THE FAMILY FIRM

Harrogate boss is son of owner. But he’ll get no favours

S I MON WEAVER c h e e r f u l l y admits that, despite being his league’s longest-serving boss, he is not even the most famous manager in his own town.

When it comes to well- heeled Harrogate, that distinction belongs to its most famous resident, Gareth Southgate.

The 41-year-old Weaver in charge of Harrogate Town is, however, steadily gaining more visibility in this corner of Yorkshire redolent of tea shops and old money.

Sitting seventh in the National League and at their all-time high in the pyramid, they take another leap tomorrow night when entertaining 2008 Cup winners Portsmouth in the first round.

The relative giants from the south coast will find themselves up against not just a football team, but something akin to a family firm.

For Harrogate operate under the highly unusual set-up of the club being owned by the father of the manager. Weaver is not so naive to ignore that some people may connect his 10-year tenure to the identity of the club’s main benefactor.

At the same time he points out that he was appointed before his father Irving — whose Strata Homes business has seen him feature several times on the Sunday Times rich list — got involved.

Weaver explains how he got the job at 31, when the club was run by the late Bill Fotherby, managing director at Leeds during their glory years of the early Nineties.

‘Bill appointed me when I had no managerial experience,’ s ays Weaver. ‘Our football budget was £1,600 per week and we were struggling financially. Bill said we would have to drop down two divisions to stabilise the club, and he asked if I might approach my father, who he knew was in business.

‘He had backed my brother when he went into business and this was a case of him backing his other son. Both my parents were big Sheffield Wednesday fans. We knew there would be certain perceptions, which is still the case 10 years on. Fortunately it has worked, and things here have got better and better.’

There was certainly nothing of the silver spoon about Weaver Jnr’s playing career, which was spent as a well-travelled and notably uncompromising defender around the lower and non-League divisions.

‘It’s not as if we have been smashing it financially, paying out for lots of players from higher leagues. Most have come from the Conference North and have improved themselves,’ he says.

‘What I’m not interested in doing is building up a massive wage bill and deficit. The fact that my father owns it is a massive driver for me to prove myself. I haven’t had anything given to me, I was a player, I’ve done my A coaching licence. It is what drives me every day to excel and help others do the same.

‘I am ambitious. It would be perfect if we could move forward here and do something similar to what Burton Albion have done.’

Has he ever wondered what might happen if it came to a situation when father (Irving, above, with Simon) felt he might have to dispense with son?

‘I think we would bow out together, we win and lose together. We would have to be mature enough to say it’s not working, but it has been working and everyone here has embraced the family feel of the club.’

Portsmouth can indeed expect a warm welcome off the pitch, if not on it. ‘ My teams are known for their hard work and fast-moving football. I was brought up watching Sheffield Wednesday under Ron Atkinson. The level I have played at, it is about maximising what you have. Playing Portsmouth ( is) a massive opportunity.’

The scale of his father’s investment is not known but the 3G pitch surrounded by neat stands and terraces cost £500,000 alone.

Together t hey have brought Harrogate to a point where they are now above nearby York City.

Both places have branches of North Yorkshire’s famous Betty’s Tea House, with their encounters of recent seasons dubbed ‘El Bettico’ by the locals.

Featuring in tomorrow night’s televised game will be speedy midfielder Jack Emmett, who came through the club’s junior ranks, and made his debut while a sixthformer at the town’s rugby-playing grammar school. Another locally connected player will be Town’s former keeper Craig MacGillivray, now of Portsmouth.

Emmett holds a first-class degree in accountancy from Loughborough University. One of four graduates in the Harrogate team, he spent a year working for a firm in Leeds but has put wider career plans on hold to play full time.

‘What we have now is night and day from when I was first playing here,’ he says. ‘The pitch had a big slope and there were virtually no stands around it, and you might get a couple of hundred watching (the average is now 1,500).

‘Growing up in Harrogate I didn’t see football as a career but the standards here are very professional and there is a nice family feel.

‘It’s changed, because if I used to walk around town or was on a night out nobody would take any notice, but now lots of people come up and want to talk about football.’