A man with a plan: Director of Football Bill Fotherby wants to bring success to Ossett Town
Interview by James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)
By own his admission, new Ossett Town director of football Bill Fotherby is a man in a hurry.
Now in his eighties and “feeling the best” he has “in years”, the former Leeds United and Harrogate Town chairman is plotting his latest conquest – helping Evo Stik Division One North Ossett deliver a successful future.
Known for his “contagious” enthusiasm, Fotherby was Leeds’ managing director when they won the First Division title in 1992. He then led Harrogate to unprecedented heights, with current Ossett manager John Reed, before selling his shares in 2011.
He was out of the game until two weeks ago when Ossett chairman James Rogers approached him with a view to joining the club.
Having felt “wanted” he accepted their offer and when sitting down to speak to Sports Performer on Saturday, Fotherby has just watched his new club lose 3-0 to play-offs Lancaster City.
Eighth-placed looks set to be Ossett’s final position in the table, but next season will be a different story if Fotherby gets his way.
“I’ll tell you what I plan,” he says with a glint in his eye.
“I make a joke and I often say, ‘I can’t wait, I’m in the departure lounge’.
“That’s a fact, I can’t wait. Next year has to be the promotion year.
“I’ve been looking for two weeks now with John Reed for what players we require to do it. If we’re very careful and get the type of player which is needed, it will make the difference.
“There are two managers Non-League football for my money and that’s John Reed, Mr Motivator, and the tactical genius Neil Aspin.
“John Reed needs somebody like me. I’m like a father and we both know what each other wants and we will have success, no question whatsoever.
“I’m looking forward to next season. We met this morning to discuss what we’re going to do, the changes we’re going to make.
“First priority is sponsorship and players.”
Bill Fotherby describes Ossett Town manager John Reed as ‘Mr Motivator’
Football has been Fotherby’s life since the late 1970s. His long stint at Leeds ended in 1997 and a brief spell in Rugby League with Hunslet Hawks followed before his arrival at Harrogate in 2000.
Whilst success ensures a legacy, his time at Harrogate was tainted by his long battle to find a new ground to take them to the next level – a issue he does have worry as much about at Ossett.
His desire to buy the Rugby Club’s Claro Road ended in 2009 and eventually he had to sell the club to Irving Weaver.
Bradford City, Darlington, Goole and FC Halifax Town have shown interest in him during the last three years, but Fotherby chose against joining all four and remained out of football until the ambition of Ossett enticed him to Ingfield.
A key reason was that Ossett own the ground and have an aim of moving to a purpose built ground in the next three to five years.
Their new home will hopefully cater for their senior, reserve academy, ladies and junior teams.
As the man who was instrumental in the building of the 17,000 capacity family stand at Elland Road, Fotherby was immediately interested when chairman Rogers and vice-chairman Lee Broadbent’s outlined their vision for Ossett
“I was very impressed when I came to see the ground as it is as a hell of lot of work has been put in here,” Fotherby said.
“The best thing about it is that made my decision to come was the chairman who is James Rogers and the vice-chairman Lee Broadbent and the enthusiasm they showed.
“They really wanted me to come because as they said, I have a lot of experience.
“They are big Leeds United fans so they knew me and they thought that with my experience it would be good for me to come and help them.
“During the conversation I found out that they own the ground. Now in Non-League I find it very unusual for clubs to own their own grounds.
“I was speaking with a director today and he said to me ‘oh Ossett Town, they have an asset there’.
“You can’t refuse to come and help. It’s right up my street. Everything that I wanted at Harrogate Town is here ready.
“I remember the early days (at Leeds) when I met Howard Wilkinson on the motorway in my car and I said to him after he had signed the contract, which was one of the important things in those days, ‘why did you decide to come to Leeds?’
“Three things he said: ‘potential, potential, potential’. That’s very true. The potential is enormous here. All they need is a bit of experience.”
On-the-pitch, Ossett are in the same division that Harrogate were in when Fotherby arrived at Wetherby Road in March 2000.
How does Ossett compare to the state of Harrogate in March 2000? There isn’t any “comparison”, Fotherby claims as he reflects on his reign at Wetherby Road.
“There’s no potential at Harrogate,” he adds.
“We got two promotions, did very well and could not do any better, but we couldn’t get the crowds.
“In the early days there we had tremendous success, but the financial crisis came and you have to run your club from the gate money and the sponsorship money.
“We had some of the sponsorship deals done in the early days, but that doesn’t go on forever.
“You can’t keep spending capital which is what I was doing and I had to stop.
“I let it go, I sold it. I couldn’t get the gates. They said to me ‘it’s not a football town’ when I first went there. When we had the success we got 400, 500 tops.
“I’m sad about how it ended there. After the 12 years I put in there, not a phone call or a thank you, nothing. I’ve never been since.
“I knew I had to let it go for financial reasons. As my son (Bernard) tells me, I did the right thing. Once they didn’t want my son (who was also the financial director), that was it.
“I’ve been in football all my life, I’ve been everything. I’ve marked pitches out, forked it, shifted snow off pitches, painted, had advertising boards. I’ve had titles and all I wanted to do was pass my experience on (at Harrogate) and they didn’t need that so I didn’t stay.
“Here (at Ossett Town), they want me. It’s nice to be wanted.”
His final statement is very true. Ossett want to create a successful future and if you look at Fotherby’s track record for success, there’s a lot so it is easy to see why they wanted him.