NPL Division One East
Tadcaster Albion interim manager Steve Waide cites the rise of young defender Kieran Burton as a example of the opportunities his club are willing to give young players.
Waide, the Tadcaster head honcho for the foreseeable future following Paul Quinn’s recent departure, has been really impressed with his performances despite being new to the tough league.
Burton signed for Tad in the summer after attending the open trials and Waide believes his success is great for the club’s image in the local community and in the Non League world.
“I remember sending out the google form for the open trials and I just left it for three or four days,” Waide told Non League Yorkshire.
“I went and checked and 75 people had applied and we ended up with 100 people coming.
“The reality of open trials is you’re going to have a mix of abilities come but the point was we were going after the hidden gems.
“A good example I would give is Kieran Burton.
“I’m pretty sure Kieran was at Knaresborough Reserves and he was also playing for Barnsley’s shadow scholars.
“We’d not heard of him and I doubt many people will have done.
“He came to the trials and in the second half against Worksop this week he was fantastic against a very talented front three.
“The aim was going after that hidden gem and maybe people who go under the radar.
“You know what it is like in Non League the same names seem to be touted around all the time and we didn’t want to do that.
“Having lost Ingy (Michael Ingham), in my opinion the best goalkeeper in the league, Milney (Andy Milne) retiring and Ioan (Evans) going to Stalybridge, we lost some big players so we had to find some new names.
“I think it is important for all clubs to show there is an opportunity for players in their local areas to either represent them or at least show what they can do.
“A few players who came weren’t quite there but we have helped them get moves to Northern Counties teams.
“They are now in the Non League system.
“I think it is important that we’ve tried to help people as best as we can.
“Players talk and if they say ‘I went there, it didn’t work out but they helped me find a club’, that reflects well on us as a club.”
Waide was Quinn’s assistant for the 20 months the former Brighouse Town title-winning manager was in the Tadcaster dugout.
In reality because of the pandemic he was never able to have a proper run in charge.
Waide believes where Quinn made the biggest difference was in the background.
“I was there when he came in and I suggested that Paul would be a good fit for what we wanted to do,” he said.
“It was more behind the scenes things than on-the-pitch where we wanted to improve – getting it as professional as we could within the resources available.
“We looked at backroom staff, training and the times of it and how it was delivered.
“We got strength and conditioning coaches in to give advice.
“In terms of the behind the scenes stuff and the professionalism of the club, that’s definitely the legacy he has left behind.”
Waide’s first game as interim boss saw Tadcaster draw 2-2 with promotion-chasing Worksop Town.
Waide has revised his opinion from what he said straight after but he felt his troops were full value for their point.
“In heat of the moment in my interview after the game I said we were disappointed not to take three points,” he said.
“Reflecting on the game after sleeping on it I would say a draw was a fair result.
“They were the better team by some way in the first half.
“They put a lot of balls into our box and we must have given away 16 corners – I’m not exaggerating.
“So we were put under a lot of pressure.
“In hindsight I was relieved to get in at 1-0 at half-time.
“We had a chat at half-time about playing in a style we know we’re good at and we were very good in the second half.
“There was a defensive lapse for their second goal but the performance was encouraging going into Saturday.
“When it went to 2-2 either side could have won it.
“They got in a few times and we had one where we got to the byline and Si Russell has hit a shot that was going in and it hit our own man on-the-line.
“You got the impression either side would win it as it was end-to-end for the last 20 minutes.”
Tadcaster are away at Shildon tomorrow.
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