Interview ~ Sean Devine

An Interview with our record-breaking striker, Sean Devine.

WWISC: You joined us just over a year ago; tell us about life before Wycombe Wanderers.

Sean: Well! The last year at Barnet was quite bleak. I wasn’t really involved and I only played about 12 games all year and that was it. But since I came to Wycombe it’s been such a relief that I’m back playing again and I’m back scoring goals, I’ve found my old touch and I haven’t looked back since.

WWISC: What were the circumstances that caused you to come here?

Sean: As I said, it just wasn’t going for me at Barnet, I wasn’t in John Still’s plans and I thought that for everyone’s sake it’d be best if I moved on. I had the chance to come here on loan; I’ve done quite well and scored goals and manage to secure a contract.

WWISC: You even manage a goal in your first game...

Sean: Yes, I came on with about ten minutes to go and hit a nice goal, so I was well chuffed.

WWISC: Where were you born? 

Sean: I was born in Southeast London, in a place called Lewisham and I was brought up around there.

WWISC: Tell us about your family, Mum, Dad, Brothers, Sisters?

Sean: Mum and Dad are divorced now, but they’ve both remarried, I’ve got two brothers and two sisters. My mum is married to Peter now and my dad is married to Mary. We all get on all right so we’re quite pleased.

WWISC: What do they do?

Sean: My dads a publican, (nothing wrong with that) and my mum is now semi-retired.

WWISC: Do any of them come to watch you play?

Sean: My dad follows me everywhere. He’s always at the home games and some of the away games as well. As he’s got a little bit older some of the journeys he doesn’t do now, but most of the games he doesn’t miss

WWISC: Do you have a partner?

Sean: Yes I do, its Kelly at the moment (at the moment?) well I say at the moment, we’re getting married next year; we’ve got a baby on the way, which is due in two months time so we’re very happy.

WWISC. A couple of years ago you suffered quite a dramatic loss of form at Barnet why?

Sean: I was out for eight months with a groin injury. I came back from that and started scoring goals again; I had a good season ending as top scorer with twenty goals. Then John Still didn’t fancy me in the side, and that was it. I want of the boil, but then I wasn’t playing. For the three seasons I was there before he joined and I was top scorer every season.

WWISC: With this cup game coming up against Barnet how do you feel with this? Injury preventing you from playing?

Sean: Yes, I’m gutted really, I’d have loved to have gone down there and ‘not’ proved a point, as I don’t have a point to prove to them. It would have been nice to show them that I’ve gone a division higher and done it here as well, they had me but didn’t use me.

WWISC: Apart from your current injury how do you feel about your current form?

Sean: Well, up until I was injured everything was fine. I finished one of the top scorers in the league. I broke the club record and I think that in the season and a half that I’ve been here I’ve achieved quite a bit and hopefully I’d like to carry that on. I want to get myself nice a fit and maybe bang in another twenty-five goals this season.

WWISC: You’ve scored a few goals since you’ve been here, which is your most memorable?

Sean: The most memorable goal and game would probably be against Wigan when we went one nil down here in the second to last game of the season. They took the lead after about fifteen minutes, then I manage to score one just before half time and Embers got the winner in the second half. Considering what we had to do and they were up for promotion or the play-offs, to actually beat them after going a goal down, it was quite a special game to play in.

WWISC: Who would to say was the hardest/most difficult player you’ve ever played against?

Sean: Tony Adams! I played against him when I was at Millwall, he’d just come out of prison at the time, it was his first couple of games back and I was playing in Millwall’s reserves. He was just quality, so he was the hardest I’ve played against.

WWISC: Who has influenced your career the most?

Sean: My mum and dad really, both of them have been very supportive especially at times when I’ve been down. They’ve always been behind me and kept me going.

WWISC: When you were growing up, did you have any particular boyhood hero?

Sean: I had quite a few really; there were different players that I liked. The Pele’s of this world always entertained. The likes of Van Baston, Mark Hughes and Ian Wright, goal scorers really.

WWISC: Do you have any particular friends among the players here at Wycombe?

Sean: Most of them, I get on with everyone here; they’re a really good bunch of lads. The people I tend to socialize with are: Embers, Simmo and Maurice Harkin. We all go out together so we all get on really well together.

WWISC: What are you tastes in music/ food/ movies?

Sean: Music, I like any type of music really, right across the board. Food, mostly pasta and chicken really, that’s what I really do eat, that and rice. (So its not sausage and bacon rolls for you then?) Oh! I love all that but rice and pasta dishes are what I really like the most. Films, I like a lot of different films but I really enjoyed ‘Jerry McGuire’ and ‘Corlotto’s Way’. I’m quite a fan of Al Pachino.

WWISC: Did you go anywhere nice during the summer?

Sean: Yes, I went to New York for the summer. We had three weeks out there and we came back on the QE2. It was very nice; it was a nice relaxing break and something you may never get to do again. We had the opportunity to do it so off we went. (Was it one of those Concorde out QE2 in trips)? No because we actually stayed in America longer so we flew out about two and a half weeks before we got on the QE2. That’s a six-day journey across the Atlantic, it’s really nice, you get waited on hand and foot its brilliant.

WWISC: how’s the pre-season training been going?

Sean: Well I haven’t done any myself, but the lads have been doing really well, they look fit and strong and the games we’ve played pre-season they’ve done well and hopefully they can carry that on into the season.

WWISC: What actually is the state of your injury, what happened and how far down the road to recovery are you?

Sean: I don’t really know what happened, it just came on, and it wasn’t a twist or a jar it seems to be just general wear and tear. They seem to think that it’s a bone bruise; well they know that it’s definitely a bone in my knee that’s damaged. They don’t know to what extent and that’s what they’re looking into at the moment. So fingers crossed I can get back a bit quicker.

WWISC: What’s the mood like amongst the players and how do you see the season going?

Sean: The banter between the lads is great, that’s one of the good things about this club we’ve got a good bunch here. There’s not one bad egg and we all seem to get on well and work for each other, as I’ve said I don’t see any problems with that side of it. As to how we’ll do this season, maybe we need to add one or two to the squad as we’ve let a few go and we’ve only brought one in. I think we need to bring in perhaps two quality players (somebody up front with you?) I don’t know about that so much, I’m quite happy who ever I play with, such as Andrew Baird and Paul Emblem when they’re fit, we seem to compliment each other very well. Sometimes you get caught into bringing in a ‘big man’ and that’s the way you play (the long ball game?) Maybe we do need another forward here but as I said I’m happy whomever I play with. That’s of course if I play; I think we should do alright this year especially if we can bring in one or two more players.

WWISC: I was watching ‘Sky Sports.Com’ and the ex-Chesterfield manager John Duncan was giving his predictions for the coming season. Of course he went for Stoke and Millwall to be the top two, in fact it was the ‘money’ side he predicted would win the second division but he said that is your looking for an outside bet for the play-offs he fancied Oldham and Wycombe. How do you feel about that?

Sean: Well yes, it’s a possibility. If you look how well we did last year and we were very limited as we had a lot of injuries as well. Some games just didn’t go our way there were games that we should never have lost. If you were to add those points that we could have had it would have probably been a top six finish. I think we did well to finish where we did last year especially as we had more or less the same squad that just missed relegation the season before. I think it was a great achievement, so if we can bring another couple in I think we’ll do alright.

I have to thank Sean for stepping into the breach and being interviewed at very short notice as Michael Simpson failed to turn up. It’s obvious that Sean is itching to get back, and I wish him well and hope he has a speedy recovery. 
Ted