PROMOTION IS A MARATHON TOO!

ICAN’T tell you how glad I am Hartlepool United were promoted from the National League last season. look at that division now and…wow! It’s hard enough to get promoted into the Football League as it is. We managed it through the play-offs with a nail-biting final that went all the way to penalties.

But the summer transfer business from some National League clubs only emphasises the difficulty.

You look at Wrexham, Stockport County, Chesterfield, Notts County and the clubs, Grimsby and Southend, who have come down. The division is hugely competitive.

But we also know there are clubs in the National League paying more than clubs in League Two and even some in League One in the £1million gamble to get back up.

Paul Mullin going to Wrexham after winning promotion with Cambridge United, Scott Quigley joining Stockport from Barrow to name a couple.

It’s going to be a mad scramble for promotion and I’m just pleased we’re out of it.

The play-off final showed the fine margins. Torquay United were a fingertip from staying in that shoot-out. Instead the penalty was pushed on to the bar by our keeper Brad James and we were up.

We lost a lot of players in the summer but Torquay have seen a lot more leave. It’s almost like Gary Johnson has to build again. I hope they do well this season because they were so good last year. It will be tough for them.

There are so many good sides. I remember talking to Dagenham & Redbridge boss Daryl McMahon after our game with them last season. We won but I was so impressed with the football they played.

Bromley will be strong as well. It’s nice to be on the outside looking in. But we’ve also got to concentrate on ourselves and make sure, at the absolute worst, we finish third bottom. Realistically we want to be higher than that and consolidating without a relegation scrap.

Encouraging

We’ve started well. We’ve got to be slightly cautious because four of the first five games have been at home – although if we win most of our home matches this season then we’ll be OK.

But the opening month has been hugely encouraging. The National League promotion was on

June 19. That gave us no time to prepare for the season ahead.

We lost a load of players because they wanted to secure their future at a time when we couldn’t tell them what their future was – we didn’t know what division we would be in.

When you lose the goals of Rhys Oates and Luke Armstrong, or Lewis Cass at the back, it’s going to be hard. Then the players you might want to get in have already been picked up by other teams when our season finished so late.

In Dave Challinor we’ve got a fantastic manager.

My biggest fear is somebody comes knocking on the door for him.

I probably shouldn’t say it so often; but he’s such a class act. We play to a certain system but if things aren’t going right, he’s adaptable. The players totally respect him and he has faith in the players.

We still need to get his new contract sorted out. He’s in the last year and I admit you do worry. I know he wants to stay and I am sure it will be sorted.

Never mind a manager, he’s a quality person. He is a good guy to spend time with, he’s got a lovely family – and the supporters at our place adore him.