Ben Herd / Ben Herd / 23 February 2010 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet

Ben Herd was in a filthy mood as his Aldershot side dropped two points by conceding a late equaliser to Notts County, scored by none other than best mate and fellow betting.betfair.com columnist Ben Davies. After the match he caught up with Ricky Ravenhill...

"Some bigwig at the FA or football league should be held accountable, because in truth they have let this situation occur by passing Munto as a fit and proper person to run a football club when they clearly weren’t."

Notts County were our opponents down at "The Rec" last weekend. It has to be said, it was a much better performance from ourselves than in our previous game, away at Hereford. We created more than enough chances to have put the game well to bed before my fellow betting.betfair.com columnist, Ben Davies, converted a trademark free-kick to claw the game back to 1-1 deep into stoppage time. After the game, I wasn't in the mood to talk to Davies. After all, he had just denied us 3 points! So instead, I managed to catch a quick word with Nott's central midfielder, Ricky Ravenhill for betting.betfair.com. Here is what he had to say:

So Ricky, What did you make of today's game?

If I am being completely honest I felt it was awful! We never really got going and I didn't really enjoy the game at all, we were missing a couple of key players (Lee Hughes and Karl Hawley) which really didn't help us and perhaps we went away from how we had been playing in the last few weeks. It was our third game in six days, so maybe a few of the lads were slightly jaded, but pretty much every club is in the same scenario in regards to fixtures. We were maybe a little lucky that Aldershot didn't take some of their chances to make it 2-0, because when there is only a single goal separating us, I always felt we would get a chance. So fair play to Benji in taking a decent free-kick to nick something from the game.

How would you describe the drama that has unfolded at Meadow Lane this season?

I signed for County in the middle of the takeover with Munto Finance, I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing in my first few weeks here. Munto were saying that we were going to be getting into the Premier League and so on. As a footballer you always hear idol gossip and rumour but when Sven and co actually walked through the door, then you start actually thinking, hang on a minute......is this really happening? What's gone on since, has been nothing short of farcical; in hindsight Munto's dream of getting to the Premier League was just that, a dream.

As players, we feel a little betrayed as I am sure the fans do as well, because it was never the real deal. Some bigwig at the FA or football league should be held accountable, because in truth they have let this situation occur by passing Munto as a fit and proper person to run a football club when they clearly weren't. In fairness, they even managed to con Sven, because when he was here, he really did take to his role and was at all of our games and was frequently down at the training ground milling around with all of us.

As you have just described, the wheels have definitely come off Nott's lavish spending and with players and other staff members starting to up sticks, what is going to happen between now and the end of the season do you think?

The next few days are absolutely crucial. It really is going to go one of two ways. We will either pay the unpaid tax bill and get on with the rest of the season and hopefully get promoted, because at the end of the day it isn't really our fault as players that we are in this predicament, so by getting promoted we can at least salvage something by going into League One. Or, if we do not pay the unpaid tax bill we might go into administration, in which case we basically write this season off because we will take a 10 point deduction. If that happens, the club will be cleared of the debt from the previous regime left and simply start again, financially speaking. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that one or two players will leave due to the wages that they are on...

What targets do you still have for the remainder of your career?

I am now 29 and in all honesty, all I want to do is keep playing football at the highest level I can. I have played at League One level before and would definitely like to get back to that level. The best chance of that happening is by staying injury-free so that is something else I hope I can achieve.

Finally, what kind of career have you considered after you hang up you boots?

As we speak, I am currently doing my coaching badges, so I would obviously love to stay in the game in a coaching capacity, but I think 90% of all footballers think the same, so hopefully a door might open for me when I do retire. Away from football, I am thinking about taking a home degree in Social Science, with an aim of maybe working for the police or maybe doing a bit of social work. Either way, having a degree behind me won't do me any harm.


Football

Favourite Premier League Player? Cesc Fabregas
Favourite player outside the Premier League? Cristiano Ronaldo
Manager you'd most like to work under? David Moyes
Club you'd most like to play for? Everton

Best mate in Football? Paul Green
Messiest eater? Graeme Lee, Seeming as he put me down when he was interviewed.
Biggest ladies man? Shaun Canham
Worse Dressed team-mate? Craig Westcarr

Non-football

Dream date? Megan Fox
Favourite TV programme? Prison Break
Favourite shop? All Saints
Worst vice? Snoring
Biggest pet hate? Scruffy people

50/50

Chinese or Curry? Curry
Pepsi or Coke? Coke
BMW or Audi? Audi
Pro Evo or Fifa? Pro Evo
Michael Buble or Akon? Buble

Tags: Aldershot players, Ben Davies, Ben Herd, football bets, footballers in league two, Notts County players, Ricky Ravenhill