Mick O’Connell invited Non League Yorkshire up to Station View for pre-season training to catch-up on life at Harrogate Railway ahead of the new Toolstation Northern Counties East League Division One season.
Mick O’Connell believes Harrogate Railway are in the strongest position they have been in for several seasons at this stage of the year.
O’Connell, appointed in early 2020, has brought stability finally back to Railway after five years of toil and constant relegation battles.
Arguably for the first time since 2014 when the great Billy Miller ruled the roost at Station View, Railway head into a new campaign with the majority of the squad which finished the previous one and O’Connell admits the lack of “continuity” has been a factor in some of the struggles.
“I would probably agree with you there (that it is Railway’s best summer since 2014 because of the continuity),” O’Connell told Non League Yorkshire.
“This time last year when we came in it was a complete rebuild.
“I think we only kept three of the squad we inherited and at the backend of last (the 2020/21) season we were really happy with the squad.
“One-or-two weren’t really getting game-time so they have gone and we have strengthened with two-or-three.
“The rest (of the squad) are players from last season.
“Continuity is a massive part of football because it brings togetherness and understanding of each other’s games.
“It is massively important for me.
“No continuity during the summer is probably one of the reasons why the club has struggled in recent years because you’re starting from scratch every year.
“It is impossible when you are in that situation because it takes six-to-eight months to bed a team together, to get ideas across and for lads to get to know each other.
“It is massive going into the season that we have continuity and we’re in a healthy position.”
One of the new signings is a throwback to the 2014 team – who went onto secure the club’s highest ever league finish – in wing wizard Rob Youhill.
He has been persuaded to come back after several years away at Knaresborough Town and Tadcaster Albion.
“Rob’s a massive signing for us on-and-off-the-pitch,” O’Connell said.
“I had a really positive conversation with Rob back in March-time maybe and I know he had fallen out of love for football over the past 18 months.
“He’s come down and he’s thrown himself in and bought into what we’re trying to do here.
“He’s professional in how he conducts himself on-and-off-the-pitch and he is a massive asset to us.”
Along with prodigal son Dan Thirkell, striker Steve Bromley and Mike Morris, Youhill is one of the elder statesmen of the Railway dressing room as O’Connell is continuing with his ‘youth revolution’.
O’Connell and assistant manager Josh Walsh have been very successful at tapping into local young talent from clubs such as Harrogate Town.
“Rob (Youhill) said after his first training session ‘wow there’s some talent in that group’,” he said.
“He couldn’t believe the age of some of them who are 16 and 17 because they play so much maturity.
“The young players we’re bringing in aren’t just young players off the street.
“They are players with good pedigrees who have been in academies and had proper coaching and can handle the ball.
“We are looking for specific type of players and for me they’re just hungry to progress to the next level.”
Two of the key young guns are striker Joe Crosby and midfielder Kieran Greenway who were both taking teams apart during the aborted 2020/21 campaign.
O’Connell is delighted to keep the pair and expects them to really kick on this season.
“The phone hasn’t stopped all summer for some of the younger lads,” he said.
“It is a huge year for some of them.
“Last year was their first proper year in men’s football, but it was stop-start.
“They only played 20-odd games so this year is a chance for them to get 40 games under their belts and put themselves in the shop window to go higher.
“Joe and Kieran have had a lot of offers this summer, some for ridiculous money.
“But they have nailed their colours to us and we’re delighted to have them.”
Railway’s first pre-season fixture is the home derby with Knaresborough Town on Saturday 10th July.
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.
Our work is playing 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.
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