FC Halifax Town: “It’s a really exciting time for this football club” says Wild

It has been a year of progress behind-the-scenes at Town, who are now training one day a week back in Halifax.

Wild has overseen an expansion of his backroom team, with more specialised roles, helped forge a stronger link between the first-team and the youth-team, and implemented a targeted recruitment strategy.

Reflecting on the season so far, Wild said: “As a style of play, I think we’ve progressed well.

“We’re starting to implement and look a real threat as a team, with and without the ball.

“I think we’re building nicely. We don’t need to be the finished article yet, we just need to keep progressing, building and putting points on the board.

“I don’t think you can read into the league tables this year because everybody’s at completely different stages.”

Wild believes there has been real progress at the club over the last 12 months.
“I think it’s an exciting club to be at, I think the club’s moving in the right direction on and off the pitch,” he said.

“There’s a real structure to the playing and non-playing staff now and I think the club, at the end of this season, will be a fully-fledged, full-time club, which is brilliant, fantastic.

“So the strides the club’s made, from the club I walked into 18 months ago, it’s like night and day, it’s completely different.
“I think we’ve got a real structure about the place now.
“There’s a real structured recruitment programme, in terms of a three-tiered approach with younger lads, the middle group and the experienced boys.

“Recruitment’s been excellent and it gives us a real structure.

“There’s a togetherness between the youth set-up and the first-team set-up, there’s now a clear pathway for youth-teamers to reach their potential, and the implementation of a full-time programme which everybody now buys into and understands the importance of.

“They might not seem massive to the outside world but behind-the-scenes at the club now, there’s a real structure and it’s really pleasing to see how well structured the club is.”

Wild says the fruits of the club’s labour may not be immediately apparent, but that the hard work will pay off.

“I think it’ll be slow, there’ll be some upsides, there’ll be some downsides, but I feel like we’ve got the structure of a football club now that would mirror any League Two set-up,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ll reap the benefits of it but it’ll be a slow burner.

“I feel like this club’s really got a solid foundation now.”

Wild has appreciated the freedom afforded him by chairman David Bosomworth in implementing his ideas.
“There’s constraints, don’t get me wrong, the chairman clearly outlines what I can and can’t do, but in terms of the football side, one of the great things about this job is that the football side of the club is left to me to oversee,” he said.

“It doesn’t happen at many places but I think the chairman deserves a lot of credit for the trust he puts in me and the staff to implement the football structure.”

Wild is happy with where the club is at, and is looking forward to what 2021 could bring.
“I think it’s an exciting time to be at the club,” he said.

“We’re building gradually, we want to be seen as, at the very least, a top-ten National League club, if not better.

“I think for the budget we’ve got, we’re certainly punching above our weight, but we’ve got to continue to punch above our weight.

“That’s the challenge. We can’t be half-a-yard off, we’ve got to be on it all the time.

“If we are, we’ve got a real chance, but if we’re not, we know the shortfalls.

“But I think it’s a really exciting time for this football club and in this football club’s history.”