MALCOLM CROSBY says he wouldn’t have stepped foot in Gateshead this summer if he wasn’t convinced the club could win promotion – but isn’t as sold by the decision to pack the early National League schedule full of midweek matches.
League Two seemed a world away in the close season, the Heed losing manager Gary Mills to Wrexham and cutting their budget back with the inspirational Phil Turnbull and veteran John Oster exiting the International Stadium.
There seemed an air of uncertainty when chairman Graham Wood put the club up for sale, with local business owners Richard and Julie Bennett eventually taking control.
But Crosby and the new regime have settled in superbly to their new surroundings with the manager now saying he boasts possibly the best attack in the division.
The 61-year-old, who enjoyed a playing career with Aldershot and York City, is in his first permanent manager’s role since leaving Sunderland in 1993.
The ex-Oxford United, Northampton and Birmingham caretaker said: “I would say I’m maybe a bit too old to be making up for lost time, but I’m certainly enjoying it.
“It was a summer of change for everyone at the club, but I’m really pleased with the start we’ve made. We look quite a fit team, we’ve got good energy and the attitude from the players is first class.
“I felt that when we brought players in here during the summer we were getting a decent little squad together, a bit better than maybe what people thought and I don’t think anyone would have expected us to be so close to the top.
“I think I have got as good a forward line as there is in the league, I’ve got to say. We go with two strikers, never one, and we get crosses into the box.
“I came here to win promotion. I’m no different to any manager in that regard, you want the best for your team. If you say you don’t want to get promoted then you’ve got a problem. I wouldn’t have come to Gateshead if I didn’t think we had a good chance. I came here to get the club back in the Football League.”
Crosby, though, isn’t convinced by the decision to pack the first three months of the season full of midweek matches. In a bid to combat winter postponements, the Conference scheduled seven non-Saturday games before the middle of October – and it’s not been well received by all managers.
Crosby added: “We’ve been to Halifax, Grimsby and then Macclesfield this week. By mid-October we would have played 18 games already. We’ve only got one midweek game in the calendar between November and February, it’s a little unbalanced.”
