Chris Hilton invited Non League Yorkshire up to Bracken Moor for pre-season training to catch-up on life at Stocksbridge Park Steels ahead of the new Northern Premier League Division One East season.
The 2018/19 season was Chris Hilton’s annus horribilis of his long Stocksbridge Park Steels reign.
The rebuilding from the break-up of the successful class or 2017 – a side in which Fleetwood Town midfielder Harrison Biggins was the key man in – had not gone to plan and Steels found themselves embroiled in a relegation battle at Christmas.
Despite the stress Hilton guided them out of the darkness and into the sunshine in the nick of time and the nucleus of that side has blossomed into a “settled” squad two years on.
So rosy that despite the pandemic and a very long break from competitive football, Hilton has enjoyed a quiet summer recruitment campaign.
“I’ve not had to go out (looking),” Hilton, who has been in charge of the Steels since 2014, tells Non League Yorkshire at the club’s third training session of pre-season.
“We’ve not had to say ‘oh six have gone, we’ve got to replace them’.
“We’ve talked to a couple of the players to bolster us, but unfortunately we haven’t been able to sign them.
“But it has been easier (than most pre-seasons) because we haven’t had to rebuild. We’re fortunate we haven’t had had to do that and it (pre-season recruitment) hasn’t been 100mph like previous years.”
You can see from all the smiles and laughter around the training venue, Hilton’s players enjoy playing for the club.
Touching on his annus horribilis, he says: “You’ve known me a long time and you’ve known Non League long enough to know there’s always seasons where you have to rebuild and it can take time.
“Management is about winning games, but sometimes you have to go through the bad times to find out what you need and what makes you tick.
“It took us three quarters of a season. We were second bottom at Christmas (during the 2018/19 season) and we finished 12th once as we clicked.
“It (the rebuilding) did take longer than we thought it would do, but now we have a settled squad and hopefully we can hit the ground running straightaway.
“We have been tight-knit for a couple of years.
“I know performances weren’t good for the stop-start season last year, but so far we have managed to keep everyone and they’re a good group.
“It is a good dressing room.”
Key to the stability of the last two years include the likes of Jordan Lemon, Josh Nodder, Ross Goodwin, Michael Trench and Reece Fielding – plus stalwarts such as Liam McFadyen, Luke Mangham and Scott Ruthven.
Goodwin’s fundraising activities to raise money for the club last summer during the height of the first lockdown emphasises Hilton’s point about his squad being “tight-knit”.
One of the newer members to the group is an old face in deadly striker Joe Lumsden – another 2017 hero.
Lumsden returned last summer after tour of duties with Tadcaster Albion and then Pontefract Collieries, but his impact during the aborted 2020/21 season was minimal due to injury and Hilton agrees the pandemic has helped his striker.
“Oh massively,” he says.
“When we signed him we knew he needed an operation.
“So we knew when he had his operation we would lose him for at least eight weeks.
“He’s had the operation now. He’s had one-to-one physio and he’s ready to go.
“He’s one who has benefited from the break. He needed long-term rest and he got the long-term rest and people will see the benefits of it.”
Stocksbridge are hoping Lumsden will be firing on all cylinders come mid-August when the NPL Division One East kicks off.
Hilton, in particular, expects the NPL will be ready for all eventualities in-case of third season of trouble.
The Steels chief was heavily critical of the league’s wing and a prayer approach last year.
“I’ve seen that they have a plan b which they should have along with a plan c,” he says.
“They said they were working on it.
“It looks like they have learnt from it and said they cannot go another season without finishing it in some shape or form.
“What the plan b and c are I don’t know, but I have seen emails saying they have got plans in place.
“They didn’t handle things well last year. It was rubbish.
“I’ve said publicly to yourself that they could have handled it a lot better and they should have had a plan b knowing full well what happened to the (2019/20) season before.
“They didn’t plan, they didn’t communicate and I don’t think they supported the clubs either.
“Hopefully they have learnt from it and if anything happens this season they will be ready to support us.”
What pleases Hilton is the new-look Division One East.
Apart from the 2018/19 campaign, under Hilton, appointed in 2014, the Steels have always been marooned in the southern section and only had Sheffield FC and Frickley Athletic as derby fixtures.
“We are happy with the new league,” he said.
“The Southern Division (this year) would have added another 1000 miles onto our journeys.
“Now there’ll be more local games as obviously there’s Sheff Club, Ponte, Frickley, Brighouse and the club will benefit (financially) from home and away supporters.
“There’ll be more people going to away games as well which will better for the players.
“Previously we’ve always had to travel at least an hour and half to away games, sometimes two hours.
“This league will be much better for us.”
Throw in the likes of Worksop Town, Ossett United, Tadcaster Albion, Yorkshire Amateur, Liversedge and all the five Northern League giants as well and boy you have an exciting division. But we’ll save that conversation for another day.
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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