In Conversation: Harvey Brand

By Josh Cole

I sat down with new Blues midfielder, Harvey Brand, to talk through how he’s feeling to be at Margate and to talk about the season ahead.

Brand says it feels “really good” to be at Margate and he can’t wait for the start of the season. “It feels really good to be here, I had a breakthrough year last year, moving into a new position in midfield and I look forward to kicking on with Margate.”

Being club captain is something that holds a lot of weight, and Harvey experienced that last season at Ashford, but amongst all the pressure that comes with the role, he shined. “It was interesting (becoming club captain), it wasn’t something that I’m too used to, but it was a nice step forward in the backend of last year, but I feel my leadership qualities came out and performances on the pitch meant that I got respect from my teammates, but yeah, it felt really good.”

“A midfielder that covers all areas of the pitch and is a threat getting on the end of set pieces.” That’s how new player/manager, Ben Greenhalgh described Harvey and the midfielder said Ben has “described it pretty well”. “I’m a box-to-box midfielder with lots of energy who likes to try and get on the ball, take people on with my first touch, I like to get into the box and be a presence from set pieces which I know is something that Ben is looking for us to be good at this year, scoring them and defending them.”

Two games into pre-season and Brand is “bonding well” with Ben and he states his “good relationship” with new assistant manager, Adam Flanagan, as they were both at Ashford last season. “I’ve got a good relationship with Flan from Ashford, he’s really good with information that he gives to players, whether that’s before games and on the sidelines and that’s really important this year with Ben being a player himself, Flan is really important to have and it’s been great to work with Ben so far, to see his standards in training personally, he’ been at a high level and he still shows that regularly in training, nothing drops, it’s been really nice working with both of them as a coaching team.”

A new league for Margate this year, but nothing changes for Harvey, he played 43 times last season in this division, and he has set his sights on a big year with The ‘Gate. “I think promotion must be the aim, to bounce straight back up, it’s a very competitive league this year, especially at the top, you look at the likes of Ramsgate, Sittingbourne, Ashford, Herne Bay, and Sheppey, but I think we’ve got a good side and I think we should definitely be pushing for playoffs.”

Harvey is sponsored by Maggie Lees (home and away) for the 2024/25 season!

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