Emley AFC manager Richard Tracey won’t hesitate in using multiple players from the club’s successful under 23s side if his first team squad is decimated in the coming weeks.
Non League managers are bracing themselves for two periods of disruptions in the next six weeks .
Clubs are likely to continue to lose players to self-isolation rules for the time being, and many fear large numbers of players will book holidays late in August.
The need for massive squads is clear and Tracey already has several contingency plans if player unavailability hits a high level.
“Myself and (Golcar United joint manager) Ash Connor, because we’re in the NCEL and they’re in the North West, are in a position where we could dual-register players if we needed to help each other out,” Tracey told Non League Yorkshire.
“We have spoken about that.
“You’d be hoping to tap into the managers you know in the Northern Premier to say ‘can I borrow a player today’?
“On top of that what we do have is a successful under 23s and that’s the right place to go and give opportunities (if there is widespread unavailability).
“We have had a lot of them training with us and six or seven of them have played in the friendlies. None of them have let themselves down either.
“Our own intention anyway was certainly to have a few involved week-in-week-out (with the first team) as it shows there is a pathway from the under 23s to the first team.
“Equally you could find that might become fours and fives.
“It is not just covid now. If the opening up of tourism happens and the fact there’s been more than 12 months of people not going away, you really blame someone for booking a week’s holiday here and there.
“It is a genuine chance for opportunities to naturally occur (for under 23s) because of covid and holidays.”
The under 23s have enjoyed a glorious first year with the outstanding achievement of winning the West Riding U23 Senior Cup Final after beating several established clubs.
Tracey has been very impressed.
“It has been very successful,” he said.
“To have gone and beat the likes of Farsley Celtic and i2i who have big set-ups in only their first year shows we have got a good crop of players.
“(Manager) Sam (Sutton) obviously recruited really well and we’re pleased with them.
“A few of them have had a taste of NCEL football last year.
“Jack Bennett played for Athersley, George Doyle played for Albion Sports so there’s a couple of lads who have got minutes at this level anyway.”
Tracey is preparing his Emley squad for the club’s first season in the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division.
Emley kick off their campaign with a trip to Winterton Rangers on July 31st.
The look of the squad is yet to be fully unveiled as Tracey is still speaking to several transfer targets.
Young Farsley Celtic goalkeeper Sam Kelly is one confirmed new signing.
“We’re still looking, but we’re not looking as such if we had everyone available,” Tracey said.
“That’s the difficulty.
“We’re not just looking at taking anyone.
“We only want to take someone who is better than what we have got.
“At the moment we have Tom Claisse who has had a second operation and is suspended for the first two games because of the sending-off at Hallam last season.
“We have Kyle Willis away with the RAF – he’s back at the end of the July.
“Alex Metcalfe has been injured and there’s three of your lads from the middle of the park.
“If you said to me now ‘what position are you looking for’? I’d say ‘central midfield’.
“But if all three are available we don’t need one so it is that difficult scenario that it is creating.”
Results have not been great so far in pre-season with one draw and four defeats – but Tracey admits the summer has been tricky for Emley, as it has been for most clubs.
“It has been a real slog is the best way to put it,” he said.
“We have played five games and in every training session I would say we have been missing six-plus from last season’s side just from injuries, isolations to unavailability through work.
“So I think it has been the most disjointed pre-season we have ever had.
“But talking to Ian Richards he said a similar thing earlier in the week so I don’t think we’re unique in that sense.
“We played Golcar on Saturday and they are very well-drilled and the players they have brought in like Daniel Naidole and Leon Henry are adding to what they have.
“We have lost two players through retirement in Aiden Savory and Gary Stevens who were both outstanding for us and replacing them is tough.
“When you can’t get to see people together you don’t really know where you’re at.
“Talking to Ash (Connor) at Golcar, it is him and Gav who have been in isolation, not the players so they have had a good run at (pre-season training) and I think it showed on Saturday.
“They were well-organised while we had a side with four new lads who were meeting each other for the first time.”
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.
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