BURRELL HAS GROUND OUT BIG CHANCE

HARROGATE Town have come a long way since Warren Burrell pitched up at Wetherby Road for a trial in the summer of 2009.

Skint and struggling in the novice hands of Simon Weaver, Town were a world away from the team that will today challenge Notts County for a place in the Football League.

“From then to now is chalk and cheese,” says the 30-year-old defender, who had just been released by Mansfield.

“The gaffer had just got the job and was trying to find his feet. He was still playing, finding it too much. We had nowhere to train. The pitch was no good. There weren’t many fans. Financially, the club wasn’t being run as well as it could have been.

“That was my first taste of part-time football and organisation was all over the place. There were some good people around but it was like ‘What is going on here?’.

“That’s why promotion would mean so much. I know where the club’s come from. I know where it’s trying to be.

“This is not a club that’s had high expectations over the years. But we’ve put a squad together that has gone from strength to strength. To be on the verge is massive.”

Like Harrogate, who turned full-time in 2017, Burrell’s road to the fringes of the EFL has been long and tortuous.

Jailed for GBH in October 2009, he emerged from prison determined to get his life back on track. For a while, football – with Sheffield FC, Leek Town and Buxton – was purely about having fun but a return to Harrogate in 2016 rekindled old ambitions.

“I never put a ceiling on what I could achieve,” he insists. “There were just more important things in life. Work took priority and football a backwards step. It was about enjoying myself and getting that bit of extra income. But I kept going, kept working hard. Now I’ve got an amazing opportunity.”

An opportunity that includes a trip to Wembley, albeit one that won’t involve friends, family and a crowd likely to have exceeded 30,000.

“The big pull of playing at Wembley is that you get to take your family down, it’s a big occasion for everyone,” he admits.

“That won’t happen, which obviously takes something away from the experience. But the prize at the end is still there and that’s the biggest thing of all.”