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26
Jul
Harrogate Railway manager: 'We should be going for promotion this season'
Harrogate Railway’s manager has encouraged his team to ‘pull in the same direction’ as the club prepares to challenge for promotion this season.
On the back of a disappointing last season in the NCEL Division One, the Stray Ferret spoke to Rob Youhill, ex-player and co-manager of Harrogate Railway, to find out the club’s ambitions for the year.
He said:
We’ve worked ridiculously hard on recruitment this season and found players that fit in extremely well within the system. We should be going for promotion with the squad we now have.
After two unsuccessful play-off campaigns in 2021/22 and 2022/23, Railway have finished the last two campaigns in mid-table.
Harrogate Railway drew 2-2 with Knaresborough Town in a friendly last week. Picture: Craig Dinsdale.
Youhill told us about his thoughts on last season:
It wasn’t great. This will be my third year in the job. You want to build on your first season, but we didn’t do that. But from standing still, we learned a lot.
Our recruitment wasn’t fantastic. We learned that it’s not all about quality footballers in this league – you need experience, fitness, physicality, and a winning mentality. We were trying to put round pegs in square holes.
'Putting round pegs in round holes'
Youhill and co-manager Fraser Lancaster have already made some ambitious signings this summer.
Railway have poached three players from their Premier Division neighbours, Knaresborough Town - Defender Harry Lee, attacker Dom Creamer, and former Boro’ captain Ben Parkes.
Defenders Elliot Holmes and Charlie Lack, Harrogate Town midfield academy product Alfie Lee, and striker Alex Burton have also signed.
Youhill revealed the factors they considered when recruiting. He said:
We want to put round pegs in round holes, sign players from the leagues above ours, and sign Harrogate-based players.
If we can sign local players, we immediately save money on petrol prices, which helps a lot. I think when you’re local, you have more of a bond with the club too and want to see it do well.
Harry Lee was Railway's third signing from Knaresborough Town this window.
Youhill added that the club is still eyeing a few additional signings.
But, in football, with more signings comes more criticism.
The co-manager said that it has been “insulting” to be identified as spending money for success:
We try to be so much more than that and do things professionally. We’ve got a great coaching staff and try to build the club up alongside the team.
‘He’s added structure, organisation and direction’
When new chairman Rob Northfield joined in June, he told the Stray Ferret that the club has “enormous potential” to operate in higher divisions.
Northfield, who has built his career on motivational speaking, is in his third spell at the club. He has already organised multiple meetings with the management staff to discuss ambitions.
Rob Northfield.
Youhill told us how Northfield compared to his expectations:
I hoped that he would add structure, organisation and direction, and he’s done exactly that.
He was very quiet in our first meeting because he wanted to get a flavour of what we were about. Then straight away in the second meeting, he got the ball rolling. He set us a target to increase last year’s sponsorship by £4000, and we did it in a month.
I think, along with the work of our assistants Lee [Parker] and Gregg [Anderson], it’s propelled me and Fraser to a position where we feel really positive about the season.
'Getting aboard the train'
That Harrogate Railway want promotion is no secret, but how do they achieve that?
Youhill said:
It’s so important that we all pull in the same direction. In training, the players are deciding on five non-negotiables for conduct throughout the season so they know what’s expected of them.
We hope that the players can get aboard the train with us this year. It would be disappointing if the reason we didn’t get promoted was a lack of consistency.
Harrogate have retained their players' player of the year, 18-year-old Harris Eggleston. Photo: Caught Light Photography
The club currently has two men’s teams, three women’s teams and 16 youth squads. On top of that, many people volunteer to help keep the club running.
The ex-Railway winger said that the team can only be ready for promotion if the club has moved forwards with them:
We’d be disappointed if the club hadn’t met the trajectory of the team come the end of the season. There are currently four separate areas of Harrogate Railway, and we need to bring them much closer together.
The under-23s should be the best team in the area. There’s no other squad like that around here, so we should be picking up the best talent at youth level and tapping into that for the first team. People want to be around success, so if we can do well on the pitch, we will be able to attract more volunteers.
With new signings, a new chairman, and a management team hungry for success, Harrogate Railway could be a force to be reckoned with this season.
And they will be put to the test immediately, with last season’s play-off contenders, Worsbrough Bridge Athletic, visiting Station View today.
The match will kick off at 3pm.
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