First published in December 2023

Brad & Dills not only sponsor the green and gold shirts, the coffee and bagel shop in Harpenden High Street plays a key part in the routine on home matchdays too.

Manager Micky Nathan, his assistant Steve O’Reilly, head coach Rob Swan and the rest of the coaching team arrive at Rothamsted Park at about 9.30am on a Saturday before a home game.

Around mid-to-late morning they’ll wander into town and head to Brad & Dills for a coffee and a bagel.

‘We pay our way,’ says Micky, ‘although we do get a discounted rate. The morning is our time as a group. We’ll relax, laugh and joke at the club then at Brad & Dills we’ll have our coffee and something to eat and we’ll start turning our minds towards the game.

‘We’ll chat about the opposition. We’ll have had them looked at so we’ll run through what we want to reinforce with the players in the team talk.’

Then it’s back to the club where it’ll be all hands to the pump before the players start to arrive. The team will be picked and it’s down to Micky to fill out the teamsheet for the match officials. ‘I chat to the officials enough during the game, so I let Steve hand in the teamsheet.

‘I talk to Steve and Swanny more than I do my wife, to be fair,’ he jokes. ‘We often stay at the ground until 11pm after training on a Thursday going through the squad and the shape for the game so we’ll have a good idea of the team then. Then on Friday we’ll have a chat. Nine times out of ten we’re in agreement, rarely do we have completely different ideas, but it might come down to one or two players and if that’s the case the final call is mine.’

The players are asked to be at the ground for 1.30pm but they start to arrive from 1pm. Any latecomers are dealt with by The Finemaster Jake Collins and other senior players Dan Palmer and Ryan Plowright.

At about ten to two, the music goes off and Micky and his team run through the tactics and tell the players what’s expected of them before they go out to warm-up. There’s then a shorter final message just before they go out for the kick-off.

But the all-important question – what do the management team order at Brad & Dills? They are often in agreement here too.

‘I go for a latte and an egg, cheese and hash brown bagel,’ says Micky. ‘Steve has the same. Swanny goes for a flat white and he’s recently started having a bagel too. Goalkeeping coach James has the same bagel and a hot chocolate.’

Brad & Dills are Harpenden Town’s men’s team home shirt sponsors for a second season.

Visit them at 67 High Street, Harpenden. GREEN&GOLD