Ossett United have a fresh start, says Benn

The enforced break has given Ossett United the chance of a new lease of life and an opportunity to start planning a bright future after a difficult 12 months.  

That’s the verdict of Wayne Benn as he plots his first full season in charge of Ingfielders.

Ossett struggled in the NPL Division One North and also battled well-publicised financial problems.

Now Benn hopes the club can move on with a positive outlook when restrictions are lifted.

“The potential is what attracted myself and Chick to Ossett,” Benn told Non League Yorkshire.

“There wouldn’t have been many teams in the league above who we would have left Hemsworth for. You can see the potential because of the fanbase, the facilities and we knew going in during November it was a challenge for the rest of the season.

“The focus wasn’t on miracles and turning it around so we would be on the fringes of the play-offs, it was literally to stay up and build again. 

“But that’s not my make-up of how I do things. We wanted to introduce a better brand of football and be really good to watch. The determination from myself and (assistant manager) Chick (Andy Hayward) is that the type of season we had won’t happen again and once as the season closed down, we turned our focus.

“We got cracking on player recruitment straightaway and that isn’t easy as you’re trying to sell something to players and you have absolutely no idea when the season is going to start.

“But we wanted to get things in place very quickly. Fortunately we did that and we are now at a point where our recruitment is almost done and some clubs won’t have even started.

“The potential is there to go forward and it is our job to make sure we push it forward. We’re not going to sit here and set silly targets.”

He added: “There isn’t really a ceiling (as to where the club could go with the fanbase). If we get the club rocking and rolling on-the-pitch, it showed last season that the crowds can be five or six hundred on a regular basis. If you start to have success, it snowballs and who knows where it could go? 

“I wouldn’t get carried away talking about various leagues, but I don’t think there is a ceiling of how far Ossett can go. It is a club of huge potential. Realising that potential is doing to be difficult, but it is a challenge that we’re really up for.

“It could be a really big football club, but the current focus is on trying to improve. The club in general has had a really tough 12 months from the chairman, directors, down to the fans and players. There has been some well-documented financial blows to the club and for the fans the team didn’t perform as they would have hoped.

“I see it as a fresh start for everyone. We’re freshening up the squad with quality players in my opinion and we have already kept and retained seven quality players. Myself and Andy are really excited with the squad we have put together.”

Benn was the hugely successful manager of Hemsworth Miners Welfare for seven years until he opted to replace Andy Welsh last November.

He inherited a team battling at the bottom of the league with fellow strugglers Dunston and Pickering Town. Wins were at the premium and Benn admits his opening few months in the Ingfield were arduous.

“When we went in the mix at the bottom and had only won one (League) game so the focus was on trying to instil a little bit of organisation and confidence and slowly try and get some results to move away from the wrong end of the table,” he said.

“We knew from the beginning it wasn’t going to be easy. We also needed to cut costs and get them under control. There were no budget cuts, I need to make that clear, but the team was operating over the set budget. We got a few weeks grace to assess the squad, who we wanted to keep and who we maybe needed to move on. Everyone got an opportunity and we didn’t make any changes for the first three or four weeks.

“Players then began to move on which was unfortunate as they were all good players. We didn’t want to lose the likes Corey Gregory who went to Belper and Luke Porritt who went to Scarborough. Some of the decisions weren’t based on football because they had to be done because of the costs. That added to the problems so to speak.

“When you’re down at the wrong of the table at this stage of the year and you’re trying to bring players in, it is tough to attract them. We went into the loan market and we used some of the BTEC lads and they are acquitted themselves really well.

“We had a dream start against Prescot and that was a monkey off the back for the lads. We hoped that would be a catalyst to push on, but we joined right in the middle of a tough set of fixtures. I think we had four of the top six in our first six or seven games.

“We started to get going around New Year. We had a fantastic result against Brighouse and we beat Dunston who were in and around us in the league at the time.

“We felt we were turning the corner, but injuries and suspensions and lack of squad depth meant results didn’t go the right way.

“Slowly, but surely we moved away from the relegation place, but of course we would have wanted the turnaround to have come more quickly. I’m 100% convinced we would have stayed up and that was the target set by the guys behind the scenes.”

When the 2020/21 season will start is anyone’s guess? The NPL have taken decision to release registration forms without knowing a date for the commencement of the campaign. 

Although Benn has secured committals from a string of players, he is not setting a date for returning for pre-season training and he admits there are many challenges stopping Non League Football being allowed to start again.

“I know it is unlikely, but if we got told in the next couple of weeks that we would start on time, we would report back at the end of June,” he said.

“If there is a delay, we’ll be adjusting our start date for pre-season. The good thing with our lads is that they have all been given programs to crack on with and they are doing.

“We have put some pre-season friendlies in the diary for July, but they may have to be changed.

“I guess we’ll all waiting for some kind of start date from Government, FA or the NPL. If it is a September start we’ll report back in July sometime for pre-season.

“If it were September, they’d have to cram matches in literally Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday every week early on. March and April would also have to be busy and they may even have to extend into May.

“There is no drama for us at our level for playing in May. Maybe they do away with the League Cup for one season? There is also talk of problems with the FA Cup for clubs at our level because of how early it has to start.

“The brains at the FA are going to have to come up with a plan. 

“What’s clear is that we can’t come back behind closed doors, that’s not viable for Non League clubs. I don’t see why they can’t put a cap on supporters inside a ground?

“This could cause problems for National League clubs, but if you put a cap on a random figure of 500 people, that would see a majority of Non League clubs crack on with playing football. 

“If there needs to be social-distancing there would be. There would be thought needed to go into bar areas and the changing room. Maybe players would need to get changed in shifts? 

“I suppose we need the 2 metre rule to be reduced or completely removed. Then there is the over 70s and those who are classed vulnerable who can’t go out. A lot of clubs are run by people over 70 so that’s another problem going forward if the rules don’t change for them.”

If you have enjoyed this interview, please watch the video at the bottom of the page and consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page.

NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams so when the green light to return is given, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.

We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.

Like most organisations, we have been affected financially by the Coronavirus and we have incurred losses which we cannot recover. We have not been hit as badly as other organisations, but we do need raise £2000 to put us back at the level we were at in mid-March and enable us to make a difference once again to our players’ lives in the future, without having financial worries. As each day goes on, a substantial number of our players become further isolated so we need to be ‘ready for action’ when restrictions are lifted.

Any amount raised above £2000 will be put towards new projects (when the world returns to normal) designed to further benefit people with disabilities and learning difficulties. You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.

Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.