In the second segment of his interview, Shaymen manager Chris Millington talks about hiring, his squad, and the upcoming season with Tom Scargill, the Courier’s FC Halifax Town writer.
The Shaymen simply cannot compete financially for established National League goal scorers, according to Chris Millington.
Another season in which Halifax’s goal drought persisted was the one in which Rob Harker finished as Town’s leading scorer with nine goals.
However, the Town manager is adamant that the team cannot solve its problems with spending.
When asked if adding a new striker was the top priority this summer, Millington responded, “We have some real, serious players who are out-of-contract who we’ve got to replace, who’ve had a big impact on our success this season, but that’s not just up-front, that’s across the 11.”
We obviously can’t just go out and buy a striker who scores 20 goals a season because we’re not having those kinds of conversations. “If you look across the division, most strikers are making three or four times what our top earners are making.
In order to demonstrate their ability to play in the National League, we must locate a player who is currently playing at a lower level but has promise, or a player who recently emerged from the under-21 ranks and may require more time, coaching, and support.
“We’re just not in the same conversations as the Paul McCallums, James Norowoods, and Nicke Kabambas of the world.
“And then you go further down the list and discuss players who are in the middle of the table; strikers from Eastleigh, Dagenham, Redbridge, and Rochdale don’t figure in our calculations because their wage demands are just too high.”
“So we have to be more creative in how we recruit, and especially when we look at the attacking end of the pitch.”
“An awful lot of work has been done in preparation for that and obviously new targets are becoming available as other teams’ retained lists are being announced,” Millington stated when discussing the recruitment plans for the upcoming season.
Therefore, there are many possible targets that we can pursue, and discussions have taken place regarding those, but nothing formal has been established as of yet and most likely won’t be for another week.”
The Town manager doesn’t anticipate a significant change in the playing budget for the upcoming campaign.
“We haven’t discussed it in terms of pounds and pence but I expect it to be in the same kind of realm as this season,” he stated.
“We’re not in a position where we can go out and find players who are making what would be considered a pay rise overnight.
The fact that the players we’re considering have what you could consider entry-level National League salaries suggests that the budget will fall into a similar range.
“However, the players’ experiences of growing while they’re here are more important than the money. If it’s not for financial gain, they must see a reason to come here, and if so, we must be able to show them how we will improve as players.”
Millington believes Halifax has a strong starting point with the team that will already be in place, regardless of the additions Halifax makes.
“The group we’re able to retain gives us a solid foundation,” he stated.
I believe that we would have fared better at the end of the season and would have been a serious threat in the National League going into the following one if we had been able to carry out our early-season plan to try and sign players who were not under contract, including Milli Alli.
“As it is, we didn’t do that and that’s something that is an area that the club need to improve if we’re going to go into seasons as favourites for play-offs rather than favourites for the bottom half of the table.”
