Rainworth Miners Welfare resignation is bad for NPL

By James Grayson (Twitter - @jamesAgrayson)

Rainworth Miners Welfare have resigned from the Evo Stik Division One South and opted to return to the Northern Counties East League Premier Division.

The club, who were promoted to the NPL in 2010, have cited financial costs as the reason. However, the news exposes the unsustainability of teams who get promoted out of the NCEL and into the Northern Premier League.

Rainworth are the third club that have been promoted from the NCEL to the Evo Stik in the last seven years and then dropped out. Retford United reached the Evo Stik Premier Division before being relegated two divisions because they could not finance themselves in the NPL. Glapwell also made a similar decision and are now not even in the Football Pyramid.

Should the FA and NPL be more thorough with NCEL clubs that want promotion? The glaring thing with the promotions that Rainworth and Glapwell achieved is that they were promoted as runners-up because the champions turned down promotion because of the costs involved in the NPL, namely Bridlington Town and Winterton Rangers.

At the moment, the NPL have at least three clubs in their three divisions that are struggling to stay afloat. To have a club, who are not in relegation danger, resign is simply embarrassing for that level of football. It is not park football. The NPL is a serious level of football.

There needs to be a tougher stance of clubs coming out of the NCEL. Brighouse Town could get promotion this season. This is a club with a small support base. It has an average attendance of 106 for this season, which is just over 7% down from last season. Should they get up, extreme pressure will be applied to their finances.

There are at least ten games that would need coach transport at around £400 a time. It is not something Brighouse have to worry about in the NCEL. Players wages will increase because of the level of football and the extra burden of travelling. If I was running Brighouse and they won the league, I would turn down promotion. Brighouse Town in the NPL is not sustainable.

After Rainworth’s decision, the NPL need to ensure all their new clubs are sustainable or at least make sure they know the perils of promotion. There needs to be a strong and robust stance. Relegation should be decided on the pitch, not by a club realising that after three years they should not have chased the dream.



GFH right to bring Brian McDermott in as next Leeds United manager

By James Grayson (Twitter - @jamesAgrayson)

After the departure of Neil Warnock, there was no rush to appoint a replacement. But, the 2-1 defeat at Charlton Athletic last Saturday obviously triggered alarm bells in GFH’s heads.

The Whites are five points above the Championship relegation zone. While the situation is not desperate yet, it is concerning because Leeds are playing like a team that doesn’t look like winning a match.

Leeds have two crucial home games coming up – Sheffield Wednesday visit Elland Road on Saturday and then Burnley arrive on Tuesday night. United have to get something from both games.

With Brian McDermott set to be confirmed as the Leeds manager tomorrow (Friday), it does give everyone a huge boost.

Although the timing of the appointment, considering GFH claimed they were in no rush when Warnock left, does smell of a panic decision. However, it is the right type of long-term appointment and in the short-term, it brings stability back instantly. So GFH cannot be criticised.

McDermott has the pedigree of taking a team to the Premier League so he fits the bill. But in the short term he has to lead Leeds to safety before planning for the Premier League can be even thought about. Hopefully he can galvanise the dressing room to finish the job.

GFH should be applauded as well for reacting decisively to a potential disaster situation. They could have stuck with Neil Redfearn, but they saw the problem emerging and brought McDermott in.

McDermott must have also been given assurances over the long-term ambition of the owners and that there are funds available in the summer. That debate is for another day though – the priority is Championship survival and hopefully the new manager will ensure it.

And his first task is to revive a dressing room and get a winning team on the pitch and quickly – preferably on Saturday when the Owls visit.

Michael Oates winner nets Trafford FC victory over Farsley AFC

Trafford 3-2 Farsley AFC

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Match Photos are HERE

Missed chances were again to blame as Farsley AFC suffered an undeserved defeat at play-offs chasing Trafford, who completed the double over Neil Parsley’s men.

Michael Oates’ goal two minutes from time somehow won the game for Trafford, despite Farsley being the better side over the course of the game. Farsley also had to play the last ten minutes with ten men after goalkeeper Ben Higginson was sent off.  

On a flat surface, Farsley showed why they had beaten Ramsbottom United last week and could have easily scored twice in the opening 20 minutes. The Trafford defence, marshalled by captain Nia Bayunu, a player that League Two outfit Fleetwood Town are rumoured to be scouting, could not cope.

Adam Priestley was the first Farsley player to be put through on goal, but he blazed over. Farsley legend Simeon Bambrook was then unfortunate when he found himself bearing down on goal. The ball took a bobble as he was about to shoot and his shot went well wide of the target.

Further chances followed with Farsley goalkeeper Higginson relatively untroubled at the other end. Farsley finally took the lead three minutes into the second half. It was Gareth Grant that broke clear and he delayed his shot so he could pass to Priestley who had the easiest of finishes. It was the striker’s 27^th goal of a glorious campaign.

However, Trafford soon scored an undeserved equaliser. Danger-man Oates (pictured above), with 31 goals to his name this season, was brought down by Rob Etherington. It was a soft penalty award. The referee had a decent game and on a scale of ten, probably scored 7.5. However, he should have been better positioned for the foul and how he could give from his position on the 18-yard-line is beyond me. But, it was given and Paul Ashton rolled the penalty home with ease.

Grant, who worked extremely up-front on his own, then missed a close range chance before Farsley went ahead again. Steve Mallory’s corner wasn’t dealt with and Matty James (pictured above) was on hand to scoop the ball into the top corner.

Farsley looked on course for victory until the 76^th minute when a scramble allowed former Bradford Park Avenue player Ally Brown to bring Trafford level for a second time.

And then came the game-changing moment. Higginson was deemed to have handled the ball outside the area and within two seconds of the linesman flagging, the referee pulled the red card out. It was an extremely poor decision from the referee as he didn’t allow himself any thinking time. There were at least four defenders around Higginson so it was not a goal-scoring opportunity. It is the second time this season when Farsley have been let down by a referee’s rush of blood – the 0-0 draw at Clitheroe is the other when Josh Radcliffe was dismissed.

Tom Morgan was brought on and Farsley survived the free kick from Higginson’s dismissal before Oates struck to keep Trafford on course for the play-offs. On the day, Farsley deserved to win, but Trafford’s style of football should be admired. Manager Garry Vaughan has a clear football philosophy – his team passes from the back and works forward. It should be applauded. Whether it works on uneven pitches is a different matter.

Man of the match – Gareth Grant (Farsley AFC)

Harrogate Railway boss Billy Miller looks back on a successful season

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Manager Billy Miller has challenged his players to write their own piece of Harrogate Railway history by creating a new club Evo Stik Division One North points record.

Miller wants his men to reach the half-century mark and 52 points would break the record and complete a memorable first season at the helm for Miller and his assistant Lee Ashforth.

Former Liversedge boss Miller, who earlier this week called for a winter break to be introduced, was named as the permanent successor to Nigel Danby last summer.

Danby had been sacked with six games to go with Railway staring at relegation back to the Northern Counties East League. Denis Metcalf junior and his management team were unable to save Railway from finishing second-bottom and Harrogate only survived because of a reprieve.

Miller kept a number of last season’s squad and brought a handful of new faces to Station View and has steered them into a mid-table position with 41 points with seven games remaining – much to his delight.

He said: “I live in Harrogate myself so I have followed the club for ten years and knew what it was capable of. It has a new clubhouse, great facilities and has a good playing surface. I know we have a slope on it, but the pitch is in generally good condition. We knew that if we could attract the right players (we could reach our targets), and I think we’re done that.

“We have got a bit of budget, but it is not a big budget by any stretch of the imagination. People would be quite shocked at just how low the budget is. But we came into it knowing what we had and thought we could do a job.

“The priority was to make sure we weren’t fighting relegation at the end of the season and we’ve done that. We are nowhere near the relegation zone at all.

“The target is interesting now because we have given the lads a target of 50 points for the season and for the first season here would be a phenomenal return.”

Railway, who are in partnership with Askern Bryan College, did get off to a slow start and had won only five league games by the turn of the year.

But, Railway got moving and wins over Trafford, leaders Skelmersdale United and Farsley AFC helped them up the table and Miller claims to have used a limited amount of players this season.

“If you go back to our early games, I think we played Trafford, Skelmersdale, all the top teams in the first ten games so we always knew it was going to be difficult,” he said.

“But, we knew once we had found our rhythm, we would have half a chance of picking points up. All we have done is take each game as it came and ticked them off.

“We have probably used 21 players all season which is phenomenal. The physio Rachel (Davis) has been absolutely superb. She has kept an eye on players, monitoring them. We make them come in once a week to train because of the budget.

“I think sometimes when you can get a group of lads together who have a little bit of raw ability, but an abundance of enthusiasm, which is what we have got, then you have got a great opportunity to mould them into a team.

“That is what we have done. We don’t scream and shout at the players, we don’t isolate anyone, we never blame anyone. We’re in it together from management, all the way to young Daniel Openshaw, who has come in from the college to help us out. If he has a point then we all listen. We try and respect each other’s views.”

But what does next season hold for Harrogate? At this moment in time, Miller is unsure of targets, but said: “A lot depends on the budget and we do have a lot of people working really hard behind the season.

“It will probably be very similar to this year, but what we hope is that because of the environment we are building, players want to come for us because we play the right way rather what they will receive for playing.

“If we can add one or two to the squad then we will go again. It will be harder next year because teams will go down, teams will come into the league. Teams will get more money so we have to re-access it in August.”

Railway have a rich FA Cup history having reached the second round on two occasions in 2002 and 2007 and asked on whether he wanted to write his own chapter Railway history, Miller said: “I always say when you look at this club who have been to the second round of the FA Cup twice in ten years, it is unbelievable.

“As a club you want to get there once, but to get there twice in ten years is phenomenal. Paul Marshall, who is still local with Tadcaster and Vinnie Brockie who is with Thackley are brilliant lads and they deserved it at the time.

“If we can get through the first couple of rounds, I’d be happy with that.”

Michael Brown's new Leeds United contract is staggering

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Leeds United midfielder Michael Brown must have one of the best agents in the business after receiving a one-year contract extension.

This means he will be with Leeds until the end of next season. The deal was signed because Brown had triggered a clause in his contract which said if he reached a certain number of appearances for this season, he received an automatic one-year extension.

The 36-year-old has been with Leeds since the summer of 2011 and is known for his poor disciplinary record.

But, the news will hardly go down well with Leeds supporters who must see it as a waste of funds on a player that will be likely to be unwanted by Neil Warnock’s successor.

Quite how Brown, who was 35 when his initial contract was negotiated last August, was quite able to do the deal is incredible. Why would a club aiming to reach the Premier League agree to such a deal.

Brown has been a bit-part player at times this season and will be even more so next season so Leeds have wasted money on him.

No-one in the Championship will want Brown and League One and Two clubs won’t be able to afford him so Leeds are stuck him with.

He has been a liability this season, his tackle on Scott Parker in the final minute of Leeds’ shock 2-1 over Tottenham is a prime example.  

Fortunately he probably won’t be making them sort of tackles next season as he will be watching from the stands, but he will be paid to do that.

Garforth Amateur Dramatics' production of Natural Causes preview

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Come and see judge whether it’s funny for yourself – that is the message from Garforth Amateur Dramatics Society for those thinking of coming to see their upcoming play Natural Causes.

Written by Eric Chappell, Natural Causes sees Vincent (Mike Osbourne), a professional suicide merchant, hired for his services by Walter (David Battersby).

Walter is in an unhappy marriage with Celia (Lynda McCraight) and at first, it is clear that Vincent’s ‘target’ is Celia.

However, confusion then reigns over who the client actually is and as director Erica Nicholls (pictured right) says, “there is a mix-up about who actually needs to take the poison so there are several times when the poison gets put into the wrong person’s glass”.

Natural Causes, a black comedy, follows on from last year’s production of Out of Focus and Erica claims the Society wanted an alternative type of play in 2013 and says they are looking forward to hearing the audience’s reaction to the jokes.

“How much humour there is difficult for me to say because when you have been rehearsing it week after week as we do, you get to the point where the jokes aren’t funny anymore and you need someone else to hear them,” she said.

“When we first read it, we laughed. So that is the best I can say at the moment. (When we choose a play) we sit down as a society and read as many plays as we can. We do two plays a year, but we have a quiet time during the summer and during that time we meet every week to read.

“(We chose this one) because of the difference to it. It isn’t a farce, it isn’t overtly hilarious, which the last one that we did was a very funny play. (Natural Causes) had something different to it that we liked.

“It has a bit of atmosphere and we could also cast it. We needed a play with a smallish cast with more men in it than women and from the ones we read, this is the one we chose.”

Natural Causes also stars Martyn Drake as Withers and local girl Kristen Limbert as Angie and Society chairman Mike Nicholls (pictured left) claims Kristen has made a major impact on ticket sales.

He said: “Ticket sales for this play are going fairly well mainly because we have a new member in Kristen who is at Garforth Academy.

“She has sold a lot of tickets. She has got all her classmates coming and has also got quite a few of her tutors coming as well. Her mother works at Ninelands Primary School and she has some staff coming.

“Hopefully we are going to get quite a lot through her because sometimes we do suffer as we are a small cast. You generally find that the people who are in the play sell the most tickets as their friends want to come and see them in the play.”

Natural Causes runs from Wednesday 24^th April to Saturday 27^th April at 7.30pm at the Garforth Miners Welfare Hall.

Tickets cost £6 and £5 for concessions and there will be a bar available.

Tickets can be bought from Garforth Book Shop and the society can be contacted on info@garforthamdram.co.uk

Gardner strike secures point for FC Halifax Town at Guiseley

Guiseley AFC 1-1 FC Halifax Town

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

A second half strike from Dan Gardner earned FC Halifax Town a point from their local derby with Guiseley AFC at a packed Nethermoor in the Blue Square Bet North.

The goal cancelled out former Shayman Mark Bower’s ninth minute header which gave the Lions a dream start to the match in front of 1137 spectators.

But after failing to increase their lead, Steve Kittrick’s (pictured below) Guiseley paid the price as Halifax hit back and the visitors were unlucky not to take all three points having hit the crossbar three times.

Halifax will be ruing their poor start. It was Andy Holdsworth’s cross from the left-wing which Bower met with power which left Matt Glennon helpless to react and stunned the travelling support.

Guiseley continued to cause problems for Halifax. Forward Kevin Holsgrove looked menacing and Halifax’s defence seemed unable to cope. A disallowed Jack Rea goal triggered more alarm bells for Halifax. Bower then went close when his header was pumped off the line by former Lion Ryan Toulson.

That’s when Halifax got their act together. Defensive midfielder James Knowles, a recent signing for Halifax from Bradford PA, was replaced in the 27^th minute by winger Adriano Moke. Whether it was forced or not, it breathed a new lease of life into Halifax as Moke took his place on the right-wing and used his flair to cause Guiseley problems.

He was involved as Chris Worsley’s volley cannoned off the bar as Halifax signalled their presence in the match. Then just as half-time approached, some Halifax fans thought their team had scored. Inside the six-yard box, ex Harrogate Town defender Danny Lowe looked to have scored and some Town started celebrating wildly. However, his effort somehow hit the crossbar and the ball was cleared – much to the amusement of some Guiseley supporters.

However, the warnings for Guiseley were there and they did not take heed as Halifax took control in the second half. Sean Williams’ spectacular long range strike needed an excellent save from Guiseley goalkeeper Steven Drench who turned the ball onto the bar before conceding a corner.

Further pressure followed and it obvious that the equaliser was coming. It arrived on 64 minutes. A Danny Lowe quickly-taken free kick found Gardner in the penalty box and he simply hammered the ball past Drench from 12 yards to send the Halifax support crazy.

Halifax looked favourites now, but they struggled to create many more opportunities and that will have been the disappointing factor having been in control. Guiseley themselves couldn’t get out of their own half. The introduction of former Leeds United man Seb Carole did add some creativity for Guiseley. Carole replaced Halifax pantomime villain James Walshaw who was heavily booed on his exit due to his controversial move to Guiseley last season after a loan spell with Halifax.

But that was it apart from another disallowed Guiseley goal in the final minute – given because of a foul on the goalkeeper Glennon.

Halifax will be disappointed to have only earned a point, but despite picking up just four points out of the last three fixtures, Neil Aspin’s (pictured above) men are fourth in the table with games in hand of the teams around them.

Halifax are four points ahead of sixth-placed Harrogate Town who lost 1-0 at Bradford (Park Avenue) ahead of their home game with Altrincham on Saturday.

Guiseley travel to third-placed Brackley Town this weekend.  

Guiseley: Drench, Hardy, Meynell, A Pearson, Ellis, Bower, Rea (Marsh 77), Holdsworth, Wilson, Walshaw (Carole 74), Holsgrove. Subs unused: Giles, Lawlor, McWilliams.

FC Halifax Town: Glennon, Toulson, McManus, M Pearson, Knowles (Moke 27), Lowe, Worsley, Williams, Gregory, Gardner (Glover 84), Worthington. Sub unused: Senior, Titchiner, Bolton.

Referee: R Wigglesworth

Attendance: 1137

Man of the match: Mark Bower