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26
Jul 2024
A 'baptism of fire' to promotion successes: Simon Weaver on 15 years at Harrogate Town
This is the first in a two-part feature-length interview with Simon Weaver, Harrogate Town manager. In this article, he speaks about his 15 years at Harrogate and how it all started.
Simon Weaver can still remember his first day as Harrogate Town manager.
This year, Weaver celebrated 15 years in charge of the club and is the longest serving head coach in the top four levels of English football.
But he clearly recalls taking the job in the summer of 2009 and the challenges it entailed when he talked to the Stray Ferret.
In a wide ranging interview, he talks about 15 years of building Harrogate Town, a historic promotion to the Football League in 2020 and his ambitions for the future at Wetherby Road.
‘A baptism of fire’
Bill Fotherby, the then chairman of Harrogate Town, sat down with a 31-year-old Simon Weaver in 2009.
Fotherby, who in a previous role persuaded Howard Wilkinson to manage Leeds United in 1988, convinced him to take on the job at Wetherby Road.
The club was a long way from where it it today. Weaver's first day involved ringing up two players to convince them to stay with the club for the forthcoming season in National League North, both of whom ended up moving on.
As a result, the club recouped £2,000 for their exits and the man who soon became known as 'the gaffer' was left taking on players on trial to try and put a squad together.
I was back to the position of net-zero players. It was a bit of a baptism of fire at the time. I looked around at where we could train and we trained at the Ings in Wetherby.
I was looking at trialists, that was the position we were in. We got a bus load over from a lad I knew and used to play with from Sheffield. One of the players who stood out was Warren Burrell, who still plays with us.
His job in those early days also included getting water from Morrisons for training and buying new footballs.
It was basically starting right from the ground up. It was a tough reality back then.
Bill Fotherby, former chairman of Harrogate Town who gave Weaver the job.
Doncaster-born Weaver made almost 250 appearances as a defender in a career that started at Sheffield Wednesday and included lengthy stints at Nuneaton Borough and Lincoln City.
He started thinking about making the transition to management during his mid-twenties while playing in the lower leagues. He credits his brother Andrew with offering him sound advice.
Asked who he modelled his coaching style on, Weaver pointed to former managers Ron Atkinson, Keith Alexander, Kevin Fogg and David Pleat as inspirations.
He described former Sheffield Wednesday boss Pleat as an “encyclopaedia of football”, while fellow Owls' boss Atkinson had an “edge and a sense of humour”.
Fogg was among the main coaches he styled himself on. Weaver had Fogg as an under-16s coach and described him as “never being miserable”.
I’ve always had him in my mind. Even reflecting on it years later with other people in that team, we felt the best around at that age.
I loved playing for him. That’s what football is about, enjoyment and feeling good about what you can do for the team.
Simon Weaver pictured in 2017. Picture: Harrogate Town.
Weaver also took inspiration from Alexander, who was his manager at Lincoln City when he signed in 2002. Alexander knew the dynamics of a team and demanded that his players were willing and able to play for him, he said.
Those two characteristics, that the players enjoy themselves but are willing to play, are what Weaver asks of his side to this day.
The longer I’ve been in it, the less willing I am to compromise. I’m willing to drill down and speak to players to try and understand exactly how they tick.
The way we want our teams to play at Harrogate Town, you’ve got to be fit and mobile. You’ve got to be able to run around first and foremost. If you are unable to do that, either because you’re not really hungry enough or you’re not coming out with the stats, then that role in the team for you has a shelf life.
If you’ve got a centre forward who can’t run about, then he’s not going to be a starter for us.
The modern game
When Weaver took charge in 2009, Fabio Capello was still England manager, Pep Guardiola had yet to enter English football and Sir Alex Ferguson had just won his 11th Premier League title at Manchester United.
Football has changed significantly in that time. Weaver points to development in formations, the roles on the pitch and the fitness levels that players have to meet these days.
Strikers have more responsibility than just scoring goals and full backs are "too good on the ball" compared to Weaver's playing days.
Meanwhile, the standard in EFL League Two has gone “through the roof” since he played in the division some 20 years ago, he adds.
Then there is the growth and investment in youth academies.
The crop of players that Harrogate are in the transfer market for have come through the academy system in English football, which drills young footballers into the tactical necessities of the modern game.
Manager Simon Weaver looks on. Picture: Harrogate Town AFC.
Weaver points to Harrogate’s new signing, Stephen Duke-McKenna, who came to the club after spending his youth career at Queens Park Rangers, as an example of a young player who understands what is required of him.
They’ve been through youth systems where they’ve been coached from about five and they’ve been coached to really master their skills on the ball.
They’re tactically better than they used to be. They understand that wingers aren’t just hugging the touchline all the time, they’re coming inside and outnumbering the opposition in the middle of the park.
Despite the advances in statistics, formations and players being drilled to know their role on a pitch, Weaver still feels there should be room for flair players in football. But finding them a role isn't easy.
It’s getting hard to do that [have flair players] because it’s a game of athletes and you don’t want to get outnumbered in any position.
Tomorrow, the Stray Ferret speaks to Simon Weaver about the future and the forthcoming season.
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