Ben Herd / Ben Herd / 18 August 2009 / Leave a comment

Every week Aldershot Town's Ben Herd will be sitting down after the final whistle with a player he's just faced to quiz him on his team's expectations and dish the dirt on his team-mates.

"The truth is there isn’t any secret formulas or ingredients to winning the Championship. As a team, we worked extremely hard for one another with everyone really wanting to play in the Premier League, and there was a really good mixture of young ambitious footballers coupled with good experienced pros."

I missed the weekend match through injury so wasn't around to sit down with one of Aldershot's opposing players this week. But I managed to catch up with one of my old team-mates, and good friend, Dave Edwards of Wales and Wolverhampton Wanderers just after he made his Premier League bow against West Ham at Molineux. Dave has come along way since I played with him at Shrewsbury and was kind enough to let me ask him a few questions for betting.betfair.com.

Hi Dave, just a little stat to get us started, did you know you are one of only two players currently playing in the Premier League who has played in every league from the conference up? The other being Steve Finnan. Do you think that enough managers take a chance on lower league players?

In a word no I don't believe that they do. I mean I am fortunate that Mick McCarthy does take a punt on some relatively unknown players from the lower leagues. There is a good pool of young players in Leagues 1 and 2 and it's a shame that more managers don't take this approach. We at Wolves have obviously done well out of it.

Take for example Michael Kightly. The manager found him at Grays Athletic and what a signing he has been. Again using Kights as an example, not only from a footballing point of view but also as a business model , if anyone tried to buy him he would probably go for well over £5million. A lot more than we paid for him!

Managers would seem to prefer to gamble on a relatively unknown from abroad rather than a young British player. One manager that I believe also takes a chance on a player from the lower leagues is Darren Ferguson, who has made has made some fantastic signings like George Boyd and Craig Mackail-Smith and managed to get back-to-back promotions. So it proves that buying good lower league players does reap rewards.

What was the secret behind last season's success in winning the Championship Title?

The truth is there isn't any secret formulas or ingredients to winning the Championship. As a team, we worked extremely hard for one another with everyone really wanting to play in the Premier League, and there was a really good mixture of young ambitious footballers coupled with good experienced pros. The manager has to take massive credit as well because he kept us all grounded throughout the season, it didn't seem to matter if were top of the league on a unbeaten run or having a bit of a sticky patch, his demeanour didn't change.

How does it feel going from playing for a pub team on a Sunday to playing
Premier League and International football in the space of 6 years?

It's an unbelievable feeling. It is a bit of a turnaround because it wasn't so long ago that I was playing for two or three teams at the same time, one of them being the Shrewsbury Town away supporters team! I was at Shrewsbury's centre of excellence up until the age of about 13 but I really didn't enjoy it that much;, I much preferred to be playing with my mates or for my brother's team. In the end I was playing for a team called Hanwood, the away supporter's team and my local pub team! At the age of about 15-16 Shrewsbury Town asked me to go back and I wanted to play football for a living so I decided to give it one more go and as they say the rest is history.

Are there any Wolves players worth putting into my dream team?

The lad we have signed from Belgrade looks a quality player, Milijas. He is a left footed Serb who is an attacking midfielder he has a great strike on him, not to mention decent free-kicks.

Football

Favourite Premier League Player: Frank Lampard
Favourite player outside the Premier League: Joe Ledley
Manager you'd most like to work under: Would have been Sie Bobby Robson but now Sir Alex Ferguson
Club you'd most like to play for: Liverpool
Best mate at the club: Sam Vokes
Messiest eater: Not messiest but Matt Murray eats massive portions.
Biggest ladies man: Greg Halford
Who's best at putting away the pints: No-one drinks!

Non-football

Dream date: Sorry Crouchy, but Abbey Clancy
Favourite TV programme: Entourage
Favourite shop: Selfridges
Worst vice: Chomping when I eat!
Biggest pet hate: People who are untidy

50/50

Meat or fish? Meat
Wine or beer? Beer
Blondes or brunettes? Blondes
"Friends" or "The Office"? Friends
PS3 or newspaper? PS3
Frank Sinatra or Fifty Cent? Frank

Tags: Ben Herd, Dave Edwards, Milija, Wolverhampton Wanderers