McClelland back at The Shay to help uncover some more hidden gems
IF GARETH McClelland finds half the number of gems he helped FC Halifax Town uncover in his previous spell at the club, then The Shaymen are onto a winner.
McClelland returned to Halifax last month as head of recruitment, five-and-a-half years since his first spell at the club came to an end.
During that first spell as chief scout under Neil Aspin, McClelland helped Town to sign Marc Roberts, Matty Pearson, Lois Maynard, James Bolton, Liam and Scott Hogan, and Dan Gardner, among others. Not a bad track record.
And now he is back at The Shay, tasked with working hand-in-glove with manager Pete Wild to identify and assess potential new targets.
“I’ve always been in contact with David (Bosomworth),” said McClelland. “He said when I joined Salford that ‘I’ll make sure I get you back one day’.
“I’vegotalotoftimeforDavid. “I said I’d left my position at Port Vale and he said he’d speak to Pete and see if there was an opportunity, but that it wouldn’t be his decision, it would be down to the manager. Pete then gave me a call and we had a really good conversation, and it went from there.”
Explaining how his role as head of recruitment, which will be part-time, will work, McClelland said: “It’s helping Pete and Milly (Chris Millington) identify players at all levels - non-league, where we’ve been successful previously, under-23 players - as well as doing opposition reports on teams we’re coming up against. You learn a lot about players doing those reports as well.
“The football industry very much instant now.
“I’ve had good experience at the likes of Salford and Port Vale, but it’s very instant and they want proven players, and it’s very difficult to give younger players an opportunity. is
“But I know Pete and Milly are big believers in giving young players an opportunity to play.
“It’s getting that fine balance about being competitive and giving young players that chance.
“But at the moment Pete’s got a really good blend of younger lads and experience in the team and that showed against Torquay.
“In recent weeks it’s been looking at players to bring in at the moment, which can be difficult because the Conference North has been all over the place so it’s difficult to get players from that level.
“But the most important recruitment is getting your own players in, in the summer.
“Myself and Pete are constantly speaking to one another and we have meetings every Friday to identify players who are doing well.
“We’ve got to look at who’s got two-year deals, who’s going to be with us next season and who Pete wants to get signed up for next year.
“But I think Pete’s got a really good team together. It’s just so difficult, him managing a football club and having to deal with recruitment, agents, watching under-23 games, watching opposition, so I’ve come in to help in whatever way I can.
“You’ve got to have a good relationship with the manager. It was Pete’s decision to bring me in.
“I feel I’ve developed my knowledge even more in the last few years.
“I’ve had four or five scouts working for me, so we’ve had all the different league covered and I’ve got a database of all the different players who’ve impressed.
“It’s just that knowledge of different levels to try and support Pete.
“Obviously we’ve got to be realistic with budgets and there’s other clubs, the likes of Stockport and Chesterfield, signing players for a lot of money. So we’ve got to be realistic with the targets. But I’m a big believer in giving young players an opportunity that have got that hunger and that love for the game.
“All the lads that have developed with us have had that hunger, the likes of Jamie Vardy still has that same hunger he showed at The Shay, the likes of Matty Pearson has the same hunger, the likes of Liam Hogan and Lee Gregory.
“It’s great seeing players do well, I saw Phil Foden when he was 11 playing a school football game. Look where he is, but he had the exact same love for the game.
“Sometimes players are more interested in the image of being a footballer, but if they’ve got that love for the game then it goes a long way.”
McClelland has a database featuring thousands of players he has watched over the years, and each is graded from A to D.
“D they’re not good enough, C I’m monitoring them, B I’m watching them very closely and then A is we must sign them straight away if we can,” he said.
“But there’s so many different variables to it - who have we got contracted, who can we afford.” McClelland says he will watch at least three or four games every week.
“I don’t like being in a situation where someone mentions a player and I don’t have any information on them, I like to know every player I’ve watched,” he said.
“Mondays is usually an under-23 game, Tuesday is National League, then Friday is under-23s as well, then Saturday National League.
“Then Sunday is your opposition report and sometimes Wednesday depending who I watched on Tuesday.
“Even though it’s a part-time role, it is pretty much full time.”
McClelland’s primary objective will be looking for players to help reshape the Town squad for next season.
“My main focus is the summer, looking at what players Pete wants to keep at the club and where we need to strengthen even more,” he said.
“Devante Rodney is the type of player we should be looking at having permanently.
“He’s stepped up to League Two and scored ten goals for Port Vale.
“The priority is to get our own players and that’s generally done throughout the summer.
“I’ve spoken to Pete about having open trials because there’s so many players who’ve missed out on football over the last 12 to 18 months and deserve that chance, so we’ll be doing what we did in the past because we got the likes of Josh Macdonald through that.
“I would like to try and find gems, it’s getting that fine balance of having experience in a very strong league. But I’m always looking for those lower league gems and there’s definitely ones out there, it’s just working hard and being the first one there.”