Beaston is “great signing” for Garforth

Toolstation NCEL Premier Division

James Beaston and Garforth Town could be a marriage made in heaven, according to Rob Hunter.

Beaston has agreed to become Hunter’s first signing as the new Miners boss and was one of the players who turned out for the first pre-season training session at the J.S White Community Stadium yesterday.

Locally-based Beaston, whose best mate is former Garforth striker Adam Priestley, can play in defence and in midfield and has previously played for Hunter at Glasshoughton Welfare. He spent the majority of last season at relegated Nostell Miners Welfare and was a stand-out performer in a struggling side.

“It is a great signing,” Hunter told Non League Yorkshire, “he played for me at Glasshoughton and he’s an honest lad and someone who you can rely on because he never lets you down.

“He can also play in several positions and is a physical player. He’s also a leader. I had a target list of six or seven players that I really wanted at the club and he was one of those.

“The thing with James was that he wanted to come, he didn’t need any persuading whatsoever. Once as the season finished, he was asking what was happening and he couldn’t wait to come.

“If James finds a club that fits, it is phenomenal for him and that club because he is so loyal.”

The capture of Beaston is first piece of the jigsaw in Hunter’s mission to rebuild Garforth’s team which started with his surprise elevation to the top job in mid-May. He had spent the latter part of last season as Adrian Costello’s assistant, an arrangement that was set to continue.

Then Costello, who steered Garforth through the most turbulent period in the club’s history since the dying embers of Simon Clifford’s ownership, suddenly resigned to take up a position with the Football Association.

The former Tadcaster Albion, Knaresborough, Harrogate Town and Harrogate Railway assistant boss was more-or-less handed the job straightaway, an opportunity he did not hesitate accepting, at a club he sees as having huge “potential”.

“The NCEL is a good league, I’ve been in and around it for a lot of years,” he said.

“Garforth is a big club in this league. They have fallen over the last three or four years and the two owners have done fantastically well to turn it around and make it stable club again.

“I have great respect for Brian (Close) and Craig (Bannister) and I think to come here and work alongside them is a real privilege. The fans and the local area deserve the club to be in the Evo Stik and I think the NCEL Premier Division is a better league for having Garforth in it.

“I think we can do reasonably well (this year) and I think we are three years away from getting into the Evo Stik. The foundations that Brian and Craig are building are fantastic for the club.

“It is a great club. I’ve been the assistant manager at Harrogate Town and worked alongside Dave Fell when we won the league (NCEL Division One) at Harrogate Railway and I’ve been at Glasshoughton and Taddy.

“Garforth is up there (with those opportunities) because it is such a focal point of an area and it is a big club with potential to go further than it has been before.

“I didn’t expect to get the job. I fully expected to help Adie out this year and when Adie told me he was having to leave, it never entered my mind that I would be in charge.

“He put my name forward and suggested I should be running the club. I had a conversation with Craig a few hours after Adie resigned and it was basically: ‘do you want the job’? It was ‘yeah I do’, that was it and we got on with the job.”

Around 40 players trained under the watchful eye of Hunter and his assistants Andy Sunley and Mark Greaves. Hunter and Sunley took control of half the group, with Greaves overseeing the other – which included a large number of trialists.

More trialists and potential signings are due to attend training on Tuesday, four days before the first friendly, at Eccleshill United. There are seven more friendlies before they kick off the season with an FA Cup tie on August 6th and Hunter wants his squad in place before the end of July.

“I thought it was a fantastic turnout,” he said.

“There’s another seven players coming on Tuesday and another two on Thursday so we are going to be in the realms of 40 players coming down in pre-season and fighting out for a place in a 19 man squad.

“I was exceptionally pleased with the quality of the people that were down. There were a couple of surprises. There were people who were coming who I didn’t know an awful lot about, but knew they had played at a good standard.

“They turned up with great enthusiasm and quality and have committed to us very quickly.

“I think the important thing is to get through the Eccleshill game with 20-odd players. We then have two more training sessions before we go to Huntington and after a couple more training sessions, we’ll start to get a feel for what the squad is going to be.

“I would think by the time we play Farsley Celtic on the 25th July, I’ll have my squad in place by that point. I’m fairly confident we’ll have a very competitive side.”