Football League the aim for Albion

Ossett Albion are aiming far higher than ever before – and that’s the Football League.

It is not a pipe dream, that’s the firm aim of Albion’s ambitious new chairman John Chidlaw, whose first home game in charge of the club saw them beat Radcliffe FC.

Mr Chidlaw, originally from Shiregreen in Sheffield, but who now lives in Ossett, is the mouthpiece of the trio of new directors at Dimple Wells – the other two being his wife Emma and former Bradford City youth team player Lee Summerscales.

The trio are very successful businesspeople having grown a major UK cleaning business – Unita Maintain and FM247 – up from scratch.

Now they want to give “something back” by creating something special at the Evo Stik North club.

“We want Football League,” Mr Chidlaw boldly said in his interview with Non League Yorkshire.

“The ideal goal would be Football League as soon as possible, but if we can end up in the Vanarama in the next three or four years, we’d be happy with that.

“This season though the sole aim for our players and our manager is to just not get relegated.

“I think we have to be realistic. This season is all about building blocks.

“Next season, you might see a different Ossett Albion.

“Getting the team right is our first aim. Then we’ll start working on the infrastructure.”

The arrival of the trio caught many by surprise. However, that was because Mr Chidlaw and his colleagues were keen to avoid Albion getting dragged further into relegation trouble.

Due-diligence was done within a week and they have now joined Dominic Riordan and Simon Turfrey on the Albion board after being very impressed.

Their first major decision was to appoint former Huddersfield Town academy coach Dave Haley as the club’s new manager.

There has been a number of arrivals and exits since on the playing front. Now although the wage budget for the players is clearly going to be increased, Mr Chidlaw is keen to point out that he won’t be held to ransom by players wanting big pay cheques.

“We have told the club’s managers that we don’t want the feeding frenzy that Non League football can bring.

“I’m not interested in players who move around ten million times and move to another club for ten pound more.

“What we’re looking for are players who fit our style of play and who our manager wants.

“We want players who are going to add value to the team.”

Unita Maintain Ltd was described as “one of Sheffield’s most rapidly growing companies” last year and announcing that their turnover was set to reach £6 million.

They employed 442 then. Mr Chidlaw now puts that figure at nearly 1000.

Unita was incorporated in 2012 by Mr Childlaw and his wife Emma and turnover hit £81,000 in the first year.

In the second year, they started picking up major contracts for cleaning supermarket abattoirs – “jobs no-one else wants”, as the new Albion chairman puts it.

“The business is going very well,” he says.

“We look after all Morrisons’ abattoirs, we look after some of the biggest food manufacturers in the country.”

The success of the business encouraged Mr Chidlaw, his wife and Mr Summerscales to “put something back into the game”.

Earlier this year, the Unita Football Academy was launched at the impressive Warrenside Sports Complex in Huddersfield.

Unita, who first team boss Haley works for, will work alongside Albion. Mr Chidlaw says he will help Albion juniors by sending his coaches in to mentor the junior coaches and managers at Dimple Wells.

While explaining why he and his colleagues started the ambitious project, Mr Chidlaw explains how Unita will benefit young people.

“We are sick and tired of how professional clubs treat academy players,” he said.

“People think kids in academies are so privileged, but they’re not.

“The chances of that child coming through that academy system and ending up on a first team pitch are very slim.

“You ask anybody in an academy up to the age of 16, what do they want to be? Its always a footballer. There is never a plan b. There’s lads at 15 who know they want to be plumbers or electricians and they’re two years ahead in terms of working experience of other lads.

“What we did is set up the Unita Academy with professional coaches, professional facilities and professional help to give kids the very best opportunity once as they have had the chance (in an academy) and haven’t been successful, to do something else.

“Next year we have an apprenticeship scheme that we’re going to be rolling out.

“Everything we’re doing with the Unita Academy and Ossett Albion is to give something back.

“If you come into any football club expecting to earn money, you’re an idiot. We’re doing it for the love of the game and to try and break the mould.

“We’re trying to be different. A lot of Professional Football academies are set-up by ex-footballers who want to give themselves a wage after football.

“We have never taken a wage out of Unita and we never will. Because we are having to pay for venue hire for the next few months for our boys at Unita we have gone back backwards by £7000.

“You wouldn’t do that if you wanted to make money.”

Some may scoff at their hopes, but look at the rise of the cleaning business since 2012. If Albion enjoy a similar trajectory, they’ll be in the Football League in five years’ time.