Thanks Mellow. Liam Watson and John Coleman's record of finding players on no budget stands the closest scrutiny but its good to have it confirmed by one who really knows. Alongside the excellent John Still, these managers help their teams to truly punch above their weight.
Read this article about half way down and tell me that you wouldn't want a manager like this. He explains the formula and it needs someone special to do it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... genha.htmlTime and time again he talked about the type of person who is fit to be called a Dagger. It is obviously something that matters to him a great deal.
"No one comes to this club unless they are a Dagger," he explained. "It is about hard work and about being 100% behind what you do.
"We're Daggers, we always keep going, nothing fazes us, nothing stops us."
Still had met numerous players down the years that he quickly realised would not be right for the club. They talked too much about money and not enough about ambition and self-improvement.
Goalkeeper Roberts added: "The manager and his team watch players eight or nine times to make sure they are a Dagger.
"We have not got the biggest fanbase so we have to believe in each other and that is what Still seems to get out of everybody."
The Daggers missed out on last season's play-offs by one point and lost seven influential players during the summer months.
Nobody expected much this campaign but they had not reckoned on the rebuilding job done by Still, who blended a series of loan signings with some shrewd finds from non-league.
Danny Green, for example, scored the Daggers second goal at Wembley after joining from Bishop's Stortford last July.
"It is all about hard work, about getting out in the car and watching games and it is amazing what you can achieve when no one is worried about taking the credit," added Still.
Still has found, polished and sold numerous players from non-league football over the years, including Soloman Taiwo, Tresor Kandol and Craig Mackail-Smith.
Paul Benson, another Wembley goalscorer, was signed in 2005 from White Ensign, who play in the Essex Intermediate League, 11 levels below League One.
Benson is part of Dagenham's experienced spine, along with keeper Roberts, defender Mark Arber and midfielder Peter Gain.
