BYRON WEBSTER has credited two simple tips as being behind his career longevity.
The former Millwall star is still fighting it out in the National League with Bromley at the age of 36 and says he feels in tip-top shape.
The defender left The Den in 2019 after five years in south-east London. He was part of the side who earned promotion to the Championship via a 1-0 play-off final win over Bradford City in 2017.
After short stints at Scunthorpe United and Carlisle, he found a new home at Bromley in 2020 after being convinced by Lions legend Alan Dunne, now assistant manager to Andy Woodman, to come aboard.
And despite the physical nature of life in the National League, Webster is relishing the prospect of another promotion bid with the south London side thanks to his simple but effective fitness plan.
He told NewsAtDen: “My body’s holding up well, I look after myself. We’re just over two months into the season and we’ve already played fourteen games or something like and I feel good. We have great facilities down at Bromley. The facilities and the staff are there to help me recover properly so no problems so far.
“For me, it sounds stupid, but it’s all about drinking a lot of water. Drink a lot of water and make sure the muscles are right. A tip that someone told me to stop stiffness is make sure your hips and glutes are always released and loose and then you should be alright.”
Even though he is still enjoying his football, Webster has begun looking forward to life after he hangs up his boots and speaks highly about the way former teammate Dunne has made the transition to coaching.
He said: “I’ve done a few coaching badges, I’ve done a few things like a mental health course, a nutrition course and a personal training course so I have a few strings to my bow.
“Dunney’s fantastic. You play with these people as players but then to see them in management is crazy. Dunney obviously, and this is no disrespect to him, I never saw him going into management. Obviously, a fantastic player but now I see him day in and day out and he’s the brains of it. He’s the right-hand man to the gaffer, he does the analysis, he does most of the coaching, he’s fantastic with the young lads. It was a shock for me to see, in a good way.
“I can’t speak highly enough of Dunney for what he’s done at Bromley. He is fantastic.”
Years on from leaving Millwall, Webster still remembers the club fondly and says the make-up of people behind the scenes is what made the Lions special to play for.
“If I’m honest it’s from the backroom staff if anything. Obviously as lads, nine times out of ten you get on with everyone, and if you don’t get on with them there’s other lads there. But just at Millwall the people behind the scenes, the kitchen staff, the kitman … everyone’s in it. And like at Millwall, they were proper Millwall people. They loved the club. And I go back to success I had at clubs and Yeovil was the same. There were Yeovil fans there.
“So when you go to a club and there’s actual Yeovil people, Millwall people there, you have to buy into it. They breathe it and they live it. My son and my daughter still wear Millwall kits, they’re fans of Millwall, they’re still fans of Yeovil.
“You eventually buy into it and even now I’ll look at the Millwall score [on a Saturday], the Yeovil score, they’re the first scores I look at. So it becomes less of a job and more of ‘I’m invested in this’. The actual club means something.”
Webster’s attachment for Millwall’s culture proved to be an issue when he moved on, with his next clubs not providing the same platform.
He added: “I left Millwall and then went to Scunthorpe and Carlisle and I didn’t really enjoy it. I’d been at Millwall for a few years and loved it there, got into the culture and then when you go to a different club, it’s kind of ‘oh, well this isn’t what I’m used to.’
“Covid struck and if I’m honest I was ready to just retire. But then Dunny [Alan Dunne] got in contact with me, went down to Bromley and never looked back. But it was just the fact that Millwall were such a close-knit group, we were all in it together, we obviously had success which helped. It was just a better group, all pulling in the right direction. At Scunthorpe and Carlisle, I just didn’t feel like there was that closeness but that could just be my opinion.
“I was at Millwall for five years, you get used to certain people, so I just didn’t enjoy it.”
As for the current Lions team, Webster is hopeful his former team can continue to push on but acknowledges promotion will be tough given the quality of the division.
He said: “I’m not saying they can’t do it. They’ve had an indifferent start and they’re still around it. When they do, and they will, get a run of results, they will be back in there, but the thing is, looking from the outside in, there are massive teams [in the division] and more money available. For Millwall to stay around in the Championship they’ve had to spend more money, which yet again brings more expectations.
“It is a hard one. They still have a very good spine of a team, they’ve still got a hell of a lot of quality in the team and they don’t concede a lot of goals. Once they score a few and Bradders [Tom Bradshaw] and Zian Flemming start scoring again like they did last year, I’m sure they’ll have enough to be mid-table, maybe sneak in the play-offs.”
Webster is also excited by the potential of Chin Okoli, the young Millwall loanee playing alongside him in the Bromley defence.
He said: “First of all, what I like about Chin is that when he’s come in, he’s brought into straight away. He’s not like ‘ah, I’m in from a Championship club’. He’s one of the lads, he grafts so hard everyday, he listens, he’s willing to learn and it is different coming from the under-21s at any club to men’s football, especially in the National League.
“I think he will admit there was maybe a little bit of naivety of just experienced, seasoned players using their body for how to win a header or using their body to just knock him off balance. Now, he knows. He’s grown. He’s definitely grown into a man and he knows how to play the game. And now he’s got that side of his game, his other side that he’s learnt at Millwall, with the passing and control and positional play, he should have a very good career.”