Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League Premier Division
The razzmatazz of his trademark goal celebration touch-line sprints will be coming to Darren Hepworth’s Hepworth United but his old Emley AFC band won’t be getting back together.
The popular ex-long-serving Emley boss is back in the game after replacing John Eccles as Hepworth’s manager on Sunday.
Many probably expect many of the old Emley players who helped Hepworth turn the NCEL club into a powerhouse during his seven years at the Welfare Ground to roll up at Far Lane.
That’s not the intention for Hepworth, the manager, as he plans to develop the club’s existing players and tap into its deep youth infrastructure for fresh talent.
“Your question to me ‘are you going to fetch a load of players in and storm the league’, the answer is no,” Hepworth told Non League Yorkshire.
“We’re not going out and fetching the (Emley) dream team back together.
“Short-term it is about looking at what we have got and longer term it is more of the same and being better at bringing talent through the club.
“That’s my aim.
“We don’t pay players, there’s no budget here and I like that because the players who do play are there because they want to be.
“They’re putting their hand in to support the community and in return we can give them the best experience we can offer by being organised and deliver great coaching.
“If we can do those things, for me that is real success.
“I want to go in and work with the players they have got and not think too far ahead.
“What I’ve said to (captain) Ryan (Silvester) and (player/coach) Chris (Kaye) who will work with me that it is important we keep the continuity.
“It is not me going in and saying I need to change everything, I don’t need to do that.
“The club is doing really well and it is very much about going in and working out where the gaps are and helping to fill them.
“I’ll look from within the club first and if need be look further afield.
“But when I say further afield we will be sourcing locally.
“I won’t be going out to Sheffield or Barnsley or backend of Huddersfield, I don’t need to and it is not what it is about – it is about building from within.”
Hepworth spent years trying to lead Emley to the holy grail of promotion to the NCEL Premier Division but fell short in his by the narrowest of margins on two occasions.
The definition of success is different now for the new Hepworth boss and ultimately it is largely about youth development.
“They have got the infrastructure (with teams from under 9s to seniors) right and what they need to do is turn that conveyor belt on,” he said.
“I want to sit down with all the coaches within the club and talk about how we can do things better to support each other.
“They all work incredibly hard and they’re doing something right because it is successful.
“But getting the conveyor belt to the first team and beyond is ultimately what you want.
“The aim is improve on what we have and develop talent of all ages and genders.
“I’d love to see us get more involved and broaden that net.
“It is a community football club so for me it is about how we can inspire and how we can encourage and support right through the club.
“It is a good challenge for me is this because it is about more than going and getting promoted to the NPL, that’s not what it is.
“You have to be successful in the right way and it is not always about winning trophies and promotions.
“I don’t think the dream is to take them up to the Northern Counties.
“I think that is fair at this stage and realistic…because of the cost for a start.”
Hepworth resigned from Emley in May 2017 and apart from brief stints as manager of Huddersfield YMCA (2017) and interim assistant manager to Marlon Adams at Emley in 2019, he has been out of the game.
He began to get a taste back for Non League and grassroots football this season as a ‘season ticket holder’ at Huddersfield and District League side Shepley with his close associate and dog Hamish.
Then in the last week the club came from his name-sake club Hepworth.
“Especially after Emley I needed some time out and I probably went into the YMCA job too quickly,” he said.
“I took some time away to recharge my batteries.
“You find different things in your life but you never lose the interest and I’ve always kept an eye on who has been doing what and players and managers.
“This season I started to go to more games locally and really enjoyed it.
“I enjoyed getting up on a Saturday and turning them into football days again.
“You start to get a bit more hunger and this came along and it ticked a lot of boxes and I thought ‘why not’.
“It feels like the right thing at the right time.
“I know one of the guys on the committee, Rob Wilks, as I went to school with him…obviously a long time ago.
“He rang me to sort of say ‘we have a few things going on here and the club is looking build on what it has got and would you be interested in coming and having a chat’?
“I said ‘why not’, because you can’t lose anything by having a chat.
“I turned up and I met with Rob, (first team captain) Ryan Silvester along with Ken (Mettrick) and Jonathan who do a lot of hard work behind the scenes.
“They prepared a presentation and it was almost like being in the office and they took me through the background and history of the club which I knew a little about as I live ten or 15 minutes away.
“The fact they had taken the trouble to take me through all that was nice.
“They showed me round and it felt really professional and you could the see passion and the fact they are very community-focussed.
“I was really impressed as they have under 9s all the way up to seniors, girls teams and women’s teams.
“It works for me because it is not like Emley where it was 24/7, 365 days.
“Don’t get me wrong there’s still work to do but it is not as intense as they don’t have the midweek games and I thought it works for me on a personal level and hopefully I can give them little bit of the experience I have had and help them along.”
From afar Hepworth has observed his new club and understands why their status as an established Premier Division side is an understated achievement.
“I have seen in previous seasons quite a few of the teams and we faced a few in my time at Emley in the Sheffield Cup,” he said.
“I’ll tell you what, I was always given a rude awakening by County Senior teams which shows the quality that is there.
“You have both things happening, you have players who are coming through and banging on the door and want to progress into the NCEL and you have players who are dropping out of the NCEL or higher because they don’t want to travel.
“That makes it doubly competitive and that’s what makes it even more impressive how well Hepworth have done to be in the Premier Division.
“I think they punch above their weight if I’m honest.
“They are a local village team and they’re in the County Senior Premier and you argue they are above where they should be in terms of success.”
The announcement of Hepworth’s appointment broke the internet on Tuesday and Hepworth says he was taken aback by the response.
“The reaction I’ve had on social media has been very humbling and it reminds me how important football is in people’s lives,” he said.
“You make so many friends over the years and you get to meet so many great people and I’ve had so many nice comments.
“I have been overwhelmed and it has reinforced why I want to do this and why I should do it.”
Hepworth have given their new manager something no other club can – a hat with his name on and he’ll be wearing it for the first time on Saturday when they visit High Green Villa.
He’s also ready if they score.
“I have been doing quite a bit of running and at my age I need to to reduce the timber off,” he said.
“I have my boots ready, and they’re ready to do some sprints down the touchline and hopefully they’ll start at High Green on Saturday if we can have a good start!”