LUCA SET FOR A SWANSONG
Havern fulfils his promise to reunite with old pal Frost
WHEN Luca Havern called time on his short spell as interim head coach at Bradford Park Avenue before Christmas, he was phoned by a friend.
On the line was Avro boss Alex Frost, who was quick to remind his old teammate of a promise he made to finish his playing career under his management.
“Luca broke my heart last summer so it was personal!” Frost told The NLP with a wry smile. “He said he’d sign for us only to change his mind and stay put after he was offered a coaching role.”
Havern – a hugely popular figure at the Horsfall in two spells with Avenue – admitted he could not envisage continuing at the club without manager Mark Bower and assistant Danny Boshell following their sacking in November.
The pair left Bradford in the Northern Premier League Premier Division’s bottom four with just two wins to their name and at risk of a second successive relegation after dropping down from National League North last season.
Havern stood in temporarily as caretaker. “I did contemplate retiring,” said the 35-year-old.
“But I think Alex had already filled in the signing-on form and so I had no choice.
To be fair, I had given him my word.”
Their friendship dates longer than a decade and began when Havern, via a brief stay with Mossley, signed for NPL Premier side Ashton United in October 2010 after leaving Stockport County, where he had captained the youth team before going full-time.
Colours
“Picture the scene,” Frost continued. “Handsome Luca walks in with his long hair looking like an Italian Lothario and we hammered him. I thought to myself ‘He’s not for Non-League’.
“It was different then; you were rated as a defender by how far you could kick or head the ball.
“We then watched him smash somebody winning a header in his first game, and I fell in love with him from that moment!”
After helping Ashton win the League Cup, Havern left for Hyde United and formed part of the Tigers’ Conference North championship-winning side.
A fouryear spell with Altrincham, where he again celebrated promotion to Non-League’s top tier through the play-offs in 2014, preceded a single season at AFC Telford United before a switch to Park Avenue.
They may have only worn the same colours for six months at Ashton, but the pair have worked together outside of football on a number of occasions and speak to each other most days.
Transition
“When I started as a semipro, teams were largely made up of a core of local lads that tended to stay together for a number of years,” Havern added. “If the manager left, they’d go with him.
“It’s different now; young lads have agents and often travel longer distances, meaning it’s harder to make friends.
“I played with a different generation and the connections we made – perhaps because we had more nights out! – have endured.”
He describes Avro, playing at the highest level in their history after a whirlwind sequence of three promotions in the past four completed seasons, as an “old school” Non-League club.
To put the NPL West Division newcomers’ rise into perspective, they’ve hosted neighbours Stalybridge Celtic – a side that was operating four divisions higher when the Oldham-based outfit won the Manchester League title in 2018 – as equals this term.
Havern added: “It’s been a breath of fresh air for me to come here and see everybody mucking in together. Every lad stays for a beer after the game and they socialise with each other too after training.
“That helps in the last 10 minutes of games when you look around and see your mates willing to fight as hard as you are.”
Frost, now 38, will next month celebrate two years in the dugout at the former Whitebank Stadium in Limeside.
As a newcomer to management following a playing career that saw him make more than 200 appearances for Ashton in addition to spells with the likes of Nantwich and Droylsden, he’s turned often for help and advice to pals made while playing.
“It’s helped me massively,” he said. “The transition from player to manager isn’t easy, more so if guys you’re mates with are in the team.”
Some things won’t change though. “Yeah, I won’t be calling him ‘gaffer’,” laughed Havern.