Boss Pete Wild won’t be getting carried away by FC Halifax Town’s flying start
PETE Wild is trying his best to ignore the National League table but even on his day off the FC Halifax Town boss is reminded of their lofty position.
The former Oldham Athletic manager was appointed by the Shaymen just ten days before the start of the new season with only 14 players on the books, but he’s led the club through a successful first month.
Victories over Ebbsfleet United, Hartlepool United, Dagenham & Redbridge, AFC Fylde and Barrow saw them sit third after seven games ahead of yesterday’s visit from Solihull Moors, although Wild is refusing to get excited over their early progress.
“What I don’t want to do is get carried away, it’s just a good start,” he told The NLP while relaxing on a rare day off following the busy Bank Holiday weekend. “I’m sure if you spoke to any manager they’d be happy with the points on the board but it still doesn’t distract that there’s still 30-odd games to go yet.
“I try and stay away from league tables because that is the sole responsibility of getting carried away. I’m watching Sky Sports News now; it doesn’t help when it flashes up on the right-hand side. I could do with a piece of paper blocking that bit!
Planning
“It certainly gives us confidence but I don’t want us to get carried away with ourselves and that’s the big message in the dressing room. We all know in football that it can slap you in the face quite quickly.”
Wild, 35, spent 12 years at his boyhood club Oldham, starting as assistant manager of the U12s and eventually rising to become caretaker boss in December last year from his position as academy manager.
He took permanent control following the departure of Paul Scholes before resigning himself at the end of the season.
Wild has thrown himself into the FC Halifax role, which has been almost non-stop since his arrival.
“You have to plan and prioritise,” he explained. “When I came in it was players, then it was getting the way we wanted to play sorted out, the infrastructure behind the scenes and now mopping up the bits I might have missed.
“It’s frustrating, it’s tiring because everybody wants everything in place straight away and there’s no way with that fixture list I’ve been able to do that. It’s been a long, long month and you laugh because you get to Saturday and then you’re playing Tuesday night. But then again when you’re doing well you just want to keep playing.
“I’m surprised with how relentless the fixture list has been, I’m not used to this. When you think by next Saturday we’ll be a quarter of the way through the fixture list it just makes me laugh.
“It’s ridiculous, it doesn’t help us and it doesn’t help the players. It’s thrown up so many daft results because you don’t know how the lads are going to react because of the fixtures, we’re a small squad.”
FC Halifax have scored 14 goals – already 30 per cent of last season’s total – using nine different scorers while only conceding five in that time.
“I’m really pleased with how they’ve taken things on board,” added Wild.
“The way the lads have adapted to how we want to work and how they’ve built up resilience.
“Last week was the first time we’ve done a full week of training and hopefully that showed over the [Bank Holiday] weekend how we’ve gone out and performed.”