NPL Division One East
Ian Richards hopes to take Stocksbridge Park Steels back to NPL Premier Division at some stage over the next three years.
That’s the level where Richards and his assistant Andy Ring helped Stocksbridge, then managed by Gary Marrow, reach as players in 2009.
Richards was part of that season’s squad which included his brother Duncan plus Brett Lovell, Carl Fothergill, Vill Powell, Jamie Vardy and Ring who scored the goal that secured promotion.
The Steels spent five years in the top flight of NPL football before relegation in 2014.
Richards agrees the aim of promotion is ambitious but it is a challenge that he’s relishing.
“It is a three-year plan and we want to be in Step 3 and established and stabilised in Step 3,” Richards told Non League Yorkshire.
“Promotion to the next level is an aim as is to win some silverware, whether that’s the Sheffield Senior or the League Cup.
“I want this club to experience winning silverware again.
“What is nice about this league is five teams have the chance to get promoted because of the play-offs.
“You look at the league and there’s two-or-three teams who are favourites to win it but then there’s eight or nine teams who think they have a chance of the play-offs.
“I hope these players think they have because I do.
“It would be a huge achievement (to get promoted) and it would run alongside (2009) or be (a) higher (achievement) than (2009).
“But I think we have a great group of players and I think they have great potential to get better and they think they can.
“That’s what we are going to try and do.
“It is a three-year plan and if we can (get promoted) early, great, but if we can’t (this year) I’m aiming to get this club into the next level in the next two seasons.”
Just over a week ago Richards brought the curtain down on 12 unprecedented years of success with hometown club Penistone Church to become the permanent successor to Chris Hilton.
Given he had taken them from EV2 Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League obscurity to the brink of the Northern Premier League, he was always going to have offers from other clubs.
Up to summer 2020, Richards had rejected three job offers – two in 2017 and one in 2019 – but the chance of a return to Bracken Moor was one opportunity too good to turn down.
“Three reasons really,” he said when asked “why now”?
“Look, I’m an ambitious person and I want to manage higher and (Stocksbridge) are a step four team.
“That is one reason.
“Secondly, I have a strong connection to Stocksbridge and so has Andy Ring and Pete Goldstraw.
“I started here as nine-year-old before I played professionally.
“I came back and had six seasons as a first team player.
“I know the chairman Graham (Furness) and the committee well and I know a lot of people who are still here from when I was here.
“Thirdly, I know that changing room has potential and quality and I’m looking forward to working with them whilst adding one-or-two along the way.
“I do think this group of players can be successful.”
Lee Thompson, who served as interim boss after Hilton’s resignation, said he felt the fallen manager had built a talented squad which was capable of doing well this season.
Four wins on the spin and three clean sheets prove that theory and Richards do not plan making wholesale changes.
“It is a strong squad and the last four results show that,” he said.
“I’ve said that I want to work with them and I’ve said that from day one.
“I believe that even more so.
“I’ve added Kurtis Turner and he’s been here before and he’s played under me before so he knows the club and he knows me.
“He’s a good addition.
“I just felt we needed one extra midfielder.
“You see Joe Lumsden returning and quality going forward with good honest players throughout the squad.
“There’ll be only minor changes.
“I don’t want anyone to leave and I’ve told them that individually and collectively.
“I’ve not put seven days in on anyone else, it was just Kurtis.”
The move to Stocksbridge was completed last Thursday during a whirlwind morning – less than 12 hours after Richards had led Penistone for the final time in the local derby with Athersley Rec.
The decision to leave was hard to make and Richards admits he has been overwhelmed by the messages he has received.
“You can say ifs, buts and maybes and in-season is never the right time but this job doesn’t come up much at Stocksbridge and it is an attractive job to me,” he said.
“I just felt at Penistone that although we still want to challenge at the top and do well that I had given 12 years of hard work, dedication and commitment with my brother (Duncan).
“We have given them unparalleled success, a long-lasting legacy that will never be replicated.
“We have memories and friendships forever and we leave the club in a much stronger place than we found it.
“I just felt it was the right time to go.
“I did have some sleepless nights and there was a lot of talking and thinking.
“I didn’t sleep much Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday, Friday night.
“I thought I’d sleep Saturday night but it was still playing in my mind but more about Stocksbridge and moving forward.
“I must admit that I’ve had so many positive and kind messages from past and present Penistone players to people I used to play alongside.
“The ones I liked the most were the ones from players who said ‘thank you for giving me my best years in football’ or ‘developed me so much as a player’.
“That’s why you do it.
“I wanted to reply to every message individually and I was still replying on Saturday night.
“I am tearful about it because it is a big part of my life which has gone.
“It was difficult (to leave Penistone) because of the emotional attachment but I’m now fully committed to Stocksbridge and I wish Penistone all the best for the future.”
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.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
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Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.