THAT ROUGH DIAMOND IS EVER HARDER TO COME BY
Clubs like Spartans must dig deep, says Armstrong
THERE can’t be many National League North managers that have taken advice from a nun. Alun Armstrong is one that has.
The Blyth Spartans manager took the opinions of many on the final day of last season as the Spartans faithful travelled to Nuneaton dressed as religious figures of all types.
Nun-eaton, nuns, get it? Just go with it.
The 2-2 draw at Liberty Way helped Armstrong’s side to a tenth-placed finish in their first season in the National League North for five years.
A solid return for a season of peaks and troughs, where they flirted with the play-offs, only to fall short after a spate of injuries and postponements stuttered their momentum.
Sell the dream
With his summer recruitment already underway, Armstrong has added former South Shields duo Alex Nicholson and Jamie Holmes and Gateshead midfielder Kieran Green to his squad. Midfielders David McTiernan and Dale Hopson have moved to their former club Whitby Town and defender David Atkinson moved to Icelandic outfit IBV.
More new faces have been hard to come by, as the Spartans boss has been outbid by a number of clubs around the North East, including two in the Ebac Northern League.
That has left Armstrong to search for “rough diamonds”; a trick he believes is becoming more difficult with every season.
“We are looking for players to sell the dream of playing against Stockport County, York City and clubs like that.
“We try to find rough diamonds that need a bit of work but ones we believe we can improve and eventually move on.
“David Atkinson was like that because we brought him in, gave him a bit of confidence and we got a good offer for him so now he is playing full-time in Iceland.
“I am not sure we can go on doing that forever but it is where we are.
“That’s
where we are at as a club, we want to compete, we want to improve and my job as manager is to develop the players and the club. “You see the money paid out at some Northern League clubs and we can’t match it, even though we are where we are in the pyramid. “These players could go higher but the clubs pay more and I don’t blame the players because they have bills to pay and families to feed.
“So we will continue to look for the players that want to come and the players that we believe we can improve.”
Relegation from the National League North in 2012 sparked a renaissance at Croft Park.
After underwhelming results under Tommy Cassidy and Paddy Atkinson, the Spartans kicked into life under Tom Wade.
A run to the third round of the FA Cup helped speed up that progress and they had achieved three consecutive top
eight fin- ishes by the time Wade left the club in 2016.
Armstrong’s introduction saw the club romp to the EvoStik Northern Premier League title in 2017, hitting 114 goals and securing over a century of points.
Last season’s performances had supporters beginning to dream of another promotion and a first-ever season in NonLeague’s top-tier but Armstrong believes that the recent crisis at Gateshead shows that the club’s long-term future must be the priority.
Consolidate
“We want to kick on and we want to get up there eventually,” admitted the former Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough striker.
“But look at Gateshead and what has happened there recently.
“The chairman has said how much they have spent just staying up there and at the moment it’s above our means. “That is not to say that will always be the
case.
“We just have to build slowly and surely. For example, I couldn’t have signed Kieran Green if I hadn’t let a couple of our existing players go.
“That shows how things have to be worked and if I am honest, this club is in the best place at the moment.
“We must consolidate and look after the long-term future.”
Armstrong signed a new two-year deal at the end of last season and he believes that Spartans will continue to progress in a tough division this season.
“There are big clubs coming into the division this season and it’s a tough league.
“We won’t be the surprise that we were to some teams last season but on the flip side we know about them too.
“We never expected to finish where we did and we surprised everyone, including myself.
“Now we are looking forward to the new season and hopefully we can keep on progressing”
Tough challenges lie ahead but Alun Armstrong and Blyth Spartans seem ready to meet them head on.
With or without any divine intervention.