For Yeovil Town's new goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts, his arrival at Yeovil isn't a case of coming to a strange club, more a case of friends reunited.
The Bishop Auckland-born stopper is a close friend of assistant manager Nathan Jones; the pair having been mates for almost six years after Roberts was loaned to Brighton in 2003.
"From day one, I was impressed with Nathan's work ethic" Ben admits. "It's obvious that he lives and breathes football and we formed a close friendship which resulted in me coming down to see Yeovil several times".
In fact the man charged with not only training the Glovers' goalkeepers but also going on scouting missions, narrowly missed having the manager Terry Skiverton as a team-mate. "Yes, we missed each other by a month when I spent a spell with Wycombe Wanderers".
Ben spent the major part of his career at Middlesbrough where he joined them at twelve before spending a dozen years there. Opportunities were limited in his role as understudy to Mark Schwarzer and he joined Charlton Athletic where he was unlucky enough to be behind Dean Kiely in the race for the number one jersey.
Three seasons later and a move to Brighton ensued. "I was just beginning to clock up a decent run in the team when a back injury I'd suffered with for nine years just got too bad. It was a huge disappointment to me having worked so hard".
Ben has vast experience of working for some well-known managers behind him with spells under Bryan Robson, Alan Curbishley and Steve Coppell amongst others and he'll be looking to bring a little from each of them to go with his ambition and enthusiasm.
The full interview with Ben is now on Glovers World.
