Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Former Barnsley striker Nathan Jarman ranks his first season as Barton Town manager as a successful one.
Jarman’s debut campaign in management began in disastrous fashion but has evolved into a memorable one due to a 17-game unbeaten run and a trip to the FA Vase third round.
Jarman – whose side make the journey from just over the Lincolnshire border into Yorkshire on Saturday to visit Emley AFC – is a happy man with men sitting with a realistic shot at finishing in the top five.
“We have done really well,” Jarman Non League Yorkshire.
“I don’t want to toot our own horns for me, (Danny North) Northy and Tom (Nicholson) as backroom staff but we have had the longest unbeaten run the club has had (since the 23-game unbeaten run under Dave Anderson in 2014).
“We’ve been further in the FA Vase than ever before.
“We have the highest attendance they have ever had so we know things are on the up.
“I just want to keep that trajectory going and keep us on an upward path.
“It has been a good start and a good grounding for me but I’m never satisfied.
“We lost to Mansfield last week and I was absolutely raging with them and that was our first defeat in 17 games.”
The outlook is much brighter than it was after five league games as Barton had drawn two and lost three – including the infamous 3-2 defeat to nine-man Goole AFC, a game that Jarman will remember forever.
For a rookie boss it was a huge test of character and he felt the support from the club was unwavering in those difficult opening few weeks of the season.
“I didn’t initially meet the chairman (when taking the job), I met Pete Mitchell who is the club secretary and director of football and Ian Durnian who is also the director of football,” he said.
“They said to me that they had a three-year plan and they said ‘we know for this first year you’ll have objectives but for the first season get your feet under the table and find out what it is all about and we’ll see where we go’.
“I was quite relaxed and quite comfortable (after the bad start).
“I didn’t feel under pressure in those first few games apart from the pressure I put on myself but I knew we would have to shake things up to get results and thankfully that happened.
“We did have strange results and not so welcome results (at the beginning of the season).
“I remember speaking to people about the way we played and we were getting lots of compliments.
“We passed the ball well and moved it well and we had all this possession but we just couldn’t convert chances.
“After five games we were second bottom and I was thinking ‘here we go’.
“But we stuck to our guns and we brought in Tom Waudby from Bridlington and he has been brilliant on the right.
“I wouldn’t say he ignited us but he’s a winner who take chances and gives a brilliant outlook.
“He was massive for us when he came in as the tide changed and we picked up from that disastrous period.”
The long unbeaten run has cemented Barton’s position as top ten hopefuls.
But could the season be described as a “missed opportunity”?
A better start and converting some of those draws into wins and they would have been breathing down title favourites Grimsby Borough’s necks.
“Anyone can beat anyone on any given day.” he said.
“I know that sounds so much like a cliche but in this league it is true.
“When you say missed opportunity, we can look at it like that.
“We have drawn the most games in the league and if you can turn five or six of them into wins you’re looking at ten or 12 extra points.
“All of sudden you’re up there and thinking ‘we’ve got a chance’.
“Some of the games you mention…
“Goole at home when they had nine men.
“We didn’t do stats on it but it was probably something ridiculous like 80% possession.
“We just couldn’t break them down.
“We drew 2-2 with Athersley at home.
“We played Penistone away right at the start of their resurgence and we had the better of that game.
“We conceded one after a minute when we tried playing offside.
“We had the 1-1 draw with them at home a couple of weeks ago when they scored in the 97th minute – that’s two points dropped.
“We could have been right up there with Eccleshill in second place, Garforth in third.
“At the start of the season, the club said to me there was no defined objective but they were looking at being in the top half.
“I said to them that the top five or six was realistic and that’s still our aim.
“That’s where we want to finish and have a real good go next season.”
Seven or eight years ago he was regarded as one of the leading strikers in the National North.
Now he’s carving out a career in the dugout after taking the Barton job last May and it has been a good learning curve so far.
“I don’t want to sound naive but I didn’t realise how all-consuming it is,” he said.
“I have the coaching business and I have one-to-one coaching but I literally don’t think about anything else.
“As soon I get in on any given day I’ll be thinking about football whether it is training or the next game.
“When I say all-consuming, we have laminated set-pieces and I’ll do them.
“On the Friday I’m thinking about the game on the Saturday.
“After the game on a Saturday I’ll be waiting for the video of it to come through at half six on a Sunday morning.
“I didn’t realise how much time it would take but I’ve really enjoyed it.
“If it had been all roses from the start I would be thinking ‘I could do this forever’ but I realised how hard it was and how hard you have to work.
“I think that’s why I haven’t relented in letting us have days off.
“If there’s ever night where we haven’t got a game, we’re in training.
“I don’t want to take my foot off the gas.
“It is very unlikely we’ll finish second as we’d have to win every game but while ever there’s a possibility, we’ll keep striving for it.”