"Nobody works as hard as us as a staff in the league" - Goalkeeping coach Oakes on Millington, Friday night quizzes and the season so far

Oakes, known as Pogs to all at The Shay, joined the club in the summer of 2020, and combines his role at Halifax with running his own goalkeeping academy in Greater Manchester.

He can usually be seen warming up with Town stopper Sam Johnson before matches, as well as nervously checking a flip-pad on the touchline as The Shaymen prepare to defend set-pieces, in just two of his areas of responsibility at the club.

"We've not got a giant staff so it's about mucking in and doing whatever you can," he said.

"With the set-pieces, Milly (Chris Millington) will work with them on the training ground and get them to where he wants them, and then on a matchday, he's got that much going on that he'll just say 'Pogs, make sure they're in the right positions'.

"Some games, especially the away ones when we don't take another keeper, I've got to jump in for the units (work), throw myself around for a few minutes during the warm-ups, then run back in and get the markers written down for the set-pieces and then get back out.

"By the time it gets to three o'clock I'm dripping in sweat!

"Then I've got my little folder, it's kick-off and you're engrossed in the game.

"But I love that part of it, especially the set-pieces.

"We try to create something o the training ground to give us that little edge.

"It was interesting against Dorking the other week because at times they left three up when defending a corner, and we were like 'hang on a minute, we haven't come a cross this before, what's the plan?', so we were kept on our toes with that one."

Oakes was also cited as vital by Town boss Millington during the club's summer recruitment, where they would both speak to potential new signings about joining.

"During last season I did have a couple of offers to go elsewhere, and at the time Milly didn't have a number two as Coops (Andy Cooper) hadn't joined yet," Oakes said.

"So it was just Milly on his own and he said 'I'm going to need your help Pogs'.

"When we were meeting players, we met them at the Shay and he asked me to come along, which I enjoyed, just trying to convince them about what we do at Halifax.

"We're lucky because even players we've released have given us a glowing report and said the coaching staff were excellent.

"I bumped into Zak Dearnley the other week, who was saying how much he enjoyed it at Halifax and how much respect he has for the staff."

Oakes and Millington are now into their third season working together, something which the goalkeeping coach says was a big factor in his decision to stay at the club.

"That was the most important thing, when I did get a couple of offers in the summer to move elsewhere, that you realise what you've got, especially the relationship with Milly, is brilliant," he said.

"He's an absolute pleasure to work with because when you've got input, he'll listen to it.

"Nobody's afraid to come up with new ideas, so if Coops, Sarg or I have got a new idea, he'll listen.

"And he'll say 'challenge me', he doesn't want three yes men going 'yeah, that's brilliant', he'll say 'challenge me, give me something, why should we do this, why should we do that?'

"With the goalkeeping side of things, he'll trust me and say 'go on Pogs, you do what you need to do with the keepers, I'm not a keeper coach, you do your thing'.

"So he's an absolute pleasure to work with, we drive in (together) every morning.

"We've got a very good relationship, as all the staff have, we get on really well."

It's a bond between Oakes and Millington partly forged on the daily commute across the M62 from Greater Manchester.

"The lads absolutely rip into me because Milly drives me in!" Oakes said.

"Last year Pete used to pick me up from my house, so everyone was like 'oh Pogsy's too tight to pay for fuel, his chauffer's here!'

"I'll be honest, his driving's not the best. I'm quite reserved and sensible, I'm all about the fuel consumption, but my imaginary break on the M62 is going every morning with the gaffer!

"Sometimes I do offer to drive because I just want a nice, relaxing drive into work!"

Oakes was one of the voices urging Millington to apply for the manager's role in the summer when predecessor Pete Wild departed.

"As soon as we found out Pete was off, I encouraged Milly and said 'let's go for it, you've got to go for it mate, you know the players, the players respect you, you know the club inside-out, we have a good relationship with the youth team'," Oakes said.

"I encouraged him, I said 'go on, go for it'.

"There's always that worry with change, who's coming in, will they bring their own people in?

"We weren't too sure what was going on and he had to go through the process with the chairman, but I pushed him to apply for it and he then asked me to stay."

Oakes says Millington's replacement as number two, Andy Cooper, has fitted in well to the club's backroom team.

"Coops is excellent, he's very knowledgeable, a very bright young coach, he's come in with loads of new ideas," he said.

"He's not a ranter and a raver, he'll stand back, assess it and then he'll do what he needs to do.

"But he's very good.

"It was tricky for Coops because all the staff stayed the same, so when we didn't start to well he might have been panicking, thinking 'hang on a minute, what's going on here?'

"But he's fantastic, he's got a lot of good ideas."

Town's backroom staff were severely tested by the club's dreadful start to the season, during which Millington came under fire from a section of supporters.

"We had Barnet on the opening day and we were very poor, the week after we had Torquay home, came away with a 1-0 defeat and were clapped off," Oakes recalled.

"You thought 'there's no panic, it's two defeats but no panic' and then suddenly it was five games to even score a goal and it was two wins in 11 and you thought 'oh god'.

"We were still confident though, we were kind of thinking 'are we not seeing something here?' because we were very confident we'd turn it around.

"I remember saying it's a marathon, not a sprint because we could see progress, the players we had, we knew the group was good.

"We were just thinking 'what is going on here?' and then the big low point was when the fourth goal's gone in against Woking at home.

"Then you're thinking 'how are we going to turn this around now?'

"We had York on the Tuesday so we had a quick turnaround, so we didn't have time to dwell on it, it was a quick turnaround to put things right.

"It clicked against, a couple of changes here and there, and then we've gone on a run of two defeats in 11, six home wins on the bounce.

"In those six home wins we've only conceded two, so it just seems to have clicked."

Oakes added: "I think a lot of credit has to go to the players because they could have easily just felt sorry for themselves.

"Let's be realistic, if you're not winning football matches there are going to be changes, so the players could have gone 'well, somebody's going to be coming in soon' and could have downed tools, but they didn't.

"We regrouped, so a lot of credit has to go to them.

"I think the pressure was off going into the York game, there was no expectation, it was like 'we're not scoring, we're going to get beat again', the pressure was off and they just went out all guns blazing, and since then, it's clicked for them.

"But we as staff were always very confident, we said 'it is going to turn', you just hope it turns very quickly."

Oakes saw first-hand the impact Town's poor form had on Millington.

"You felt for him because he absolutely loves the club and he's got the best interests of the club at heart," he said.

"He was so desperate, and still is, for the club as a whole to do well, he's desperate for the players to do well, especially the young ones who've come through like Kian Spence and Jamie Cooke.

"We've worked with them for a few years now and you know what they can do, so he was desperate for them to do well.

"Yeah, sometimes it was like a councillor. Sometimes we were sat on Saddleworth Moor going 'right, what are we going to do now, what is the plan?'

"But again, we didn't get too low and now we're on a decent run we're not going to run away with ourselves and get too high.

"But a lot of credit had to go to the players as well and one or two of them especially were like 'right, we need to do something here'."

Oakes says Town's backroom staff is a close-knit, hard-working team.

"The camaraderie within the staff is very, very good," he said.

"We understand what we've got in terms of facilities and budget, so we just get on with it.

"Sarg is absolutely brilliant, I don't know where he finds the time to do a lot of what he does.

"He'll come in in a morning and say 'oh, did you watch the Brazilian third division game last night?' and I'm like 'Sarg, I didn't even know they were playing'.

"Dylan does an absolutely amazing job on the analysis side.

"We're very confident that nobody works as hard as us as a staff in the league. That's not arrogance, we do put in 100 per cent, every single day in what we do.

"Dylan will watch the last five games of the opponents and he tells you all sorts.

"When the Barnet game was called off on the Friday, the gaffer was like 'let's go watch a game instead', so I'm reading out the fixtures in the Northern Prem or the Conference North, and every team I mention, the gaffer's mentioning a couple of players because the research he does is just ridiculous as well."

Another area of responsibility for Oakes is his role of quizmaster on away trips, occasions which he says can almost get as competitive as the matches the following day.

"There was a League Two player I was working with who got an offer to go into the National League, not with us, and he was quite keen," Oakes explained.

"He looked at the fixtures and went 'how much travelling is there in this league!'

"He said to me 'I do not know how you do that over a year, the amount of miles you rack up'.

"I noticed after a few months in my first year that it would be the evening meal and then the lads were getting off to their rooms, and there wasn't really anything for them to do.

"Obviously we can't go to the pub or anything, can't hit the gym, so I said 'let's lighten the mood' and we started the quiz.

"I wasn't too sure how the players would take to it, but now - there was uproar the other week when we travelled down to Yeovil because the England game (against USA) was on on the Friday night so the quiz got cancelled. There was uproar!

"They take it so seriously. One team had Harvey Gilmour doing a medical a few weeks ago where they were asking him quiz questions before they recruited him.

"They have their little teams of four and there's a lot of chopping and changing.

"Warby has his team, and he's 100 per cent in it, he'll question the questions.

"Then you've got Summers and Sam, who are very good, very strong.

"Aaron the physio, when we have the dingbats round, is absolutely ridiculous.

"There was uproar because Sam Johnson had a few weeks of winning and they thought the questions were more aimed at his era.

"I struggle as well when do the music intro round and, let's say it's Oasis or Blur from the 90s, some of the younger lads now are saying 'why do we always have these older tunes?' and it's a realisation that I am getting old.

"But the quiz is brilliant, we get the gold jacket on and it gets lively.

"The lads are all in, they absolutely love it."

All of which Oakes feels helps to forge a greater team spirit among the squad.

"Good changing rooms win leagues and get promoted," he said.

"You can chuck all the money you want at stuff, but if you've not got a good changing room, you're going to be struggling."

Oakes admits his time at Town so far has been a "massive learning curve", but one he has relished.

"I've got a couple of young coaches who work for me privately and I always say 'send you emails, letters, texts and phone calls out and go into football clubs because you'll learn more in a week or two at a football club than you will on any coaching course'," he said.

"I sent emails and texts out years ago to clubs, I went into Morecambe and other clubs with my notepad and pen.

"I hope I've got better and I think there's been a big improvement with Sam (Johnson) as well.

"We're doing alright this season on the clean sheets as well, we're on nine so we'll try and double that up before the end of the season."

And Oakes feels Town's keeper Sam Johnson has progressed over the last two-and-a-half season as well.

"I always say there's nobody in that league I'd take over Sam," Oakes said.

"When we di the analysis, every week, no matter who we're playing, the opposition keeper always seem to chuck one in.

"We don't have that with Sam, he's steady away.

"He doesn't maybe pull off the big star blocks or the De Gea saves, but what he does do, he's very switched on so because of his experience, he doesn't need to make those saves.

"He can anticipate where the ball's going, he's improved massively, things like his distribution.

"He's been brilliant."