A “real man”

Welcoming Alex Craig Gudger

By Simon Wright.

Halesowen’s newest signing knows his way around a football pitch.  There were 160 appearances for Solihull, 100+ for Brackley, 38 for Worcester. Every one at Step 2 or higher.  Add in his many matches for Rugby, Telford, Kettering etc and you have one seasoned campaigner. 

Alex learnt his trade in the academy of his home town Nuneaton, then a step one club. Finding no openings, the defender moved to Rugby in 2012 where over three years he built his reputation, collecting honours along the way. His key role among Midlands big hitters was underway.

In 2017, he was chosen for the Jamie Vardy V9 Academy, an elite gathering frequented by scouts. In theory a great way to get noticed. But in practice with 40 similarly skilled performers also wanting the same eye,, hard to stand out.

More happily a year later, Gudger was part of the Brackley team who won the FA Trophy at Wembley. As he later told Solihull media the trophy success was “up there with anything I have achieved in my career.”  The Saints so nearly missed out. They were losing 1-0 to Bromley after 96 minutes. Opposition defender Roger Johnson had an unhappy reputation for scoring own goals for Wolves and Blues. To Brackley’s great joy, he did it again, netting a very very late leveller. Gudger’s team eventually went on to win on penalties.  In a strange quirk, Brackley later recruited “OG” Johnson as their manager.

Far more recently, the defender became acquainted with our division. He started the season on loan to Telford, ostensibly for the whole 9 months, Perhaps ironic that Zac Lilly, ex Telford was keeping Gudger out of the Brackley defence.  In February, the loan finished. There were strong rumours that he was moving to Jason Cowley’s Hereford. Indeed, manager Paul Caddis spoke of a “real man” boosting his defence (hence the title of this piece). The switch to Kettering was a surprise.

Away from football, Gudger’s living and working space is the Coleshill/ Tamworth area. He’s no stranger to positions to responsibility. He used to be a director of a football travel business. He was a coach at Tamworth. Currently he is a director at 3 enterprises, the best known is Your Performance Group. They are a subscription -based football training plus organisation.  Alex and his business partner have 5 coaches working for them across two sites.

 Alex joins the ranks of Halesowen Town players who also coach. Easy to imagine discussion about new coaching techniques on long distance away trips.   

Welcome to the Yeltz, Alex.