Ossett Albion assistant manager Eric Gilchrist (left) believes his club are in great shape. Photo: John Hirst
Eric Gilchrist is well-qualified to give his verdict on the state of Ossett Albion and he has given the current leadership the thumbs-up.
The current Albion assistant boss was the manager of them for over a decade until 2011. He also spent the final two years of his long-reign as chairman and manager.
After a period away, he returned in 2014 to assist Richard Tracey when the club were struggling at the foot of the Evo Stik Division One North.
It has taken time, but Gilchrist believes Albion are heading in the right direction on and off-the-field under Tracey and chairman Dominic Riordan.
“The club has come on more than 100% in the last year,” Gilchrist told Non League Yorkshire.
“Dominic has done a great job and has brought a new mentality to the place.
“You can never take away what the people who have been here a long time like Stuart Garside and Neville Wigglesworth have done.
“The job they have done is tremendous over 30 years in taking the club to where it is now.
“You only have to look at the ground and the astroturf training facility.
“That didn’t happen with people didn’t care. It happened with people who had a lot of passion and care about what needed to happen.
“Unfortunately at our level of football it is no longer about football, it is a small business and you have to run it like that.
“You have to have sponsors and corporate things and Dom has brought that to the club and he has put us on a better financial footing.
“Dom has the right idea; can we build a club which finances itself with a training facility that we can rent out along with other things that we can rent out?”
Ossett have struggled in most Evo Stik Division One North seasons since 2008 and have had numerous reprieves from relegation.
Gilchrist was in his pomp in midway through the decade after creating a side that made even the top sides fearful of them.
As Albion prepare to kick off their new campaign at Witton Albion tomorrow, Gilchrist reckons Ossett are close to having a team that has the ability of emulating the side from yesteryear.
“We’d like to think this year that we’re capable of hitting the top ten,” Gilchrist added.
“What we have purposely tried to do this year is bring in players who bring a bit of organisation and experience to us.
“That’s why we have gone for people like Matt Dempsey and Danny South.
“We needed to get the spine of the team right. As well as pace, we now have the capacity to look across our bench and say ‘we’ve got something what can change a game for us”.
“We didn’t have that last year. With our starting line-up we were able to give everyone a game and not get beat heavily.
“Top ten is the target, but we’re not going to compete with the top six because our budget is probably considerably less than some of the teams in the NCEL.
“It is going to be difficult, but I don’t see the point of saying ‘we’ll finish 14th or 16th’ because that transmits to the players.
“When I was in charge, my philosophy was that you try and win every game and turn up for every game because that would take you to areas where you don’t expect.
“We finished sixth twice on the bounce and being brutally honest our budget wasn’t great then.
“We had a tight knit group who would run through brick walls and I’ve said to Rich that I think we’re pretty close to that again.”