NPL Premier Division
Nathan Haslam says recruitment for Whitby Town is tougher than ever due to the surge of powerful North East clubs who have risen from the Northern League in recent years.
Back in 2017, because most clubs were reluctant to leave the Northern League and only Blyth Spartans, Darlington, Gateshead, South Shields and Spennymoor Town were above Step 5.
Restructuring has changed the landscape as promotion-winners have to go up and Consett, Dunston, Hebburn Town, Marske United, Morpeth Town, North Shields, Shildon and Stockton Town are now in the NPL set-up.
That’s means the clamour for players is extremely competitive for Whitby.
“It has been tough (on the recruitment front), you can’t put it any other way,” joint manager Haslam told Non League Yorkshire.
“The emergence of the Northern League clubs – Shildon, Stockton, Marske – clubs in close proximity – makes recruitment harder because there is a lot of money kicking around.
“We still class the Northern League as competition because there is money in that league and there’s good players in that league.
“What we have notoriously done at Whitby for a long time is mainly recruit from the North East.
“There’s now 13 North East teams playing at a good level and they are very competitive with healthy budgets.
“Previously Whitby were at a lot higher level than a lot of those teams so players would come and test themselves rather than focus on the money.
“What we’re finding is that everyone has caught up because of the restructuring.
“The levels don’t come into it anymore, the money does.
“Whitby is on the coast and geographically it does make it very hard for us.”
Haslam expects Step 3 to be flooded with North East clubs in the coming years.
“The Northern League in the old draconian mindset was that teams won the league, but never went up because of the travel,” he said.
“They got left behind.
“What we have found in the last five years, that’s changed because of the restructuring and everyone who wins the Northern League comes up.
“Invariably they do well in the next league and get promoted again.
“It happened with Spennymoor, it happened with Marske.
“Stockton and Shildon aren’t far behind and I’d expect them to go up soon.
“I think the Northern Premier, the league we’re in, over the next five years will be littered with North East clubs.
“That would be a credit to the North East clubs as it is a hotbed and there’s lots of good players around.”
Speaking of North East, wealthy South Shields are already the clear favourites to win the NPL Premier Division title.
Shields have gone full-time and Haslam agrees they are the team to beat.
“You would expect South Shields to run away with it,” he said.
“South Shields must have thought at the end of last season that they have failed again.
“Let’s be honest they were unlucky not to go up when it all got expunged.
“They must feel hard done by.
“They have brought Kevin Phillips in, obviously high profile.
“They’re spending money big-time this pre-season, there’s no doubt about it.
“On paper, if they don’t up, you have to look at it as a catastrophic failure.
“The way we look at it as little Whitby is that it is a challenge and they are a benchmark.
“We need to be more consistent.
“I truly believe that on any given day we’ll have a team who can beat anyone.”
Haslam and Lee Bullock have so far drafted in two new faces – Ossett United’s Aaron Haswell and Stockton Town striker Jonathan Franks.
Striker Jacob Hazel (sold to Darlington, Adam Gell, Jameel Ible and Jassem Sukar
Haslam says Whitby are content with their recruitment.
“I’ve had a couple of holidays, one in Majorca and one in Greece and I wasn’t off the phone on any days,” he said.
“It was constant football.
“We’re probably getting the benefits of that because we’re getting a couple over-the-line.
“We’re three weeks from pre-season but our business is pretty much done.
“We lost Haze who went to Darlington which was a good thing for me.
“It was not so good for Whitby as we lost his goals.
“It presented myself and Bully a new challenge and we needed to look at a different way of playing.
“We were well-aware last season that we didn’t have enough goals from other areas.
“That’s what we have concentrated on and put responsibilities on Brad Fewster who we know has goals in him.
“He’ll be one of our main men at the top end of the pitch.
“We’ll get everyone gelled in pre-season, but if we feel we’re missing something we’ve got funds there and probably two-or-three places to fill.”