AFC Totton
AS THE 2022/23 TITLE RACE TAKES ITS FINAL TURN onto the home straight, Jimmy Ball’s AFC Totton are perfectly poised to make a strong late dash for the finish line to hopefully claim that prized position at the top of the Southern League Div.1 South podium.
Throughout the campaign, The Stags boss has demonstrated a ruthless streak when it comes to perpetually strengthening his squad, and his latest move in the transfer market sees the arrival of a midfielder with bags of higher division experience.
Josh Carmichael is a product of the AFC Bournemouth Academy, who made his senior debut for The Cherries against Exeter City while he was a 16-year-old scholar, early in the 2010/11 season. He went on to make four league appearances for Bournemouth, while also gaining valuable game time during loan stints with Gosport Borough, with whom he reached the Final of the FA Trophy, and Welling United in 2014. He also went on loan to Havant & Waterlooville and Torquay United the following year, and he was joined at Havant by his former Poole Grammar School classmate Harry Cornick, the forward who joined Bristol City from Luton Town at the end of the recent January transfer window.
Despite having been born on the South Coast of England, Josh was capped once by Scotland U16s in 2009 and by the U19s four years later. He qualified to represent The Tartan Army through his paternal grandfather, and says of his brief experience of international football:
“It was surreal. All the other players knew each other from playing together or against each other at club level, whereas I was coming up from Bournemouth to join the group. They were all very friendly and treated me well; it was a struggle to understand them at first, but they were interested to learn more about me and to understand my background, so it was a really good experience.”
After being released by Bournemouth at the end of the 2015/16 season, he joined Gosport on a permanent deal and went on to make 28 appearances for them in 2016/17, scoring once. The following season, he signed for Weymouth, playing 79 league games and scoring 4 goals for The Terras over the course of two seasons, helping them to claim the Southern League Premier Division South title in 2018/19.
In the summer of 2019, Josh signed for his hometown club, Poole Town in the Southern League Premier Division South. His three seasons at the Tatnam Ground coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced non-league footballing activity across the country for the better part of two seasons. Nevertheless, he made a total of 54 league appearances for The Dolphins, bagging six goals, and he was also part of last season’s Dorset Senior Cup-winning side, where he played alongside former AFC Totton alumn, Jack Seddon.
Josh, who is now 28 years-old, made the switch to Salisbury in October, where he managed to squeeze in more than 20 first team appearances for The Whites before a recent change of manager meant a new tactical approach that left him as the odd man out. When he was given permission to open talks with other clubs, his close relationship with boyhood friend Charlie Davis gave Josh the inside track on recent developments at AFC Totton and he was keen to find out more.
“I’ve played at the Snows Stadium on a few occasions, certainly with Poole Town in a pre-season friendly and I think in the Hampshire Senior Cup with Bournemouth. I played alongside Mike Carter at Gosport, Ben Jefford at Welling United and, briefly, with Jack Masterton when I had a trial with Eastleigh. But it’s through regularly talking to Charlie since he came here in November that I’ve been keeping up-to-date with how well the club has been doing. He also told me all about the set-up here and what it’s like to work under this management team, which was all very positive.
“Totton are currently at Step 4 but the facilities here are easily worthy of a Step 2 club, and speaking with Jimmy Ball, Steve Brookwell [AFC Totton’s CEO] and Sam Davies [Director of Football] has opened my eyes to the scope of the ambitions of this football club and what can be achieved here. We’re in an excellent position in the league right now and it will be my immediate aim to add my weight to that final push for promotion. I think already knowing several people here will help me to settle in quickly, and having been regularly involved in matches for Salisbury, I’m fully fit and raring to go.
“As for the longer term, I know the level above well and if we do go up this season, I don’t see any reason why we can’t be serious challengers in that division, too. But first thing’s first; there is an important job to do here in the remainder of this campaign and I’m here to make a positive contribution.”
Asked to describe his own style of play, Josh paints himself as a holding midfielder who reads the game well, likes to hit diagonal passes and is always ready and willing to put his foot in and make a tackle. He has a good disciplinary record, with only one red card to his name throughout his footballing career and no more than his fair share of yellow cards. Pressed to pick a famous player whose style of play most closely resembles his own, he ponders a few different names before finally plumping for West Ham United’s England midfielder, Declan Rice.
AFC Totton’s Club Secretary Richard Matthews has already completed the necessary paperwork on the permanent deal that now brings Josh to the Snows Stadium, and the midfielder is eligible to go straight into the fray to face an in-form Bashley at home on Saturday, if selected.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
