BILLY HEATH knows FC Halifax Town comes with a different remit to North Ferriby United – but he’s warned the Shaymen that National League North is the toughest test yet.
Despite leading village club North Ferriby to Non-League’s top tier through the Step 2 play-offs, the 2015 FA Trophy-winning boss quit to take up the new job.
Winning this season’s Trophy wasn’t enough to earn Jim Harvey the post after the Yorkshire club were relegated from the National League.
Heath arrives with a reputation for building hard-working teams that win, having taken Ferriby from the Evo-Stik NPL Premier to Step 1 with a Wembley win along the way.
But the lure of Halifax was too much to turn down for the former Frickley Athletic manager, and he’s aware that hopes of an instant return will be high.
Different
“The expectations are totally different to what they were at Ferriby. There were never any real expectations on us last season,” said Heath, who is being joined by trusty assistant Mark Carroll. “The expectations really were just to stay in the league.
“This is a different entity. The expectation is there, but what I’ll say all along is that just because you’re a big football club doesn’t give you the divine right to get promoted or win football matches.
“Some clubs struggle with that in the National League North because they do think they’ve got a divine right. No-one is going to give it to you. You’ve got to work hard, make sure everybody knows his job and what is expected of them. That’s how you win football matches.”
The rebuilding job is already underway with goalkeeper Steven Drench – highly regarded in Non-League – joining from Guiseley.
With Kidderminster Harriers and Altrincham also dropping down, as well as Darlington 1883 and Salford City coming up to join hopefuls like Stockport County, Boston and Nuneaton, the National League North is an enticing prospect next season. Heath thinks it’s going to be the division to watch in Non-League.
“With the clubs in there next season, from a neutral’s point of view it’s going to be the most interesting league,” Heath said.
“There will be so many clubs trying to get out of it. There will be big games every week, big challenges and, come the first game, we’ve got to make sure we’re right.
“It’s well documented we’ve won trophies at Ferriby on small budgets. Our budget last season was probably in the bottom three of that division. We used only 21 players and three of them were kids who hadn’t played at the level before.
“We’ve definitely earned the right to come to a club like Halifax. The club has got massive potential to get where they want to be. That was part of the appeal.
“It has the potential to bounce back – but, as I’ve said, the players have got to realise they don’t have a divine right just because they’ve got the Halifax shirt on.”
