New Pontefract Collieries manager Andy Monkhouse is deeply committed to developing young talent as he begins to build his empire at Beechnut Lane.
The former Rotherham United midfielder replaced the club’s greatest ever boss Craig Parry who left to take charge of Worksop Town with most of the playing squad in April.
Only Gavin Rothery and Fabian Bailey remain from last season and apart from those two and Mike Emery, Ben Gordon and ex-Farsley Celtic and Altrincham goal machine Damian Reeves, Monkhouse has recruited a youthful squad.
There’s many talented young players who have arrived such as Albert Ibrahimi and defenders Dom Claxton and Callum Walmsley.
Monkhouse has a clear playing philosophy for his Ponte side and a strict profile for potential players and he says he is really happy with his recruitment, especially considering the position he found himself in May.
“The lads who I am bringing in are all hungry lads who want to get better,” Monkhouse told Non League Yorkshire.
“That’s the type of players I want with a few experienced lads who are good people.
“Whilst I want to develop young players and give them the opportunity which I will, you still need your experienced players who have been around and know this level to help them.
“The experienced lads I have got are good people and they will help the young lads. I also want players who are confident on the ball and people who can get around a pitch.
“Hopefully we will gel well and we will do ok. There will be some iffy results along the way and it will take time (for us to gel).
“I didn’t have any players when I started. We couldn’t train and I couldn’t speak to anyone face-to-face. Everything was on email or phone call.
“It has also been difficult because I have had to really start from scratch. I must admit at times I did think ‘we haven’t got any players’ and we’ll be starting pre-season soon.
“But when pre-season came along I had 20-odd players. There was genuine concern at one point because a lot of players I had spoken to had said they weren’t making decisions because of the lockdown, work and because we didn’t know when the season would even start.
“It wouldn’t have happened last summer and every club was in the same boat (because of the lockdown).
“It has been difficult, but it has been good for me as I’ve been learning as we go along. Looking back now, to have had a longer settling in period than you would normally have has been a good thing.
“I’ve had more time to get players in and I am still looking for players, but looking at Saturday I can’t think of anyone who didn’t put a good performance in.”
Spectators were finally allowed back into Non League grounds on Saturday and Colls fans were able to watch Monkhouse’s new look side deservedly beat AFC Mansfield 1-0 following Dan Keane’s late goal.
They also witnessed Ponte’s new style of play which has the hallmarks of a potential successful brand of swashbuckling football.
“Hopefully the fans will have seen the type of football I want to play,” Monkhouse said.
“It is a little bit of everything, but I want to play attractive football by playing out from the back.
“But I’m not naive to say we’ll be doing that for 90 minutes everywhere we go. We’ll play the right the sort of football and if it means we have to go a little more direct, I’ve got players who can do that.
“If I want to play through the thirds I can do that. The lads know there may be times when we have to win ugly and I’d take that.”
Monkhouse was a left-field choice for the job as he beat off competition from a very experienced manager to win the post, despite having no previous managerial experience.
Prior to playing for Ossett United and Tadcaster Albion last season, Monkhouse played just 500 times in the Football League for Rotherham, Hartlepool United and Swindon Town before dropping into Non League Football in 2014.
Ponte fans can also take heart from chairman Trevor Waddington’s impressive 100% track record of successful manager appointments.
In the last 12 years, apart from Brendan Ormsby who did a decent job, but was appointed by Guy Nottingham, Mr Waddington seen his choices flourish in the role. Simon Houghton lifted Ponte out of the doldrums and installed the foundations which eventually led to Duncan Bray and Nick Handley taking the club into the NCEL Premier Division for the first time in nearly two decades in 2015.
The previous incumbent Parry suffered a relegation, but then led Ponte to two consecutive unprecedented promotions to take them into Northern Premier League where the Colls still find themselves today.
Rookie Monkhouse admits that he did not expect land a management job this year and he is thankful of the support he has received from Mr Waddington and the club’s hierarchy.
“When the season ended when I was at Tadcaster it was in the back of my mind that I wanted to finish playing,” he said.
“I didn’t honestly think I’d get a chance like this so soon, but it is one I am really excited about.
“Trevor and the club have been brilliant in difficult circumstances
“He’s basically said ‘go and get the players you want’ and I’m hopefully creating a good environment and a winning one with a clear philosophy that my players are buying into.
“I know the club has been really successful, but I’m under no pressure from above. No-one is saying ‘we need to be top of the league’ or we need to be near the top by Christmas.
“I’m only under the pressure I have put myself, my staff and my players under and we’ll see where we go.”
If you have enjoyed this match report, 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 so now as we slowly return to ‘action’, our work will play 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.
Like most organisations, we have been affected financially by the Coronavirus and we have incurred losses which we cannot recover. We have not been hit as badly as other organisations, but we do need raise £2000 to put us back at the level we were at in mid-March and enable us to make a difference once again to our players’ lives in the future, without having financial worries. Several of our players are suffering from effects of the lockdown and we are determined to be in the strongest position possible to provide services for them.
Any amount raised above £2000 will be put towards new projects (when the world returns to normal) designed to further benefit people with disabilities and learning difficulties. You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
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.