Joint manager Ash Connor reckons North West Counties Division One North side Golcar United have an exciting future to look forward.
Connor and his brother Gavin are at the helm of the Huddersfield-based club and they have taken Golcar from the now-defunct West Riding County Amateur League to near the top of their league in North West Counties in a short space of time. Golcar were fifth during their debut NCW campaign when results were expunged.
The pair have signed Joe Skarz, the former Huddersfield Town defender, as player-coach and the former Ashton United goalkeeper Connor expects Golcar to be a force to be reckoned with when football is given the green-light to return.
“At the start of the season the club were happy to just stay in the league,” Connor told Non League Yorkshire.
“As the season went on, we thought ‘we have a chance here’. I think if the league had finished as planned we would have got into the top four and got promoted.
“I think we had ten games left and we had two games-in-hand and if we had won them I think we would have gone two points behind Shelley. We had to play Shelley in the final game of the season.
“We had made some great signings like Mike Fish, Alex Hallam, Jordan Townend and Reuben Noble-Lazarus who used to play for Barnsley. Danny Naidole had just dual-registered from Ramsbottom United as had Karl Jones. They both played one game for us against Ashton.
“The squad we were building for the run-in was strong and I personally think we would have got promoted. Looking towards next season we’re going to have a right good go at it.
“We’ve signed Joe Scarz who used to play for Huddersfield Town. He’s joined the coaching team and he’ll play as well. Everybody from last season is staying. We shouldn’t lose anyone.
“Last season was about finding our feet and seeing what the league was about. As the season went on there was nothing for us to fear. I look at teams like Brighouse Town and I think we could be similar to what they’re playing at now.
“I think the club and the facilities are not a million miles off either. We have gone a long way in a short space of time. The work at the club only started last February and that was to level the pitch, fence it and put a stand and bar in.
“We’re only a year into it and I’d like to see us pushing to where Brighouse Town is. Who knows? Once you get a bit of momentum, you never know where it may take you.”
Whilst Golcar’s first team have enjoyed success, off-the-field it is a success story too.
Golcar’s Longfield Avenue ground is unrecognisable from photos taken two years ago and Connor is proud of the game-changing work on the ground and he admits he has also been taken aback by the local community’s support for the club.
But he does concede that the forced move to Avro FC, 22 miles away in Oldham, because of major pitch problems – during the months of record-breaking rainfall – was a huge blow.
“We were appointed around four years ago and we won the WRCAL a couple of times and the Huddersfield & District Cup a couple of years running,” he said.
“Me and my brother take the team and we always had this ambition to get Golcar into semi-professional football. The way we have done is the perfect way. We have taken an amateur team into a semi-pro team and it is great.
“With the community buying into it and the team we have got, I think we will be challenging when we start back.
“I’ve got pictures from when we first started and it was a local park field then and the ground has changed beyond recognition. We have fenced it in. There’s a bar on site, a couple of stands and floodlights. It now looks like a Non League ground. The transformation over the last 14 months has been fantastic.
“We had meetings last summer and we had to think about budgets and running costs (for going into the NCW) and for the budget we put down that we would have 80 people coming to watch us. That’s the crowds we expected.
“The first game at home was against Prestwich and I think there were 386 people there so it took everyone by surprise.
“The buy-in from the local community was massive. We played Shelley on a Tuesday and we nearly had 600 there. I don’t think we could get many more people in because there’s only two sides at the moment.
“To have to move to Avro was a bit of a killer because we had the crowds and we were flying.
“We didn’t lose when we played at home. When we had to move to Avro results were ok, but off-the-field we couldn’t get the crowds and one game we had 40-odd watching. We had a great relationship with Avro and they let us play over there. They were great people.
“The problem was with the drainage. When we came into the league the pitch was on a slope so we had flatten it out. We did what was required, but there are areas which just won’t drain very well. It has been a nightmare.
“The break has done us good though and given us more time to work it on. I think it starts on the 4th May, but the club are spending a lot of money again as there is going to be new drainage work. Hopefully that will sort it out.
“The next stage in time is to get the ground to be four sides. We did just enough to get in the league and it is a case of doing things as we go along and making it a four-sided ground is one of them. There’s loads of plans and there’s a great committee who have bought into it and the community are buzzing about the club.”