Mick O’Connell hopes the return of prodigal son Dan Thirkell encourages more quality players to sign for Harrogate Railway.
Thirkell, who came through the Railway junior ranks and later became club captain, returned recently after four years away. Railway have fallen on hard times since he left and O’Connell agrees that his decision to re-sign sent out a huge message.
“We’re in conversations with one or two who we are trying to get a financial package in place for,” O’Connell told Non League Yorkshire.
“We are desperate to get one or two in because we are so short because we have so many injuries. Two or three of them are long-term injuries.
“I think signing Dan Thirkell sends out a signal that Harrogate Railway is a serious club again.
“We’ve not had great results since he came through the door, but it is fantastic that we are attracting players like him.
“He’s one of the best centre-midfielders in the Counties, including the Premier Division. He’s come back and bought into the project and wants to help us get to where we want to be.
“He’s only just come through the door and clubs are already putting seven days in for him, but he’s reassured that he’s here for the long haul.
“Of course him signing will help us attract players and results do that as well. Once we get back on track that’ll help us attract players too. If I’m truthful if I can get one or two more players I’ll be more than happy with the squad.”
Whilst Thirkell’s homecoming hasn’t gone to plan with two seven goal defeats and a late draw at Swallownest last Saturday, Railway have made a solid start to the Toolstation NCEL Division One campaign.
This is despite the likes of Adam Shaw, Chris Smith, Louis Hoare, Lewis Thornton and Ally Wilson among the lengthy list of those struggling with injuries.
“We showed great character to get back into the game (at Swallownest) and get a draw after two bad results so hopefully that will give us a platform to step forward again,” he said.
“There’s one thing you can’t knock this group of lads for – the willingness to fight for 95 minutes. Albeit the Rossington and Campion games where we didn’t.
“I’m surprised we got this far up the road with the amount of injuries we’ve had. It was inevitable that we would hit a bump in the road at some point. We haven’t had a consistent go at it on the pitch as there’s been swapping and changing. We’ve got two school teachers in the squad who have had to self-isolate.
“We have to be happy with where we are and we still have some strong players to come back. Apart from the Campion game we haven’t been dominated in a game. Rossington put seven past us and the score-line was horrific, but we matched them and you wouldn’t have said they were better than us. The sending off (of Carl Robinson) killed the game.”
Young Kieran Greenway was the hero at Swallownest with his two last gasp goals in a game which Railway were losing 2-0 in the 86th minute.
Greenway, along with Joe Crosby and others have been the stars (and young) faces of the positive start and O’Connell is gushing with praise for them.
“We have a really good group of players and they’re starting to attract attention, not only from the league above, but the league above that,” he said.
“There is people coming and sniffing about them. They’ve said they are going to stick with us this year to get the experience. They’re only babies, but they’ve been brilliant for us.
“If they moved now at this stage of the season they’d have to accept being squad players and wait for someone to get injured to take their place. With us, let’s not make any bones about it, they are our main players. If I’m truthful they are too good for us.”
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.
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.