FC Halifax Town: “I’ve still got a lot of gears to go” says Shaymen defender Warren

The 22-year-old initially joined The Shaymen on a short-term deal for the start of the season after spending pre-season with them, but that deal has now been extended for the rest of the campaign.

Warren can play centre-back or right-back, but looks set for an extended run at right-back following Jay Benn’s long-term injury.

“It’s a tough injury for Jay because he was playing so well, but I’ve got to take the opportunity and do as well as he was doing,” Warren said.

“I just want to play as many games as I can because I’ve not played that many.

“For me, it’s about enjoying my football, which I am doing, and winning.

“I just can’t wait for the next game.

“Football’s all about playing with confidence, and sometimes you can lack confidence when you’ve not been playing, which I haven’t in the last couple of years.

“But now I’m here, I feel more confident as the games are going on, and I’ve still got a lot of gears to go.”

Warren was at Manchester United, the team he supports, from the age of eight to 20.

“It was a great experience, from eight to 20, you can imagine the players I’m seeing day in, day out in training, you just want to be like them and be as good as them,” he said.

“In my age group there was Ro-Shawn Williams, who plays for Doncaster, Callum Whelan, who plays for Oldham, above me there was Rashford, Tuanzebe, Jimmy Dunne, who plays for QPR, and there were a few below like Gomes, Chong, Levitt and Brandon Williams.

“When we got to about 18 we’d train with the first-team on Mondays.

“If you got selected to go over it was just a chance to prove yourself because you were playing with great players, you wanted to show them you were good as well.”

Warren was captain of the under 18s for two years, but says the time was right for him to leave in July 2019.

“It was hard to deal with because United’s all I knew for my whole life but it was the right time for me to leave and experience the real world, because United’s a big bubble, everything’s done for you,” he said.

“You’ve got to move on at some point and play men’s football.”

After leaving United, Warren joined Salford with former United youth coach Warren Joyce.

“He was a good manager, he did well for me and believed in me,” Warren said.

“It didn’t quite work out for me there so I went out on loan to Radcliffe, got good first-team football under my belt with Jon Macken and Frank Sinclair, two experienced people that played in the Premier League.

“Then I moved onto Boston, stepping up in leagues, and then Covid happened.”

Warren’s last game before joining Halifax was in January for Boston.

“It was weird, training, then being told you can’t go to training because the league’s not letting you train, so I’m just at home, keeping fit,” he said.

“You just didn’t know what you were going to do but you just tried to keep fit because you didn’t know what was round the corner.”

And that sense of uncertainty carried on into the summer.

“I already knew Milly, so he’d said to maybe come in over the summer and see what happened, so I did and it was a great decision for me.”

Warren said there a few other National League teams in for him, but said the vision of the club and the strong team spirit in the dressing room swayed him towards Halifax.

And he believes he is proving game-by-game that he is good enough to play in the National League.

“When I was at Radcliffe I was getting player of the month and man of the matches, so you know you’re better than that level,” he said.

“So then it’s about challenging yourself at Conference North, which I did. I didn’t play in as many games as I might have because of Covid.

“Now the gaffer’s given me a chance here and I think I’m proving myself that I can do it.”

Warren praised the coaching of Town boss Pete Wild and assistant manager Chris Millington, who he is enjoying working under.

“They’re great, really detailed work for me, and everyone else, to improve as a player, positional work,” he said.

“As you go on as a player in a first-team football environment, you kind of do that yourself, but they make sure everything’s right before a game, you know your job, so that come a game day, there’s no complaining about what’s happened, everyone knows their role.

“It proved it on Saturday, everyone knew their role and we outworked them, outfought them and we won.”

Warren is happy with his role at right-back, where he has impressed since replacing Benn.

“I feel like I’m comfortable in both but in this team I feel like I’m better at right-back because you’ve got good centre-backs like Naz (Niall Maher), Bradbury and Debrah, good players, and they’re taller and stronger than me in the air,” he said.

“For me, I think being right-back and getting up and down, that’s the one for me.”

And Warren is optimistic about what the season holds for Town.

“With this bunch of lads, we can achieve anything, but we just take it game-by-game,” he said.

“We know we’re a good team but there are other good teams in the league.

“I don’t think any team has the spirit we have.”