having to teach the foundations every year.”
“We are successful every season; we get to cup finals, and we challenge for leagues, even though we’re in a position where we are at the moment I still think we’ve got the ability to challenge for the title at the end of the season. The main thing for me is making sure that we get to at least one cup final per season and ideally, we win it but that isn’t always possible.
When asked on his predictions for the semi-finals in the cup he revealed, “For me, I don’t see any team that I put out losing. Any team that I put out have the ability to go and win. As long as myself and Mike Simmons (assistant manager) are happy then they’re setup for that success.
He backs his players and new signings as he said “The reason that I have signed the players that I have is because I think they’ve got the ability to do well in the game and it’s my responsibility to set them up for success.
He is confident in his squad as he continued “I don’t see us losing a game in the league or the cup, I think we should win everything because of the players that I have selected.
The winning moment… pic.twitter.com/6Wj7URaxGI
— Cheltenham Saracens FC (@SaracensFC) January 16, 2025
“It’s just on certain days against certain oppositions when the mindset isn’t correct and the emotional control isn’t there, then they will beat themselves they won’t get beaten by anyone else.”
It’s Foley’s last season in charge as the under-18’s manager; “On a personal level it would be nice to get something that we deserve. We have certainly deserved a lot more than what we’ve got over the last four years.
“It might be the way that I like to do things and the way I manage things that isn’t the way to go and win trophies but I won’t necessarily corrupt my morals to get a bit of silverware, but it would be nice for the lads to get something that they deserve.
Foley spoke on his squad as he said “They put in a lot of hard work and deserve to have some sort of trophy at the end of the season whether that’s the league or a cup.
“It would be good for them to tip off some of those moments and walk away with something to say there is some success there in terms of trophies, not just players that you push on and help get to a decent standard of football.”
When asked if winning the league was his top priority, Foley said “I wouldn’t necessarily say so, I’d say finishing strong. From what I can understand, the top two will go into a play-off. So, getting into second place is the first benchmark to try and push and extend the season that little bit longer.
“I always find that we seem to turn up for the big games, our mentality is right but it’s the smaller games that they seem to struggle for, like Lydney last week which is a smaller game and we’ve beaten them heavily on two occasions, we weren’t necessarily at full strength as we only had two on the bench, and a few little things went wrong to start with in terms of setup and what the players had to manage.”
Foley spoke on the struggles they have faced “So, those are the games that we often lose, we lose to teams near the bottom of the league because the mindset going into them is that we’ve already won the game. Whereas we will turn up against Longlevens, against Gloucester and Bishops Cleeve because we know that they’re big games, which is an issue in terms of mindset.
“There has got to be some sort of change in that if we want to go on and win league titles, but to do so we have to win the last six games. We’re firming out of our destiny so we have to just do what we can do, win all those games and then we could have a chance.”
When asked how he will improve his squad’s mentality he revealed “I think it’s just reiterating certain messages and trying to get them down on a psychological and emotional level to get them to see it and remind themselves that they have to treat every game the same, no matter who it is.
“There will be games where we don’t have necessarily an emotional attachment and I try and find that emotional attachment as often as I possibly can, whether it’s a comment that has been thrown out, someone’s interview that I didn’t like, or an individual that I don’t like, I will find that reason to want to beat them.
Foley’s main goal Is for his players to understand him “It’s just trying to get that mentality and mindset over to the players as well, it doesn’t work for everyone but it’s finding what works for everyone individually and what gets them in the right mindset for that game.”
When asked about their next game against Gloucester, Foley unveiled “We owe them as they beat us at the start of the season. During our moments where our mentality wasn’t right, I thought they had a few generous moments.
“We have got a bit of revenge for this one. For us it’s figuring out what they did to beat us last time and fixing those mistakes and looking at the areas we can exploit by looking at games they have played recently both wins and where they may have dropped points.
Foley unveiled the importance of concentrating as he said “But, more often than not whenever we play, we get the best version of every team, they come with their best versions of everyone and that is something that I try and get through to the players.
“Everyone wants to beat us, and everyone hates us so it’s really important to put that mindset right otherwise everyone else will be three steps ahead of them and it’s hard to catch up at that point.”
