Finding an experienced older head is top of FC Humber United manager Mark Maspero’s wish-list.
Maspero is leading the club’s first season under their rebranded name and he has plenty of players on the books ahead of the big Toolstation NCEL Division One kick-off on July 31st.
That is a massive difference from Boxing Day last year when he had put a side together inside four days for the trip to Winterton Rangers – his only competitive game in charge so far.
Humber’s first pre-season ended in the 7-3 defeat to landlords Selby Town, but Maspero is happy with his squad and is aware of what he needs.
“We’re not panicking after the Selby game,” Maspero told Non League Yorkshire.
“We’re going to see how the next few games go, but I do think we need somebody who has played a couple of hundred games at this level.
“Someone who is 30+ and knowledgable about this league and who can organise and give us experience.
“But we’re made huge strides since Boxing Day and I would definitely say we have moved on another level in player-wise.
“We think we have got players with the right mentality and who are going to see out the year with us.
“We had loads of interests so we started off in the pre-pre-season when we were let out of lockdown (in April) and we had 40-plus bodies through the door.
“We whittled them down to 25 to 30 now and we’re using the pre-season games to get down to the settled squad.
“We’ve had no problems (recruiting) because even though we haven’t got a huge budget, we’re offering that stepping stone for players with potential to put themselves in the shop window.
“If people think they’re good enough to play at this level we’re more than happy for them to come through the door so we can have a look at them in a couple of games.
“We’ve got one-or-two who we think could go two-or-three steps higher.
“We have a couple of old ex-academy players and a couple who have played at a good level and they want a year or two with us in men’s football so they can put themselves in the shop window.”
Former Armthorpe Welfare goalkeeper Aiden Smith has joined Humber, as has ex-Goole United and Stockport County youngster Syzmon Czubik.
Kev Simpson is the club’s captain, while former Selby striker Louis Blackwell is back on the NCEL circuit.
Blackwell scored a hat-trick in the 8-1 win at Hessle Rangers.
Assessing the two friendly games, Maspero said: “The two games were chalk and cheese, both of them.
“Obviously we have got a young team and a lot of them haven’t played at this level before.
“We have picked them up from either Step 7 and 8.
“In the first game there was definitely a shock factor such as playing in front of a biggish crowd and the speed and strength of Selby.
“We adjusted to it better in the second half, but we aren’t going to face teams like Selby every week.
“In the second game (against Hessle), it was more about getting minutes in the legs.
“That was exercise achieved.”
Despite the heavy defeat to Selby, Humber are beholden to the Robins as they have allowed them to ground-share this year.
The club left Dene Park last October and finished the aborted campaign at Goole AFC.
But options were limited for this season until Selby said yes.
“We owe them massively,” he said.
“The chairman (Richard Smales) must have spent three or four months solidly looking for somewhere in Hull.
“We wanted to be in Hull, but facility-wise we couldn’t find anywhere willing to accommodate us.
“Selby was a last resort.
“I can’t remember the date of the deadline, but it was the day before that it was finally agreed with Selby.
“If they had said no we would have probably had to drop out of the league.”
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.
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.
