A Reason to be cheerful

Even in such a modern fast-moving world, there are not many industries to rival football for the speed with which circumstances can change. Nevertheless, during the course of the last four years, a lot has happened to Jai Reason.

The 23 year-old, the chief creative spark in Eastleigh’s ever improving team under the charge of Richard Hill, arrived at the Silverlake in the summer of 2012. In keeping with what had been a turbulent recent period in Jai’s football life, Ian Baird, the manager who had brought him to the club, was removed from his post with the new season only weeks old.

Having taken the decision to step down from playing Conference Premier football with Braintree Town, it could have made for an unsettling period for one of the Spitfires’ marquee signings.

‘It happens in football. You get different managers at different clubs and, at that particular point in time, the club wasn’t going in the direction that the chairman wanted it to go and it’s entirely up to him what he wants to do.

‘All me and the other players can do is keep playing well for the club we represent. It was a bit of a change but eventually, with Richard Hill taking over, we came through it and had a good end to the season’.

Despite only working under the tutelage of Baird for a short spell, Jai is well equipped to offer his thoughts on the divergent managerial styles of Eastleigh’s present boss and his immediate predecessor.

‘Man-management goes a long way in football. They (Baird and Hill) have their own individual styles regarding how they work with players. I think Richard Hill gets more out of the players he has than Ian Baird did from the group he worked with. 

‘They’re both good managers, but you saw from Christmas time last season how we kicked on and got through to the play-offs. We had a great team-spirit, and the gaffer had everybody on their games week-in-week-out. We were better organised throughout matches’.

It would be wildly errant to view Jai’s swapping of life in the Conference Premier for the Conference South as evidence of a lack of ambition. Indeed, nothing could be further from the truth. When he discusses his career – while munching on an assiduously home prepared salad for his lunch - there is an unmistakeable determination fixed in the eyes of the Spitfires Number 10.

‘I wasn’t happy at Braintree. I was playing left-wing. I could do a job out there, but I wasn’t enjoying it. I did score 13 goals in a season, but scouts were coming to watch me then saw me playing left-wing and wondered what was going on. I’ve always been known as an attacking or central midfielder.

‘Eastleigh were the only club to put an offer on the table. I snapped their hands off. I wanted to come and play in the position I always have, and show people what I can do’. 

Asked if, when at the turn of the year with his side having slumped into the relegation spots, he had cause to doubt the wisdom of his move a broad smile breaks across Jai’s face.

‘No, not at all. You can’t think like that. If you do, you’d be going backwards in life rather than going forwards. I just knew that we all had to get our heads down. We had Conference quality players. It was just that we couldn’t find the missing ingredient to get us clicking, but eventually we found it’. 

To trace the roots of the driven football character we watch contesting every ball – and every decision – at the heart of this tenacious and enterprising Eastleigh outfit, it is necessary to go back four years in time. It was in May 2009 that Ipswich Town, the club to whom Jai had been attached since the age of nine, informed him that – along with six others, including Champions League winner, Ivan Campo - he was being released.

‘It was one of my darkest days in football. Being let go from a club that you’d been with since you were 9 years-old was so difficult. It was hard. I left there to go to Cambridge United, and did well. I had a few league clubs look at me then but, again, none of them put in a firm offer. Cambridge were good enough to give me a contract, but I lost my way a little bit. 

‘Going from full-time football and being at a club that played at such a high standard in the Championship, then going down to the Conference, I got dragged into a different way of life. I wasn’t training or living right. It took me until I moved to Braintree to get my head around what was happening. Since I got the move to Braintree, through to now, things have been going up and up and up.

‘I’ve had a few rough days, but the last few years have been fantastic. It was Jim Magilton who released me initially. Roy Keane came in at Christmas time and I’d been doing really well at Cambridge (on loan). He’d seen a few boys out on loan and asked them to come back, but I never got the call which was a bit disappointing.

‘It was a huge learning curve. It’s made me a lot stronger now. I’m much more experienced. I think I’ve played over 150 games in the Conference and Conference South. For a 23 year-old that’s not bad’. 

Since Jai’s departure from Portman Road, there have been plenty of brighter days. The Southend born player’s maiden campaign at Braintree, where he signed in September 2010 after his 18 months at Cambridge had come to an end, and a subsequent stay at Crawley Town lasted little more than a month, culminated with his side being crowned Conference South champions.

It is two other experiences, though, that provide the standout moments.

‘My England ‘C’ debut away to Poland, and playing at Wembley for Cambridge in the (Conference Premier) play-off final (in 2009 against Torquay United). We lost (2-0), but it was such an occasion. Playing at Wembley is something I’d love to go and do again’.

A more concrete aspiration is that his classy touch and vision can once more find a route back into the professional game.

‘Of course. My main objective this season is to get Eastleigh up. Whatever happens afterwards will happen. This is a terrific club. It’s run right and it’s got good people behind it. At the minute I just want to get this club up and see what happens then’.

It speaks well of his present footballing home, that a man whose dissatisfaction with his on-field berth at his last employer is content to fulfil whichever role is asked of him in order to help the Spitfires hit their promotion target. Furthermore, Jai believes he is surrounded by individuals with the talent to help him thrive.

‘I like the ball at my feet. I think I’m a technical player who likes to get things going. Whenever possible, the gaffer gets me where I can get on the ball the most. 

‘Playing behind Stuart Fleetwood and Craig McAllister is brilliant because they’re two fantastic players. Playing in midfield with Ben Strevens and Glen Southam you’re going to learn every week. Just as long as I’m on that pitch every week and doing a job for the club and the team I’m happy with that.

‘I think we’ve started great. Towards the end of last season with how we were playing and the momentum we had, throughout the summer I was hoping we could keep that going. I know it’s a big break (between seasons), but from day one you can see that we’ve all gelled together. The spirit is excellent, and I just think we’re going to go from strength to strength’.

Momentum is with Eastleigh. Equally, it is with their gifted playmaker whose attitude to life replicates his on-pitch demeanour. Head up, eyes forward, and invest everything you have into pursuing your goals.

Article by Paul McNamara