“It’s a good draw, they’re the types of games you want to play in,” says Southport midfielder Jack Bainbridge, hours after the National League North side are handed a tough away tie to Football League hopefuls, Chesterfield.
The 25-year-old only recently joined an elite group of Sandgrounders players in the clubs history after making 100 league appearances.
For Bainbridge, the accolade was extra special having grown up in the shadow of Haig Avenue playing for the likes of Southport Trinity and going to school at Birkdale High – some four miles away.
The Yellows came knocking when former manager Liam Watson bolstered his midfield in 2020 during the Coronavirus Pandemic.
A lot of non-league football during that period was curtailed, shrouding the game at lower-ranks with uncertainty.
But the move to Haig Avenue was extra special, Bainbridge revealed speaking to Off The Park: “It was (a) brilliant (feeling). I’d lived away from home for three or four years then with COVID, I loved being back at home and stuff like that.
“When Southport came up, I thought it would be perfect, growing up – I’m a Southport lad – and played for Southport. It was a no brainer so when I spoke to Liam, it was good.
“My first game at Haig Avenue was in pre-season and the flag-bearer that was me back in the day, it was a surreal moment playing for your boyhood club.”
A century of appearances later, there is still a desire for success but the humility of being a role-model to those in the area remains front and centre for the midfielder.
An ankle injury has denied the 25-year-old and while the midfielder is out of contract with the club in June, there is a feeling of pride and determination as Bainbridge strengthens his craft.
“It was a really proud moment for me, my hometown club, it was a massive honour and as I got to about 95, I was just waiting. I’m looking at my shirt now, it’s hanging up in my room, it’s a surreal moment. Hamish (Morton – club kitman) done me a shirt with ‘Bainbridge 100’ on it.
“It’s good because when I first signed you never think about making 100 games but when you’ve been there for so long, it’s a big achievement. There’s a few but there won’t be loads and loads who do that at one club, I’m proud.
“My dad was going to present it but I have a fan who has been with me since I signed for Southport, George, he plays for Southport now,” he added. “It’s a bit like me growing up, he looks up to me so I wanted him to present the trophy and the shirt, which he did, and he got a card as well.
“At this level it is surreal but I see it as I was once them. I do my coaching and give back, I remember when I used to go and watch, if they buzz off a picture or an autograph it’s boss for them. That’s how I see it.
“If you’ve got no aspirations and say you don’t want to (play in the Football League) it is wrong.
“I’m happy doing what I’m doing, I love playing and coaching Southport but I’m always pushing to get in the league, I am really happy at Southport but everyone has aspirations. I’ve played full-time so I would eventually like to get back there I am 25, I’m not too old to do it but time’s ticking.
“But if we have an interview in 10 years and I’m sitting here with 300 appearances at Southport, I’ll be happy, so it’s one of them really.”
Everton Football Club, Swansea City and Sunderland are among the English clubs on the CV of Bainbridge. While he often plays in a more traditional midfield role, his formative years were spent deployed across, almost, every position.
The Southport-born footballer’s route into academy football is unlike many others up and down the country as he entered the Finch Farm set-up at the age of 15, after catching the eye.
And the late entry into the system meant that there was an acclimatisation period.
“It was quite difficult because it wasn’t late but it wasn’t early. I went into a team that had been together for about five or six years then because they went in at under nine’s, I was a little bit behind in that development stage when I first started getting my feet in,” said Bainbridge.
“!I worked hard, spoke to the coaches, it was spot on and aided my development. I just cracked on and kept progressing since I moved there. It wasn’t late but it wasn’t early either, it was unheard of to go into an academy team at 15 back then, it was good – I enjoyed it.
“When I first went in I was out of my depth, but that was to be expected because I’ve gone from Sunday League, not done all the drills, now with better coaches and players so it took me a few months to adapt.
“Once I settled in, got my head down, it was alright. Then we started day release, school release, I was training twice a day and playing, I quickly became accustomed to it so it was about cracking on and working hard.
“The problem was that we had such a good squad, near enough every player for our team has gone on to make a career at any level in football – some at a really good standard. There wasn’t any shame in struggling, the level was so good – it took a while but I did enjoy it.”
Honing his skills at one of the top-ranked academies in the United Kingdom, silverware and lifelong memories followed – with the likes of Milk Cup success in Northern Ireland as well as excursions in South Africa and Dubai with the Blues.
Bainbridge earned a professional contract with the Toffees but soon found himself battling Everton’s wealth of midfield and defensive quality in the youth ranks.
A trip to the South Coast of Wales beckoned when his time on Merseyside came to an end with Bainbridge signing a one-year deal with the then-Premier League side.
But his stint with the Swans was short-lived when he found playing time hard to comeby.
The release from the Welsh club sparked a period of reflection for Bainbridge as he was forced to stew over his premature exit. However, the spell away from a professional set-up sparked a fire within which soon landed a move to the North East.
“I left Swansea in January and didn’t have a club so I was sat at home, working by myself, waiting for a trial.
“I was fizzing inside, waiting for an opportunity to go then luckily Sunderland came in for me. I was training hard, working by myself, I was ready to for the opportunity to get back into full-time footy.
“I feel that Sunderland was a bit like Everton, a family club, whereas Swansea wasn’t really – I’ve not got a bad word to say about them, it’s a great club but just a little bit different,” he added.
Bainbridge’s time at the Black Cats brought captaincy with the under-23s as well as first team outings under Jack Ross.
Changes came at the Stadium of Light during a tough period with injury. But there are positive memories to reflect upon, facing off against the likes of Rhian Brewster – now of Sheffield United. Bainbridge revealed: “I had a few injuries (in the second year) I tore my hamstring, then I’m trying to get back fit for another first-team game then I came back from pre-season and had a niggle in my hamstring.
“I trained with the first team and there was a manager change, the previous manager liked me who I played for against Morecambe away, done really well then played someone at home and the manager changed.
“I trained a little bit here and there but I knew I wasn’t at the level that I was playing at the previous year so I sat down with my 23s manager, had a chat about what I could do better and have some time out because of the injury – I wasn’t making myself any better.
“When I got fit, I made my full debut in the FA Cup, it was a successful year just not as enjoyable as the first year.
“It was COVID, we were sat around to see what’s going to happen. It’s was ‘do we either give him a year and goes out on loan’ because I was a fringe player for the first two years, I was captain of the 23s, I was too old – and felt too old – captained them and the manager knew I needed first-team football whether it was at Sunderland or elsewhere. We came to an agreement that it was best for me to move on and that was when I signed for Southport.
“I loved it, sometimes in different teams I captained the 98s (academy year group) at Everton and I loved it. I came in and the U23s manager at the time, Lewis Dickman, said I show leadership qualities and straight away I was skipper and I loved it.
“I was looking after the younger lads and helping the team, at the time it was difficult because we was in AOC 1, it was the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool but with a League One budget, the players we were playing against was like Rhian Brewster and we were a League One set-up.
“As much as it was still that standard, our team wasn’t as good and we had to stick in games to fight our way through games. It was good, I enjoyed being captain.”
“It was difficult,” a brutal reflection of a chastening 2022/23 campaign for Southport from Bainbridge.
Despite the strong start to the season, last time out, problems off the pitch soon clustered into dark clouds looming over the club.
At the turn of the year, results on the pitch began to deteriorate and as a result, Watson’s side plummeted down the table.
Results remained bleak and the Yellows narrowly stayed up. There was wholesale changes during the summer but the current crop of Port players that remained were still patching up the wounds of the previous season when they got off to a difficult start under Watson which led to the arrival of Jim Bentley.
“Sometimes, as a player, we can’t be out speaking about it but some of the stuff was too far,” he continued.
“When it gets personal, I know people take football seriously and fans spend their hard-earned cash and it’s a bad performance or we’re getting beat, but when it’s negative, harmful and death threats, no one deserves that for what they’re doing.
“That’s when it started getting dark at Southport, it was difficult and it probably did affect us because when the fans were bouncing, we were good.”
Under Bentley, in situ since the end of August, Southport has rose from the foot of the National League North table to within touching distance of the playoffs.
The standings in step five of the English football pyramid remain on a knife-edge but at Haig Avenue, the dark clouds have dispersed with positivity and aspirations prevalent from new owners, the Big Help Group, with Peter Mitchell installed as the new chairman.
“Everyone’s positive and looking up. Southport, since I’ve been here, it’s always a rollercoaster – it’s never smooth sailing to the playoffs or relegation,” Bainbridge continued.
“It’s always up and down, we always do well towards Christmas, pushing towards the playoffs, I’m hoping that with this momentum, the feel-good factor, everything that’s going on with the club, we can keep the ball rolling and winning games.
“In football, you just never know what happens if you get momentum especially in this league then you can start building and then you’re looking at the table thinking: ‘bloody hell, look where we are now’.
“We’re fighting for each other and when it does start getting tough, the games are coming thick and fast, there might be a few niggles or injuries.
“This core group of players, a lot of us have been here a while and we are respect eachother – the new lads who have come in have been boss as well.
“The hard times have made us stronger because we know how to grind out games, be horrible, be nasty and win games which is needed.
“Sometimes you might go to places and it’ll be a horrible place but if you get three points, that’s all that matters. This squad that we’ve got now, I think is capable of playoffs so we’ve got to push for that.”
[Featured image: Julia Urwin – Southport FC]
