FC Halifax Town: "Of course we're the underdogs, I kind of like that mantra" - Shaymen boss Wild on the race for promotion

Under Chris Wilder in 2006, Neil Aspin in 2014 and Pete Wild in 2020, The Shaymen came the closest to renewing their membership of the Football League since it lapsed in 2002, bowing out in the play-offs each time.

But, 20 years on from relegation into non-league, could Halifax finally be on their way to redemption?

Town might be underdogs in the race for promotion in the National League, but that's the way Pete Wild likes it.

"Of course we are (underdogs), one million per cent," said the Town boss.

"Everybody wants us to do well, I get that many messages from other clubs and people at other clubs saying 'we're desperate for you to do well because you prove that money isn't everything'.

"Of course we're the underdogs. I kind of like that mantra.

"All the pressure's on the big boys because they've spent all the money. There's no pressure on us.

"There's only pressure that we put on ourselves and I alleviate that pressure by just telling them to go out and play and enjoy it."

Wild says he takes a lot of pride and satisfaction from his side being in the thick of the breakaway group at the top of the table.

"Yeah. People hate me saying this, but us competing with the big boys in this league is fantastic," he said.

"I'm dead pleased for the group, for the club, for the owner, for the fans, that we're fighting at the right end of the table.

"When we came to this club we were fighting at the wrong end of the table.

"So the transformation has been fantastic, but it could all peter away if we get too far ahead of ourselves.

"We've just got to take each games as it comes, and our only thought process at the moment is Dover this Saturday."

Assessing the top of the National League, Wild said: "Tight, all to play for. But I still honestly believe it's all about getting points on the board.

"I'm over the moon we're at fifty. I want to be a sixty in the next four games for it to be two points a game, and that's my only thought process.

"My only thinking is 'can we, in the next four games, get to sixty points?', because that will be two points a game."

Wild is confident his squad will remain level-headed in the maelstrom of a promotion race.

"I think they're a very pragmatic, professional group. I think they're a really good group and they've shown that across the season," he said.

"I think there'll be no problems, and with the people we've dropped into the group that have been there and done it, to keep people level-headed.

"Obviously we've got to ignore the outside noise and just concentrate on what we do. That's why we made a pact as a squad that we just concentrate game-by-game.

"Last week we got our values out, and we talked about what we wanted to be - tactically aware, professional mentality and a winning mentality.

"Those three things will not change and it was important I revisited them because I think it's just a timely reminder that 'what's got us here is this, and don't come away from it'."

"Mentalities do change. The teams that can't go up or down start to come off the gas, the teams who can, they've got to remain focused.

"There'll be surprise results here and there, and whatever I say to them, they do look at league tables.

"It infuriates me, but they look at league tables and they'll be thinking about the ifs, buts and maybes.

"But the only thing we can control is our games, so we've just got to go out and hopefully get enough points on the board that sees us where we want to be."

When asked what characteristics his Town team will need during the rest of the campaign, Wild said: "Momentum and belief I think come hand in hand, I think keeping high standards, and patience, will be key.

"In those tight games, where everybody's nervous around them, that patience, staying level-headed, all those things will come into it.

"But the biggest thing is a bit of luck along the way. If you have that, you've got a chance."

Wild has been linked with various managerial vacancies this season due to the impressive job he has done at The Shay, but is trying to ignore such speculation.

"If the team keeps doing well then maybe so, but as I keep saying, the team are doing well and because the team are doing well, the person at the head of that will get talked about," he said.

"But my job is to make sure that my staff and players are the best they can be every day.

"If they are, then we'll keep doing well and the outside noise, I hope will go away, but I doubt it will, so I've just got to control myself and know that my job is to do the best I can for FC Halifax Town, and I'm trying my best to do that every day."

Wild believes his side has as much chance as anybody else in sealing promotion from the fifth tier.

"Because the lads have got themselves into a position to give us as much chance as everybody," he said.

"It's 11 v 11 every week, if we're lucky, and we have to be behave like that and know that, on our day, we can turn anybody over in this league, as we've proved across 26 games so far."