NATIONAL EXPRESS!
Loyal family giving Class of 92 a run for their money
IN the spa town of Harrogate, there’s something in the water.
Not too long ago the club was on its uppers and the count of season-ticket holders stood at single figures.
Now a unique double act in the English game is helping Harrogate Town to scale unthinkable peaks.
And they are giving glamour club Salford – owned by Ryan Giggs, the Neville brothers Gary and Phil, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt – something to think about in the National League.
Irving and Simon Weaver are a father and son combination putting the club on the English football map.
As owner and manager the pair have overseen a dramatic transformation.
Last season the club gained promotion from the National League North.
And now the Weaver family are eyeing elevation to the Football League after a storming start to the season.
“We’re probably pinching ourselves a little bit,” says Simon, a former trainee at Sheffield Wednesday who took over as Harrogate boss in May 2009.
“I was manager before my dad got involved. I had been manager for two years before he came in.
Motivation
“When he asked me about taking over the club at first, I thought absolutely no.
“It’s a conflict of interest was my immediate thought – what happens if we have a miserable run of results?
“But that has only really served to increase our motivation to make it work. We’re grafters. Nothing is a given. We’ve had problems but we’ve stuck at it.
“Luckily mum is mad about football too otherwise the conversation around the dinner table might get a bit boring for her.” It’s a family affair in every sense. “It sounds a bit corny, but it really is,” says Irving, who took over the club in the summer of 2011.
“Me and my wife were Wednesday supporters for 40 years, so football is in the blood. And the manager is doing OK at the moment, isn’t he?
“He has ownership of the situation – he feels a responsibility to the club and I think that brings the best out of you.
“He can be consistent because he’s not looking over his shoulder every two minutes.
“Mind you, if we lost six on the trot I think we’d both be! But joking aside, Simon hasn’t got that inherent worry that things are going to turn upside down – either on or off the pitch.
Gates
“I think we’ve created an environment where he can back his judgement and look towards the long term. “We have already come a long way. When I arrived here, there were five season-ticket holders – five! Now we’re getting gates of nearly 2,000.” What at first glance looks like one of the most pressurised situations imaginable, is nothing of the sort. Harrogate welcome Wrexham to Wetherby Road on Tuesday, having tasted league defeat for the first time this season to fellow promotion chasers Leyton Orient yesterday. It’s a sign of the company the club are now keeping. “It’s not bad is it,” says the manager. “It’s what you want – you want to test yourself against the best, that’s why I’m here and why my dad is here too. “To be able to do it together is very special.”