Town’s Wild old time under Dave
SINCE taking the reins at Stockport Town Dave Wild has overseen a huge improvement in a side which, before his arrival, was failing to live up to last season’s fourth place finish.
Languishing in mid-table was not what was expected after last year’s play-off heartbreak but as 2016 drew to a close the Lions found themselves without a manager and struggling to find consistency in the North West Counties First Division.
Calum Sykes, their former manager, had guided Town to the cusp of promotion the previous year but just before Christmas he left to join New Mills in the division above, hoping he could be the man to save the Derbyshire club from consecutive relegations.
When he left he took a large number of players with him in order to bolster the Millers’ squad for their survival battle.
The departure of Sykes and that of many first team players saw Stockport forced to field an inexperienced side over the Christmas period.
On Boxing Day they lost 2-0 to Cheadle Town, a respectable performance given the circumstances, but on New Year’s Eve they were thumped 10-0 at home to high-flying City of Liverpool FC.
It was clear that whoever took up the vacant role would have a huge task ahead of him to rebuild the squad and restore confidence at the club.
Wild seems to have succeeded in doing both.
“It was great for me because I was in a win-win situation. If we lost the next game 8-0 I’ve improved. Luckily we drew. I took three lads with me to Oswestry and they added a bit of steel to the squad and we’ve built from there,” explained the 29 year-old.
Given the dearth of experience in the squad that Wild inherited his first task was to seek reinforcements, something which he found to be a stressful process.
“The hardest thing for ●●Dave Wild me was the recruitment side of things. When I came it was slap, bang in the middle of the season and some of the lads I wanted were already at clubs.
“There was a big turnaround of players in the first month but now we’ve settled down.
‘I brought in lads with a more professional mind-set towards where the club is aiming and towards where I’m aiming to take the club. Between 18 months and three years we’ll be where we want to be as a club with those players,” he said.
Warren Gaskin was one of the players who departed for New Mills and, having lost their captain, it was important that the Lions brought in somebody who could fill that void. According to Wild, Adam Stubbs has proved to be a more than capable replacement.
“He was playing Sunday league football, he’s never played semi-pro before. He’s been absolutely colossal. He’s aggressive in the air, always on the front foot and perfect for what we want to achieve.”
After a goalless draw at Oswestry in his opening game Wild’s steadying influence saw Town draw against Bacup – a game he says they should have won – and then earn another point away at Charnock Richard.
His first victory came the following week at home to Silsden and Wild’s record currently stands at an impressive 17 points from his opening ten games which included a nine-match unbeaten run that was ended in a 2-0 defeat against St Helens last Thursday.
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