Hayter Relishes Success
Magdalen claimed another league title last week, this season's triumph coming even earlier than last year. Why have Magdalen emerged as the best team in the University and why are they so dominant?
It was with these questions in mind that I organised an interview with their captain Giles Hayter. .
Hayter doesn't pretend that the Magdalen revolution is a result of any grand plan, rumours that the college authorities favour players with good football pedigree are unfounded. "I think generally the reason we've been winning so heavily is not through tactics or training, but that we've ended up with a core of really good players who are generally better than the teams we've played." Indeed the team only trains once a week - every Sunday.
Although Magdalen always play bog standard 4-4-2, Hayter puts the emphasis on all out attack. He always hopes to be a few goals up within the first quarter of an hour, giving his side the luxury of playing prettier football for the rest of the match. This attacking style has meant that Magdalen often concede quite a few goals, but with so many going in at the other end this hardly matters.
Hayter also points to the size of his team as being a major factor of their success, the front six are especially strong which causes other teams a lot of problems.
Team spirit is also important, Hayter has organised a lot of curries and club nights for his team. "It does a lot for the team and means you work harder for each other when you play."
One common question about Magdalen is "why don't they have most of their players poached by the Blues sides?" The players would simply prefer to play week-in week-out with their friends and win easily, than have to bother with the training and effort of playing for a Blues side.
Although Tom Green is usually seen as being Magdalen's star player - having scored 24 goals this season, his strike partner Rich Hooks has bagged 18. The midfield have also contributed to Magdalen's massive 85 goal tally this season, getting 43 goals between them.
Hayter once again emphasises the team spirit here, the goals and therefore a lot of the credit for Magdalen's impressive results is shared throughout the team. His favourite match of the season was the awesome display of team strength shown in the 10-2 demolition of New, "That was a game where everything came together and we played some delightful stuff in front of quite a few supporters. It was really a pleasure to play in that match."
Hayter has pointed to the contenders' tendency to take points off each other as being one of the major factors in Magdalen's impressive season. Teddy Hall have come closest to beating Magdalen this season, scoring three in their last game against them, but they have failed to play consistently well against the other teams battling for second spot.
This meant that Magdalen won the title this season without kicking a ball as their contenders fell away. Hayter wasn't bothered by this "I think it was fairly obvious we'd won the league for a little while so we'll just take Wednesday [when they're playing Queen's] to be our celebration day." Manchester United won the title in their treble season in a similar fashion - could Hayter see his team as repeating their success of last season?
"We fully intend to win the cup, but the Cup-Winners' Cup against the Tabs will be trickier, last year we were a bit rusty as the match is played after the Easter vac and we only won 3-2. This year we'd have to travel to Cambridge which would make the match harder. I'd love to win it again and I'm confident we'll win it."
With Magdalen on the form they're in you'd be a fool to bet against them repeating last year's successes, perhaps in record fashion this year - there are certainly no warmer favourites.
14th Feb 2002