30
Jul
Harrogate Town boss: Aim is to stay in the league 'as quickly as possible’
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Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver said the club’s primary objective is to "stay in a tough league as quickly as possible" this season.
The Sulphurites enter their sixth season in the EFL League Two this year, having been promoted via the National League play-offs in 2020.
Before Town's first home pre-season fixture against Rotherham, Weaver said the club should want to push for promotion.
But two weeks later, following three successive losses, the Town boss told the Stray Ferret that he didn’t want to get too ahead of himself. He said:
We’ve got to try to get to 50 points as quickly as possible. We know where we are in a tough league, so we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves. But like any team, we’re allowed to dream.
It depends on which way you look at it. We’re delighted that we’ve had five years in the EFL. Last year was particularly hard with increased finances in football and so many big clubs. It was the same as the season before with teams like Wrexham and Stockport.
'We will take time to adapt'
Notwithstanding a strong campaign in 2023/24 in which the club finished 13th, Town have not finished higher than 17th in the 24-team league.
A poor first half of the season in 2024/25 saw the Wetherby Road side in 22nd place on New Year’s Day, just two points away from the relegation zone.
But a flurry of important signings in January dragged the club to an 18th-place finish, 11 points clear of 23rd-placed Carlisle on the final day.
Despite another busy summer, bringing in seven players and losing nine, Town have not had the pre-season they would have hoped for. A win and draw against Guiseley and Ilkeston Town were followed by three losses against Rotherham, Barnsley and Carlisle.
The club also suffered from another plague of injuries, losing James Belshaw, Ben Fox, James Moorby, and new signing Reece Smith in their first two matches.
Belshaw, Fox and Smith all featured in the club's 2-0 loss to Carlisle on Saturday, though, suggesting the injuries were not as bad as once feared.
George Thomson, Levi Sutton and Jack Muldoon are also all carrying knocks.
But Weaver insisted he was not worried:
It will take a bit of time for us to adapt [with new signings]. We lost quite heavily in pre-season last year, too, but I think, quite honestly, it’s part of us. We’ve managed to find a way to overcome that in the past and we want to do the same this year. I’d much rather we be doing that in pre-season than in the season itself.
Harrogate Town will start the 2025/26 EFL League Two season away at Bristol Rovers on Saturday (August 2). The match will kick off at 3pm.
The Stray Ferret will feature an extended interview with Simon Weaver previewing the new EFL season this weekend.
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