Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
New people in every department: Paul Foot, chairman Mark Gregory and assistant Andy Foster have all joined Barton in the last few weeks
Paul Foot and his assistant Andy Foster believe new-look Barton Town Old Boys will surprise a few people this season.
The pair have been in post for two weeks since the shock resignation of the long-serving Dave Anderson and his management team.
They are steadily rebuilding the team which was decimated by a mass exodus at end of last season and Foot is pleased with the progress made.
“We played North Ferriby last night and although we lost 2-0, it was a really promising performance,” Foot told Non League Yorkshire.
“The club has lost a lot of players and only four remain from last season, but based on what we seen from the players who have come in, I think Barton has a good future.
“We have ten or eleven signed on, but we have had 24 players involved. Then there’s six or seven players who are on holiday.
“It has been difficult because we have taken over halfway through pre-season which means we have to be patient. We also said this to the players last night, that they needed to patient with each other as well.”
He added: “The expectations from the club are not to go down, but we’re looking at mid-table and making sure we re-group.”
Foot is well known locally from his playing days as he was the captain of North Ferriby for a number of years.
More recently he was the joint manager of Scarborough Athletic with Bryan Hughes. That partnership ended last December.
Foot had been looking for another opportunity in the dugout, until Barton came along.
“I played for Hull United after leaving Scarborough and I was going to sign for Mansfield this season,” Foot said.
“I wanted to get back into management after running Scarborough as joint manager with Bryan Hughes.
“I applied for a few jobs after Scarborough and I got pipped by one person on a couple of occasions.
“I learnt a lot at Scarborough such as who to trust and who not to trust and it has set me in good stead for the future.”
Barton are celebrating the 50th anniversary of England’s 1966 World Cup final victory on Sunday with a charity match.
Two teams will be recreating England’s clash with West Germany and will be wearing kits similar to the ones worn in 1966.
Kick off is 3pm, with the gates opening at 2pm. Admission will be £2 for adults and free to children.
The charities being supported are Macmillan Cancer Support and The Bobby Moore Fund (Cancer Research).
There will be children’s entertainment with perimeter bouncy castle, face painting and balloon modelling whilst the Barton Town Band (ensemble) shall be playing the national anthems and there will be a raffle to win the shirts worn by the players.
There will also be an auction involving a framed England shirt, signed by hat-trick hero Sir Geoff Hurst.
Food and refreshments will be served in the clubhouse, including German beers, wines and frankfurters.