Garforth Town chairman Brian Close (left) with his manager Graham Nicholas
Chairman Brian Close is calling on Garforth Town supporters to turn out in their masses for the local derby at Tadcaster Albion tomorrow.
The derby with Toolstation NCEL Premier Division leaders Tadcaster is one of the most eagerly-anticipated games between the sides in recent memory.
Tadcaster, whose attendances have been growing each week are expected to have a large backing and Mr Close wants to see a large following from Garforth making the ten-mile trip.
“I hope we can take a lot of fans over there,” he said.
“We seem to have lost our mojo at the moment and hit a rut in October and a large band of travelling supporters can help us get out of it.
“There is a lot of interest in the game, more than I can remember for a normal league game and I hope we can do ourselves justice tomorrow.”
Mr Close does have a soft spot for Tadcaster having spent a lot of the 2012-13 season following Tadcaster.
Mr Close and a vast number of Garforth supporters spent that season in exile from Wheatley Park in protest at Simon Clifford’s ownership regime.
That campaign proved to be the final throes of Clifford’s reign and his departure was confirmed in June 2013 which paved the way for Mr Close and his volunteers to return and run the club on behalf of Rupert Lowe.
Mr Close added: “It will be good to see a lot of former Garforth players like David Brown, Liam Ormsby and Tom Morgan.
“I have a lot of time for Tadcaster because it’s where I spent a lot of my year off and I was always made welcome.
“It’s good to see people like (president and former chairman) Kevin Derry and others walking around with smiles on their faces because they have been through the bad times and got the club through them.
“I also have been pleased for Paul Marshall, who always has time for a chat, because he has also pulled the club through in the last few years.
“It has also been great seeing the ground improvements such as the pitch because people forget that it doesn’t just benefit Tadcaster, it benefits every visiting team.”