Bridlington Town boss Gary Allanson calls for managers to 'play the right way'

Bridlington boss Gary Allanson

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)
Let’s be entertaining. That’s the message from Bridlington Town chief Gary Allanson to his fellow managers.
Allanson returned to the Bridlington hotseat last month after two years away and has installed his footballing beliefs into his new players.
But, he believes other managers should adopt the same philosophies.
“Our philosophy and ethos is about keeping the ball and keeping possession and being entertaining by scoring a lot of goals and creating as many chances as possible,” he said.
“I think sometimes a lot of managers and coaches have to take a responsibility because people are coming in to pay to watch the games.
“When I went to watch Farsley at Conference standard (in 2007-08) when Ash was playing there, I was really disappointed with the standard of Conference football.
“It was get it forward as quick as you can and lots of hustle and bustle. I may have got my expectations too high and I think Farsley tried to play the right way but got bullied.
“In the NCEL for the last two years, I think Scarborough played the right way along with Parkgate, ourselves and Barton to an extent. There is lots of teams in there who do it the right way so there are good high tempo quality matches.
“I think when you go up a level you lose that bit of quality because a lot of fear starts to kick in. I think managers and coaches have to stick by their beliefs and say ‘look it is an entertainment business as well’.”

Allanson was the Bridlington boss when the Seasiders last won the Premier Division title in 2010. Under him and successor Mitch Cook, Bridlington have never been out of the top four and Allanson hopes to continue that trend in the campaign that starts next Saturday.
“We’re going to try and be as successful as possible,” he said.
“Every competition we’re going to try and go for. We have won the league once in the last five years and we have always been in the top three or four. We always push people to the wire.
“Whether we have enough in the squad, with the slight cut in the budget, to attract the bigger players, I don’t know. There are more teams in the league which means more games and then we want to be successful in the FA Vase and FA Cup because that is the only real time that the club gets revenue.”
Nathan Cook is still on trial with Scarborough Athletic, but Allanson has most of last season’s squad at his disposal with the additions of Hull City youngsters Brad Ricketts and Joel Sutton.
And since taking the job late in the summer, Allanson has been pleased with the preparations.
“It has been difficult (because I came in late), if I’m been honest, as pre-season is a lot of hard work,” he said.
“If you’re looking for a job, you would like to be offered something at the end of the season because then at least you have the whole of the close season to get everything planned.
“I found out, I think, on the third week of June. Other teams had already started while we hadn’t. It is unfortunate, but you have to deal with it and adapt and we’re getting there.
“We have a tough start to the season – Staveley at home and then we have Barton which is sort of a local derby for us.
“We want to get off to a good start and since taking over the training sessions have been intense, but have been really good quality. I’ve been really pleased with the attitude of the players.

“We have got to keep that momentum going. We’ve got to keep playing in right way and building on our philosophy and ethos. If they buy into that then I think we will do well.”