Holly Porter speaks to the Hamlet’s new Manager, Bradley Quinton about his thoughts on joining the club, his aspirations and his history in the game. 

“Saturday’s performance is going to be for the fans” states Bradley Quinton, who takes to Champion Hill for the first time on Saturday as the Hamlet takes on Chichester City. “We’ve got to appreciate their support because without fans, football clubs, they just don’t exist”. 

Ahead of his first outing at the Hill, Quinton spoke about the influences on his career, including his early passion for football, his attraction to the Hamlet, and what he hopes for the club going forward. 

Quinton’s passion for football began “from the age of seven really, being picked up really early at the age of eight, recruited to go into Tottenham. So I was there from the age of eight all the way up to eighteen”. 

A huge part of his younger life, Quinton believed that his time at the London club not only shaped him as a player but also influenced his management career as well. 

“It was an amazing experience and the development side of different managers and different styles has just made me want to be a coach”, stated Quinton, who throughout his time in the academy was interested in “how you get the best out of people, just trying to encourage, and learn, and ask questions of what I can improve on, and I’ve always just thought I needed to take that into my coaching aspect”. 

Although a big influence on his career, Quinton also spoke highly of his father’s influence on his love for the sport throughout his childhood. “From early life Dad, literally, rather than a dummy or milk bottles it was always a ball at my feet”, Quinton said, “I’ve always been driven by football all my life, passion is that I eat, sleep, and drink football really”. 

Speaking further on his father’s influence, “he’s always been there for me, driving me. I didn’t start driving until I was 22 so he’d drive me everywhere, and watch me train all the way through into playing in National League [...] He’s been everything for me, a guide of good things, but there’s always things I need to improve on so he’s encouraged me, but pushed me in the right direction”. 

In his career, Quinton both played for, holding the all-time record for appearances, and managed Braintree Town, winning promotion in 2018. Everyone’s career comes with both highlights and challenges and despite the successes, Quinton described the promotion-winning season as one of the biggest challenges he had to overcome in his career. 

“During that season, my son had heart surgery, he came through that, and my dad had a heart attack in the semi-final after winning at Dartford, and then winning in a final was, that one season, to get through all of that during a season was probably a credit to my family, my partner as well, and my staff to help me through all of that. It’s certainly an achievement, and no one can take that away from me”. 

A true show of character, and a huge accomplishment for the manager, but it's far from the only achievement in his career. In his playing career, he described his biggest achievement as “scoring against Joe Hart in the FA Cup, being on Match of the Day, when he was at Shrewsbury [...] that was a remarkable achievement”. 

As a manager, “football promotion and moving 27-28 players into full-time football, or back into the game, is something that I really really see as an achievement because it’s given them a better future, and a better career”.

“Outside of football, the birth of my two boys was always a huge achievement and family moment”. 

Throughout his career, Quinton has had many run-ins with the Hamlet, which attracted him to make the move to the side. “In the past, I’ve been up for playoffs, losing out a few times to Dulwich in very close runnings to play-offs and promotions”.

“Seeing the fanbase and what the club is all about from afar for a long long time is something that I have always admired and acknowledged, and we always used to try and raise our game and want to be playing there week in week out so from that side that was a huge tick in the box. To now be able to do that is an absolute privilege and is something that I’m sure I’ll be looking forward to week in week out”. 

Looking ahead to what he wants to achieve at the club, Quinton said; “getting the squad in the right mindset is a huge key factor and what is needed confidence-wise, expressing their ability, and playing for the badge, playing for the fans is something that I dedicate my time to. That’s the ambition from now until the end of the season, to leave everything out on the park, and to play with a smile on your face, and make the crowd proud, and really aim for whatever is possible”. 

With a clear message to the fans, Quinton said; “enjoy, be proud, understand that the work ethic is going to be different and committed and we’ve got strong ambitions for this club for the remainder of the season, and as long as I’m here it’ll be going further and further”

“We’ll be aiming to match the crowds’ ambitions, and to move as high as possible, and the scalability of what we can do is down to the fans and I’m sure they’ll be supporting us in the right way so we’ll be looking for their support as much as possible”. 

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We're back at Champion Hill on Saturday 8th February. Get your tickets here.