Mike Percival on being an assistant and managerial ambitions

While the relationship between a manager and his assistant is never formulaic, Wilkinson and Percival have thrashed out an arrangement that works for them.

Here, Percival tells Echosport not only of his specific roles within the management team on matchday, but goes into extra detail about his conversations with Wilkinson during a game.

“I basically look after the management team for the gaffer,” Percival explains.

“Ultimately, he’s the leader but he’s got so much other stuff going on. I make sure everyone has their responsibilities when it comes to the warm-up.

READ MORE: Mike Percival's career in depth - part one

“Obviously, Lea Barkus is our third man so he’s responsible for getting the boys warm, activating them so they don’t go straight into short, sharp stuff.

“Then, I’ll take over from there where we get into patterns of play and technical stuff, so you’ll see the passing drills and keep ball, then the forwards at the end with shooting.

“With regards to my role, it’s to help the gaffer and I wouldn’t say advise him but my job is to challenge him at times.

“He is open to listening so if I feel a certain shape he’s proposing, if I don’t feel that’s right, I’ll challenge him.

“He’ll make the final decision but I work with the gaffer quite a lot on detail. With regards to training, he oversees it all but he tells me what we need to work on that week.

“I’ll deliver the drills and he’ll just step in when he needs to.

“From speaking to other assistant managers, you get some that are really hands on which is the bracket I put myself in. I’m quite delivery focused with information and detail.

“Then, you get other assistant managers who will perhaps just be an assistant coach.”

Mike Percival has been Bobby Wilkinson's assistant for eight years (Image: MARK PROBIN)

And what of the pair’s growth as a duo, is Percival just a cog in the machine or is he more influential?

“Bobby has learned to step back, analyse and step in when he needs to,” Percival said.

“That comes from having trust in his management team.

“Perhaps when he was a younger manager he felt he had to do it all himself. As he’s grown more experienced, he’s learned it’s good to sit back.

“That’s probably my biggest achievement in terms of building that relationship and trust with him, where I can challenge him.

“There are times where I’ll go over the mark and he’ll tell me: ‘Right, just sit back down and let me do it’.

“I respect that, because he’s the manager. There are times when I don’t need to challenge him, it’s exactly what I would play, the shape and personnel’s correct.

“So, I’ve built that trust with him that he will lean on me for advice. Sometimes it’s just being there as his right-hand man.

“Me, him and Lea are very tight. He leans on Barkus a lot, Lea was with him in his earlier career and then stepped away for a bit.

“The three of us have got a really good formula that works.

“Sometimes, when I’m feeling the pressures of the gaffer, I’ll lean on Barkus for a bit because he’s been there and done it in my shoes as well.

“As a three, we work really well together.”

It’s not just about Wilkinson, Percival and Barkus, though.

“You look at the rest of the management team, you've got Jase (Matthews) who’s a Weymouth legend,” he said.

“We lean on him a lot for advice because he’s seen it and done it. Then you’ve got Chrissy (Humphreys) and Lloyd (Green) who look after the players with regards to whatever they need.

“Georgie (Turner, physio) has been a new addition, she’s come in and been fantastic. She takes absolutely no crap off the players and tells them exactly how it is!

“Which is exactly what we wanted. We wanted someone who is going to come in and be strong with these players.

“We all know what footballers are like, sometimes they can push the boat out a little bit and fancy a night off. That doesn’t happen on the gaffer’s watch.

“Georgie’s come in and suits how the gaffer wants to (operate) really well.

“I have to thank Paul (Maitland) and Simon (Etherington) as well because they’ve been really supportive during the summer.

“They didn’t get involved, they trusted the gaffer in who he wanted to sign, never questioned it, and you’ve already seen we’re a different side this year.”

As with all assistants there is a question of will they or won’t they in the future?

Mike Percival on the touchline at Swindon Supermarine back in July (Image: MARK PROBIN)

However, Percival confessed he is more than happy to remain an assistant and has no burning ambition to become a manager himself one day.

He said: “My friends always ask me this question and the only way I’d go into management is if Bob wasn’t in football any more.

“Personally, I think by the time Bob’s not in football, 20 years, I’d have probably had enough of it myself.

“I can’t see myself ever having a scenario where I would want to leave Bob to go and take on that challenge of becoming a number one.

“I love the assistant role. You can never say never, I’d never want to leave Bob and you never know what’s going to happen in the future.

“Bob might decide he wants to go a different way with a new assistant and freshen it up.

“Then, an opportunity might present itself. I hope that never happens. That’s why it always keeps me on my toes, because I don’t want that to happen.

“I want to improve and work harder for him when I can. Certainly, while Bob’s in football you’ll never see me in the opposite dugout. That would be hell!”

Interestingly, Percival revealed the duo have never discussed scenarios which could split them as a partnership.

“He’s never had the conversation with me around: ‘Do I want to become a manager?’

“I was actually winding him up the other day saying that I’m his longest-serving management team member in eight years and that he can’t get rid of me.

“He always jokes that when he quits football he’s going to delete everyone’s numbers and not speak to any of us again. I always say that he’s not getting rid of me that easy!

“We’ve never had the conversation because we’ve never needed to have it, but I would like to think that he knows my commitment to him.

“We’ve been through enough together now as a management team and as me and him, that I’d like to think my commitment would never cross his mind.

“So, no. No manager’s job for me.”

With Wilkinson and Percival's extended contracts running to the end of the 2025/26 season, the duo’s partnership could reach into an 11th year by the time it’s up for renewal.

What the Terras achieve during the next 30 months is ultimately down to how successfully Wilkinson and Percival can align their personal upward trajectory with Weymouth’s ambitions.