Community, local and opportunities are the three buzzwords as Rob Hunter takes on his biggest challenge yet after becoming the new manager of Knaresborough Town.
Former Garforth Town and Glasshoughton Welfare manager Hunter has won the race to succeed the long-serving Paul Stansfield at the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division club after presenting an exciting vision for the future.
The theme of working together as a community to develop local talent and give them opportunities is at the heart of it.
“When I sat down and spoke to the Knaresborough committee, one of the most important things was making sure it wasn’t just about holding a football club up,” Hunter told Non League Yorkshire.
“It had to be a project and we had some really good discussions about how we are going to take the club forward and what the club means to the Knaresborough community.
“It wasn’t about becoming a football manager again, it was about leading a project.
“If it is going to be a community hub for football, it has to be a project that is not just about the first team.
“There has to be someone heading up the whole of the football section of the club.
“When you look at the first team and how they can progress going forward; if you’re going to have a club that is progressing, the first team is only one part of that.
“The reserve team’s performances haven’t been fantastically competitive in that West Yorkshire League Premier and it is important they are more competitive to ensure there is a closer gap between the first team and the second team.
“I also think the links with Knaresborough Celtic and their first team and junior section are really important.
“I’m meeting with the chairman and first team manager of Knaresborough Celtic this weekend to make sure we’re aligned and that we share the same ambitions for the Town.
“Knaresborough Town is a good club with nice facilities with good people and I’ve known the majority of people down there most of my life.
“So to become Knaresborough first team manager is something I’m proud of.
“But for me it is definitely about the bigger picture. It is about getting involved in the community and getting involved in junior sections and seeing players progress.
“I’d love to see players from the Knaresborough first team progress to a higher level.
“Let’s be truthful that on the back of pandemics, there isn’t going to be finances available to the majority of clubs at this level to consistently bring players in from afar for lots of money.
“So the best way for creating a pathway from junior football to senior football is for the first team manager to get involved in all aspects of the club.
“I would say it is my biggest job I’ve ever taken on because it is not just the first team, it is a football project.
“I’ve been involved at a few clubs and they have all tended to just have a first team.”
Hunter also see potential in his vision for attendances at Manse Lane to grow organically.
“It is a club that attracts good support as they probably average around 150 or 160 for most games,” he said.
“Some games attract 200 and the only way we can continue to do that is by having local footballers and having a good community feel around the club.
“The more links we have with local footballers and local clubs the better.
“In this day and age the lifeblood of clubs are supporters.
“When you have the ESL debacle and people saying it is all about the supporters; well at a club like Knaresborough Town and other NCEL teams, it is definitely about the supporters.
“It is about the community coming into the club.
“To create a one club feel and everyone pulling in the same direction is massively important.
“When we have a midweek game I want the reserves coming to watch and I want the (Knaresborough) Celtic players, committee and management to come along.
“I want the junior parents and players to watch the games and I’d love to create a community atmosphere within the club.
“It is not an easy thing to do so you can’t just say you’re going to do it, you have to make it happen.”
Locally-based Hunter has had a long career in the game which stretches back to the early 1980s as a young player during Alan Smith’s long reign in charge of Harrogate Town.
After retiring as a player he assisted Dave Fell during Harrogate Railway’s promotion to the NCEL Premier Division in 1999 before ploughing his own furrow managing Bardsey in the West Yorkshire League.
A successful stint assisting Paul Marshall at Tadcaster Albion followed before his spells with Glasshoughton and Garforth.
In between those two jobs he assisted Brian Davey at Knaresborough during the 2014/15 season and he now returns to the club when the opportunities for local footballers in the Harrogate and Knaresborough areas are at record levels.
“It is an exciting time (for players and clubs in the Harrogate and District area),” he said.
“Knaresborough Town have got a lot of progressing to do and I think they can definitely improve on where they now – on-and-off-the-pitch.
“Mick O’Connell is doing a great job at Harrogate Railway and it is great to see them progressing and seeing local people getting involved with their reserve team (with the appointment of Fraser Lancaster as the new reserve team manager).
“I think both Knaresborough Town and Harrogate Railway are looking to do things the right way.
“I applaud Railway for that and I’ll be doing the same at Knaresborough to ensure there is a pathway for local players into Step 5 of Non League Football.
“The facilities in the area are also fantastic.
“The Knaresborough Celtic facilities are second to none, they are outstanding and we’re very lucky to have the links so we can use the facilities in pre-season.
“The King James High School have a full size floodlit 3G pitch which we have the use of once a week so to have those sort of facilities available to us is incredible.
“If you look at the Harrogate and District area I think there’s four 3G pitches and I believe there’s more being built so it is quite exciting, especially with Harrogate Town’s success as well.”
Hunter will be joined in the Manse Lane dugout by assistant Simon Parkes – the former Railway star – and first team coach Colin Heath and he does not plan to make wholesale changes to the team.
“I don’t think there is any need to break up the team they had,” he said.
“There’s a couple of players I believe have already left.
“Significantly the captain Will Lenehan has moved to Manchester with his job.
“He’s no longer going to be available to us.
“I’m hoping I’m going to be able to keep the backbone of the side.
“There’s some very good players in the side and I’m still working hard to make sure we sign the best of that group.
“I do believe we do need to strengthen because of a couple of departures in the past 12 months and I’ll be definitely bringing in four or five new faces in.”
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. When we properly 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.
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