Hemsworth Miners Welfare joint manager Luke Danville claims there is “no pressure” going into the new Toolstation NCEL Premier Division season and the focus is on rebuilding.
The additional backstory to Hemsworth’s campaign is the departure of a large majority of last season’s squad. Danville and Luke Potter have had to bring numerous new players to Fitzwilliam, including quality in the likes of Jack Wilson, Tom Cadzow, Ben Walker and Brett Souter, to replace those who have left.
“The same as everyone else, (the aim is) to finish as high as we can,” Danville told Non League Yorkshire.
“There’s personal targets that has been set by the squad and the management and there’s targets the club want to achieve.
“To be fair to the club, that is literally to finish as high as we possibly can. There’s no pressure on promotion, there’s no pressure whatsoever.
“With the impact of the players from last year leaving, it is a case of ‘get us back up and running’.
“I’m sure as soon as our squad takes shape, everyone will make their own assessment as to where we are going to finish.
“As a manager I’m not to stick my neck out.”
Danville also warned that there will be “surprise packages” in the Division this year.
“I’d imagine everyone wants to win promotion, but realistically going forward there is your massive favourites and I’m sure everyone knows who there are,” he said.
“On paper that is because I’m sure, with no disrespect to them, no-one would have predicted Staveley would be where they were last season.
“I don’t think anyone would have tipped them to flatten the league like they did. There’s surprise packages every year. I would have said Staveley would have been challenging, but I wouldn’t have put them as far away as they were.
“It depends how well a team’s new signings click. A striker could have a worldie season and that can propel a team up the league.
“You also need to get off to a quick start in this league because if you have a slow start you fall away. With how strong the league is, it is a long way back if you lose points early doors.”
Hemsworth’s First Five Fixtures
September 19th – Armthorpe Welfare (H) – FA Vase
September 22nd – Staveley Miners Welfare (H)
September 26th – Knaresborough Town (H)
October 3rd – AFC Mansfield (A)
October 6th – Thackley (A)
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please 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. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
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. As we slowly return to ‘action’, 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.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
Like most organisations, we have been affected financially by the Coronavirus and because of the cancelled Lucille Rollinson Memorial Tournament, we are down on projected income for the year and we have incurred losses in the last few months.
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. Several of our players are suffering from effects of the lockdown and we are determined to be in the strongest position possible to provide services for them.
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.
