"We've got to be ambitious, positive and be prepared to work hard for it" - Town manager Lakeland targeting another promotion push

Farsley Celtic, Northwich Victoria, Curzon Ashton and King's Lynn all achieved either promotions or play-off finishes while Lakeland was with them, a success rate the Halifax manager wants to continue at Town.

As usual, the odds of promotion will be stacked against The Shaymen due to their comparative lack of resources.

But that isn't stopping Lakeland from setting his sights on the ultimate prize.

"My expectations at every club I've been at have been to get promoted, otherwise what's the point?," he told the Courier.

"I think the day where I answer that question and say I'm happy to make up the numbers is probably the day I should retire from managing.

"We're competitive beasts, we want to do well.

"I don't say that lightly, because I know how hard this league is going to be and how much we've over-achieved as a club in the last few years.

"But my predecessors have shown we can get close to having a chance.

"What we've not managed to do is have a real go at it when we've got into that position.

"If you stand in-front of your players as a manager and say 'we're happy to finish mid-table', it's like you're accepting winning one week and losing the next, and that's not acceptable for me.

"It may happen, but I want us to try and win every single game.

"I also know that won't happen, but you've got to try.

"We've got to be ambitious, we've got to be positive and we've got to be prepared to work hard for it."

Nor are Lakeland's ambitions being dampened by any potential settling in period for a new manager, a new-look squad and a new Shay pitch.

"I don't make excuses and I don't allow the players to make excuses," said the Halifax manager.

"There are facts, and the fact is I'm new, Sam (Walker) is new, we've had a bit of a turnover in staff, we've got a massive turnover in playing personnel.

"But what we've got to do is work hard on the training ground every day to make sure we're as ready as we can be.

"Do I think we'll get better the longer the season goes on? I absolutely do, because we'll have had more time together and the players will have established that trust and those relationships with one another.

"There might be certain areas where we're a bit short, and that we might only identify once the season gets underway.

"But we won't be making any excuses, we want to do as well as we can and I do think we will get stronger as the season goes on, but that's not an excuse for us to accept starting sluggish.

"We want to start as well as we possibly can."

It will be ten years in January since Lakeland's first senior managerial role in the men's game, at Northwich Victoria, in the Northern Premier League Division One North, three steps below the National League.

"I've got my own aspirations and I don't want my journey up the pyramid to end in the National League," he said.

"As a manager, a coach, a player or a club, you always want to get as high as you possibly can and I'm no different to that.

"But I've had to work hard and I've gone through the leagues - Evo-Stik North, Evo-Stik South, won the Evo-Stik Premier.

"I've then done over 230 games in the National League North, so I think I've proven that, at every level I've been at, I've managed to get my teams towards the top end of each of them, and now the challenge is to try and do that in the National League with Halifax.

"It's an opportunity I'm grateful for and one I can't wait to get stuck into.

"I think if you don't back yourself in life, then who will?

"So I back myself to do well in this league with Halifax and I've got aspirations to climb the divisions and, hopefully, I can keep doing that."

Lakeland says that, just like there's a jump in quality from the Northern Premier League to the National League North, there's a big leap again from there up to the fifth tier.

"I think some of the teams towards the top end of the National League North can probably compete with teams towards the bottom half of the National League," he said.

"And I think the teams at the top of the National League would be able to compete with teams in League Two.

"The standard of non-league football generally, since I started managing in it, is far better than it was back then, nine or ten years ago.

"That's credit to clubs, managers, players, volunteers, supporters around the country.

"I think our pyramid in England is probably the strongest in the world, and the quality in non-league is only getting better."

Which makes Halifax's ultimate aim of reaching League Two all the more challenging.

The finances of Carlisle United, York City and Forest Green Rovers far outweigh The Shaymen's, with few clubs in the division having a lower budget than theirs.

When asked how Town can bridge that gap and remain competing at the top end of the table, Lakeland said: "Through hard work, honesty, trust, mostly the work we do on the training ground day-to-day.

"I think the environment and culture we can build and create here, it's already been started by Pete (Wild) and taken on by Milly (Chris Millington) and our challenge is to try and take it on again.

"The challenge for a manager going into any club is can you move the club forward and move the team along more than the guy who was in before you, and that's what we're working hard to do.

"There's a lot of good work been done here, there's things we've felt needed tweaking, there's things we feel could be better and that's what we're trying to implement daily.

"Hopefully over the course of a long, hard season that'll see us being able to compete with those clubs."

Lakeland and assistant Sam Walker have already started putting their stamp on things at the club in different areas, one of which is providing the chance for players to eat breakfast and lunch together either side of training.

"The players spend a lot of time here, a lot of time together and we've got fantastic facilities," Lakeland said.

"We've got quite a lot of young lads and, I'm probably showing my age here, but I think players who I was maybe managing ten years ago, socially they were stronger than this current generation.

"That's no disrespect or criticism to this generation, but technology, mobile phones, social media, it's meant a lot of youths find it difficult to hold face-to-face conversations with people and they're a bit socially awkward.

"But when you're playing in a brutal league like the National League, you've got to be able to communicate, and you've got to be resilient and together.

"So we wanted to look at ways we could enhance the social aspect of when the players are here, how they're spending time together outside the work we do on the training ground and in the gym.

"All those other moments, how can we enhance the environment and bring that spirit along even more.

"With us having so many new lads, we wanted to establish those relationships between existing players and the new players as quickly as we could, so introducing breakfast is a simple thing at a low cost to us.

"But the lads are coming in now in a morning and not loitering around the changing room, or the gym, they're coming in and having a cup of tea and some cereal or porridge, and they're socialising and communicating,

"And over the course of the season, I feel that will only bring them closer together and make us stronger as a group."

Lakeland says the way the team travels to away games will also look a bit different, to maximise the time the squad has together.

"I think quite often, it was common the team trained here and then travelled, and then you're battling the traffic on a Friday afternoon and not getting to hotels until really late, so the lads are shattered because they've been up since six or seven o'clock in the morning, so it's a case of throwing food down their neck and get to bed," he said.

"So the social aspect probably doesn't get maximised.

"But I think a lot of managers will tell you that a lot of that bonding you do as a group, of players and staff, is on the road, because you spend so much time travelling and in hotels, and you have to utilise that time.

"It's something we did at our last club and had great success, and we had a fantastic away record, which I put down to the model where we travelled in the morning, trained en route in the afternoon, at a different environment, walking into a different building, playing on a different pitch.

"Then you're getting to the hotel with a couple of hours to chill out, relax, bond and socialise, have a sleep, whatever you want to do, before the evening meal.

"I know Pogsy (Paul Oakes, goalkeeping coach) loves to do his quizzes, and Sam (Walker, assistant manager) was quizmaster at his last club, so there's probably going to have be rock, paper, scissors for who takes on the role.

"But it's important you go into those trips relaxed and ready rather than fatigued and leggy."

Lakeland is hoping the hard work that has been done during pre-season training will pay dividends once the season starts.

"We've tweaked the schedule a bit so there's a bit more of a rigid schedule, and there's routine for the players," he said.

"Training's been hard, it's been tough, it's been intense and competitive.

"That's what we demand, that we train to the maximum every day, whether it's an hour session or a 90 minute session.

"That work ethic and application, day after day, and having consistent standards.

"Not allowing little lapses or bad habits like laziness or cutting corners.

"I saw it a bit in week one, but we addressed it, spoke about it and since then, the players have been absolutely bang on.

"Hopefully those little one per cents will help us do a bit better than maybe we have in the past."

All of which, Lakeland hopes, will lead to that ultimate aim of promotion, or as close to it as possible.

The Town manager says the fans have a role to play if the club is to do beter than just making up the numbers, but accepts a strong backing from the supporters will need to be earned.

On what his message to the Halifax faithful would be, Lakeland said: "Just get behind the team.

"We've got to really make some noise at The Shay and make it as difficult a place for teams to come as possible.

"I think it's fair to say we have struggled at The Shay in the last couple of seasons.

"The pitch could have been one reason but that's not an excuse anymore.

"The team's got a better chance of being strong on it if the supporters in the stands are getting right behind them.

"For them to do that, we're well aware that we've got to give them something to get behind, but from day one, I've said I would try and build a team that was hard-working, honest, that had loads of legs and was full of energy.

"And I feel like we've shown signs of being that type of team in pre-season, and hopefully we can take that into the season and give the supporters something to really get behind.

"I want them to wake up on a Saturday morning and look forward to coming and watching their team play.

"That's the challenge for me, the staff and the players, to make sure that we get them coming through the gates at The Shay really excited to watch the team."