"We've proved we can compete" - Town boss Millington on his two years in the job, progression and the season ahead

The problem of fighting for promotion on a modest budget isn't new to the Town boss, who is about to begin his sixth season at the club, and his third as manager.

The majority of clubs in the National League can outspend The Shaymen, but Millington retains his belief that the Football League can be reached.

"Absolutely, we've proved we can compete," he says.

"Can we be successful with the budget we've got - that's ultimtely the question.

"We have a suitable training facility, we have balls, bibs, cones, we have excellent, outstanding staff because they're able to produce a very competitive team out of tight constraints.

"We've proved we can do it, and I'm confident we'll do it again this year.

"The areas that are more in need of development are those processes that allow us to engage with players earlier to try to sign them on rather than lose them at the end of their contract, I think that's an area we need to improve.

"And we need to make sure we look after the staff we've got because they are truly excellent, high performing staff.

"We have a smaller staff than, I think, any other team in the division.

"Most of the staff have a second job to make ends meet and if we lose them, they'd be very difficult to replace because they do perform at a very high level.

"So there are certain things, probably more away from the playing budget, that we need to address as we increase the revenue of the club.

"And if we can find a way to reward successful players with longer-term contracts, then that has to be a real focus for us as well."

After helping Halifax to two play-off campaigns in three years as assistant manager to Pete Wild, Millington achieved a top seven finish last season before losing to Solihull Moors, a year on from Town's unforgettable FA Trophy final win against Gateshead at Wembley.

"They've been largely good," he said, reflecting on his two years in the job.

"I think first season was obviously challenging for lots of reasons but a top-half finish and a Trophy win ultimately was reward for the hard work and the way we faced the challenges thrown our way, and there were a lot of them, and very unique ones that season.

"So that's not a bad return, a top-half finish and a Trophy win.

"Second season, different types of challenges, obviously things that happened with the pitch and games, obviously losing the lad who was probably our best player at the time and top goalscorer in Milli Alli halfway through the season.

"A lot of teams might have struggled with that but, all in all, a play-off finish in the face of quite a lot of challenges unique to Halifax Town, we coped really well and ultimately had a relatively successful season.

"It begs the question 'how successful could we have been without some of those challenges?' but hopefully this season will be one where all we have to deal with is the challenges once the players cross the white line and not the other side of the white line.

"If that's the case, there's no reason why we shouldn't be successful."

Wild's three years at Town made him the longest-serving manager since Neil Aspin, a tenure which Millington will match at the end of the coming season.

"I think we operate in three year cycles at this club," says the Town boss.

"We have to deal with losing players when we have a successful season and then we have to build again and it takes time because we can't just go out and get established League Two or National League players, we have to do it more organically.

"I'd say this team should represent me and Coops (Andy Cooper, assistant manager) more than the teams in the previous two years because we've had more time to build.

"So I'm hopeful this'll be a really successful year and I think the thing we've managed to achieve over the last two years, which no-one will see the benefit of until now, is establishing a young squad on longer-term deals that we get to see more of the benefit of, rather than them coming in, having a period of development and playing well and then moving on.

"We should be in a position where we can see greater benefit from having them in the building."

Millington says he hopes this season's side will build on the foundations that have been laid over the last two years.

"In terms of how we play, I think we saw it in spells last season, the high energy, the ability to go after teams, the ability to dominate them athletically," he says.

"And then in spells, we were very good in the second-half of the season in controlling possession.

"So now, we want to be those things and add goals to it.

"You've seen over the last two seasons what an effective team we can be out of possession, as long as we maintain that and build on what we did well with the ball last season, I think you should see a team that does all facets of the game well."

As well as financial constraints, Town's perennial battle with injuries will be another obstacle to overcome.

"We're going to be vulnerable to that because we are a young squad, so a lot of these lads are coming out of under 21s football where they've not been fully conditioned to the riguors of National League football, because the 21s programmes don't prepare them well enough physically to cope with the demands," says Millington.

"I'm not talking about the contacts and the heavy tackles, I'm talking about the amount of running they have to do, and the amount of explosive running, and what have you.

"So that can be an issue, and we're also often taking lads out of part-time football, which again, takes time to build up their conditioning.

"But lads have been arriving at eight o'clock during pre-season to do extra physical preparation, and then there's gym work and post-session, they're back in the gym.

"So there's an awful lot of work going on this seaosn to try and prepare them physically to be able to deal with the rigours.

"And also, which is another credit to the chairman, we've largely got a squad in place from the beginning of pre-season, so pretty much all the squad have had that opportunity to get fully physically prepared.

"We've also invested in a much more advanced GPS system, which will give us a lot more detail on the physical preparation of the players, where they're up to and what they're putting their bodies through, so we can make better decisions about when players might need to come out.

"A great example of that last season was Angelo Cappello away at Ebbsfleet, he was due to come out of the team the following game and because of the information we had on him, we were confident we could get him through one more game.

"Unfortunately that wasn't the case and he did his hamstring, but hopefully situations like that, we will be better prepared for because of the investment that's gone into the equipment."

As if finances and fitness weren't enough to contend with, another f - finishing - is something Town will need to improve on.

"We always want to score more goals, don't get me wrong, and I think if we'd kept Milli Alli, then we would have scored more goals last season," Millington says.

"But there are certain pragmatic decisions that have to be made for the best interests of the club, and a lad who was into the last three or four months of his contract and you get a significant offer for him, it's a very difficult situation to be in.

"Had he been here, we'd have scored more goals, had Adan George not got sent-off at Bromley when he was just starting to hit a run of form, I'm confident he'd have scored more goals.

"Had Jamie Cooke not been as injured as he was, he'd have scored more goals.

"We know there's situations that hamper that, we know that when we adjusted the shape and we started to play a more possession based style, we created more chances, made more penalty box entries and ultimately scored more goals.

"So we know we can do that, but there's two sides to the game. One, you've got to keep the ball out of your own net and two, you've got to put it in the opposition net.

"So we've got to pay attention to both of those things and make sure we're good at both of them."

After finishing 11th and then 7th in the last two seasons, what would success look like this campaign?

"We've always got to look to build, we've got to progress, we've got to try and improve on what we've done the previous year," Millington says.

"We'll set our stall out with the intention of doing everything we can to try and win the league, but within that we've got to recognise that there are 23 other teams trying to do exactly the same thing and when it really comes down to it, the only thing we've really got control over is how well we prepare, how well we get ourselves ready for the first game and making sure we do everything we can to get three points out of that.

"It was very much my belief when I started out as a manager that you only focus on the next game but it's amazing how quickly you get distracted by what a good run can do for you and what your objective is for the season.

"But the game always has a way of knocking you back down to earth and reminding you that all that really matters is the upcoming game and making sure you're as well prepared as you possibly can be for that game."

It's sometimes easy to forget this is Millington's first management role in professional football, and he's not survived this long in the role without some testing times.

But he is no doubt that he's a better manager now than when he took the job.

"Yeah, miles better," he says. "More pragmatic.

"I see other managers coming into their first roles and, with all the best intentions in the world, wanting to solve every issue they see around the club and the connection between club and fans and what have you.

"And ultimately, the main job is to make sure you get the fundamentals of the first-team right

"I've learned probably the hard way how the distractions of the job can really be a detriment to what actually goes on on the pitch.

"There's all kinds of people and situations trying to pull your attention away from what's important, which is what goes on over the white line on a Saturday afternoon, and building towards that.

"That's very much the first thing in my mind now and at the forefront of everything we do, is preparing everything so we can be the best we can possibly be to get three points on a Saturday afternoon.

"The rest, if I can help and take care of other situations then, of course, I will, but I have to be willing to let other people take care of things and trust they'll do the best they can."

Only six managers in the fifth tier have been in post longer than Millington, with the settled nature of their backroom team and most of their squad to The Shaymen's advantage compared to most of their rivals.

"I think the big strength of Halifax Town is consistency, and that starts at the top, it starts with the chairman, his consistent behaviours and consistent approach," Millington says.

"I know some things about the club people find frustrating, but from a football perspective, consistency is a really important trait, especially behind-the-scenes.

"You need that stability so that people can perform to their best, and it's not just blown about by the prevailing emotion at the time.

"If everybody's down and upset and you've got a chairman who reacts to that, then you've got a problem.

"Likewise, if everybody's high and riding the crest of a wave and a chairman overreacts to those positive emotions, it can cause problems in the longer-term.

"So it filters down from the chairman that there's consistency throughout, which allows me and Coops to build and plan longer-term, and what we've done with that is try to put in a really solid foundation so that, long after we're gone, there should be a base and an identity to the playing side that gives the club consistency and stability."

Chesterfield quickly established themselves as the team to beat in the division last season and eventually won the league by 12 points.

But Millington isn't expecting a repeat scenario.

"It's really hard to see who the runaway teams would be this season," he says.

"Oldham have made some progress with their signings, Forest Green have spent a bit of money, Sutton are going at it, then you've got Barnet who got their squad in place really quickly and made some good signings.

"But there's no-one who stands out as a real big-hitter like we've had in recent seasons with the likes of Stockport, Wrexham, Notts County and Chesterfield.

"I think it'll be a much more open season this season, where we'll see teams being able to take points off anyone and vice versa, being able to drop points at the most unexpected places.

"Our approach has got to be focusing on us, focusing on the upcoming game, focusing on transferring some of that consistency we've got behind-the-scenes onto our performances on the pitch."

Whatever lies ahead, Millington says he has refocused, re-energised and reset, and is ready for another crack at squaring the circle.

"You look around the group, it's a really exciting group of players," he says.

"You can't help but be excited when you look at the players who've undergone their first significant introductory season to National League football.

"You can include Max Wright and Adam Senior in that group, then you've got Kane Thompson-Sommers, Jack Evans, Ryan Galvin, Flo Hoti, I think Adan George will be similar.

"We've got other exciting players in the group who've been here a bit longer, so you look at the group and you think 'it is a really exciting group of players to have the opportunity to work with' and prove that Halifax Town is a really progressive football club in the way we approach building squads and competing with teams who might have bigger fanbases and bigger budgets and better resources.

"We don't need that, we just need a group of lads who are hungry, who are willing to learn and who want to go out and leave it all out there on the pitch."