The BylineCoverage team sat down with prolific National League striker Inih Effiong to discuss the goalscoring run that made his name, his time across the non-league pyramid, KSI’s ambitions at Dagenham & Redbridge, and the return to St Albans where his career began.
From a seven-goals-in-seven-games loan spell at Chesham to adapting after knee surgery at Eastleigh and the digital ID platform he is building for life after football, Effiong gives a candid account of a career spent at every level of the non-league game.
Chesham
Your run of seven goals in seven games is still one of the best in the club’s history. How did you feel during that run?
It was a time when I was very early on in my career, on a loan move. I was coming from Boreham Wood on loan just to get some game time, and I literally just hit the ground running. It was an enjoyable place to be, and I had an enjoyable team to play in. It was just a good experience. The manager was good to me. When you’re happy as a footballer outside of football, everything comes in line.
What were your best moments and memories at the club?
We got to the playoff final. We had a really good run that year, and that was a good achievement. I think we won the Cheshire Cup as well that year. So it was actually quite good, an enjoyable experience, obviously playing first team football at that young age as well, being there. So yeah, it was good.
Aldershot
How do you think Aldershot will do this season after just finishing above the relegation spots last year?
I know Scotty well, and I think he’ll have them very well regimented. He’s signed a team of people that can run, which is really good. How they do, I don’t actually have a clue, because it’s a different one. He’s signed a few experienced players, but a few inexperienced players that he’s given opportunities to. So we can just hope that they take the opportunity and do well and thrive off being in the National League. I don’t think he’ll do too badly, though, to be fair. Knowing him, he’s actually a good gaffer, and he deserved the shot that he had coming from Slough.
What are your thoughts on Scott Davies getting the manager job? Do you think he will be successful?
Yeah, no, he’ll definitely be successful as a manager. He’s done it. He’s a people person as well, so he’s not just a typical manager. Because he’s come from the player side, he knows how it is, and he actually tries to be that sort of manager. Anyone who’s been with him likes him, so he’s a likeable character and an honest guy, so hopefully he does well. I played with him many, many years ago and he was a good player. I’m not sure if he’s going to play for Aldershot now, but I know he’s got a match shirt, so knowing him, he’ll probably put it on one time because he does love the club.
How important will strong home form and the fans be for Aldershot?
Yeah, home form is important, very important. It’s a great place to be for Aldershot, the Stadium, and the fans do make it difficult for people to come there. Home form is always important. If you can win a few of your away games and just keep it strong at home, you have a strong chance of doing well.
Braintree Town
How much did you enjoy playing at Braintree Town, and how much of a challenge was it playing against teams with bigger budgets?
I did enjoy my time playing at Braintree, playing-wise, and the boys were good. Obviously, they were in a bit of financial trouble. That was the only issue at the time. People say they had a low budget, but their budget was actually quite big compared to others. It wasn’t as small as people may think. It was just whether they could afford to pay what was going on, and unfortunately, they couldn’t.
Were you disappointed not to have stayed there longer?
That’s why I had to leave. It was just delayed payment constantly, which was the issue. I always got paid, but it was just delayed. When you have family and kids, you can’t just keep relying on that payment. So that’s the reason why I left. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have. It was a learning curve for a lot of people at that club, going toe-to-toe with people financially in the National League. You have to build a decent team around it as well, and a good manager.
If it was resolved, 100%, I would have stayed, because the group was good. I could see the team could have built momentum if things were done correctly. But when people’s payments aren’t always there, it messes with people’s mental state. So then you’re not going to get the best out of players. That’s the issue.
What was Steve Pitt like to play under?
I didn’t play under Steve Pitt; I played under Angelo. As Steve Pitt got there, I literally just left.
Do you expect them to challenge for promotion in the National League South this season?
I don’t. I don’t think they’ll be up there. I think the league is very strong right now, with a lot of good players signing, especially teams like Chelmsford. They’re signing loads of players. And there are other teams like Ebbsfleet, and I feel like the teams are way too strong in there right now for them to challenge, seeing some of the players that they’ve signed. Yeah, it’ll be a struggle for them.
Eastleigh
How would you describe last season at Eastleigh?
It was good. It was at the back end of me leaving my job, and I’d had knee surgery, which wasn’t serious. It was just a little bone fragment stuck in my patella that needed to get taken out. Off the back of that, I was out for two months, and Eastleigh called me and said, “Listen, can you help? Because we’re in a struggling position”.
I went there, and I actually enjoyed my time there. The people there are lovely; it’s a great football club to be at, and they do everything properly there. The manager was good to me, and the players were good to me as well when I came there. So a really good environment, and that’s what actually drove us to get out of the position that we were in at that time, which was successful, obviously, of not getting relegated, because it looked on the cards when I signed, to be honest. But they made a few additions and got ourselves out of it.
Dagenham & Redbridge
You’ve just started working with Dag & Red outside of football. What do you think about KSI’s ambitions to take them from the National League South to the Premier League?
Anything’s possible in football; you just have to have the right money to do it. With KSI and the rest of the board, I’m sure they have the right money. They just need to recruit well, which they have done this summer. But to kick on up the leagues, you have to spend money on big players to get you there. So we’ll see how they do this season. It’s a very tough league, probably one of the toughest around at the moment. There’s a lot of teams challenging just for two spots to go up, and everyone thinks they’re going to get promoted. So it’s very competitive, 100%.
Biggleswade Town
Biggleswade Town have recently been put up for sale. What are your fondest memories of playing for them, and what could new investment do for the club?
I loved it at Biggleswade. That was one of the fondest times of my career. That’s when I first moved to being a professional, when I was about 25. The manager there, Chris Nunn, I owe a lot to him. He did a lot for me when I was there. I had troubled times, and he was just there for me throughout. That’s where I enjoyed being fully. The club was good to me, the players were good, and it was just a good environment. That’s where I scored loads of goals, and it was just enjoyable to be around.
St Albans
You’re back where it all started. How does it feel being back at the club?
It’s great. When they initially came in, I wanted to see my options first, but then the ambitions that they had and the story behind it, that I could potentially help them get promoted back to the National League, won me over. It’s an overall good club, run very professionally, and the people there are great.
It’s local to home too. I’ve been used to travelling my whole career, an hour, hour and a half minimum, all the time. This one’s only about 25 minutes from our house, so it’s perfect. We want to do well and hopefully get a promotion push and see where it takes us. It’s a really good club, and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense for me and my family.
Do you think the club can achieve promotion, and how much is being part of a promotion push a driver for you at this stage of your career?
We’ll see. I think we’re well equipped to, but there’s no giving in this league at all. Even though it might be step three, a step I haven’t been at for a while, I’m sure it’s still competitive, with other teams spending money as well. No leagues these days are going to be easy no matter what level you play. Hopefully we just get a good run going at the start and then see what happens.
Do you feel like there are a few more seasons, and goals, in the legs yet?
Yeah, 100%. It’s never gone. Like I said, last year was a bit of a gap year because of the surgery and stuff like that, but other than that, I’m always fit, always keeping myself healthy. We’ll just see. I’ve still got more than a few years left. So keep it going.
What are your plans for after football?
I’m really building in the background. As you mentioned earlier, there’s my partnership with Dagenham. We were with Salisbury last season as well. Also with my digital ID platform, IDentiSurge, which helps football clubs police issues they’re having with troubled fans causing trouble at football clubs. It helps deter issues going on with fans causing trouble at football grounds, identifying them, so if anything does happen, they can go back to it and ban them on the system.
We’re trying to get a chain going, so all clubs work together. If that person then goes to another football club and scans in, it will say that they’ve been banned from the previous club. So it’ll be a chain, everyone working together, which can bring the issues down. It also helps when adults try to buy a child ticket, because there’s no way to police that at the moment.