"We've proven over the back end of last season we can compete with anyone" - Town boss Millington hoping the building blocks are in place for promotion push

Yes, The Shaymen have lost another handful of first-team players in Jesse Debrah, Jack Senior, Harvey Gilmour, Kian Spence, Matty Warburton and Mani Dieseruvwe.

That was the case 12 months ago too when Niall Maher, Tyrell Warren, Kieran Green, Tom Bradbury, Jay Benn and Billy Waters all moved on.

But there is a feeling at The Shay that not all of the foundation stones have been removed this time, and that most of the young players who fought through such a challenging season to finish 11th and win the FA Trophy are still around.

Chris Millington certainly feels that this season's squad is starting to reflect his values and characteristics as a manager.

"I think in many respects it's starting to look like that," he said.

"When Pete and I first joined the club, we inherited a certain number of players and we had to sign a certain number of players very quickly.

"So that first season was very similar to last season.

"Then the second season Pete and I were together, we moulded it and it started to look a bit more like a team that reflected what we were trying to achieve, and we finished 10th that year.

"And the third season, it was more akin to what we believed we were trying to implement in terms of principles and identity.

"So we're probably at a similar stage of the process, and if we work on that blueprint taking three years, I'd argue we're a bit ahead of that now because we did manage to retain a good number of players from last season.

"Certainly between this season and next I'd expect to see a team that I can watch perform at The Shay and really see them implementing the traits and the style that best reflects me as a manager."

Given the finite resources available at Town, these things can't happen overnight.

There's a process, a journey. Lessons need to be learned over time.

"From a personal development point of view, as a manager I've got to be as much focused on the here and now as planning for the medium and longer term, as much as it sounds crazy to say it," Millington said when asked what particular lessons he'd learned from last season.

"I've got to make sure all of those three stages are given equally as much time and energy, so not only are we competitive in the here and now but we've got the ability to sustain that competitiveness and improve it going forward.

"The reason that's so important at Halifax Town is that it allows us to compete with teams with bigger budgets, bigger resources, better facilities and it helps us to build and grow.

"We've got to make sure we don't take our eye off the ball in the here and now, which is vitally important to getting us where we want to be.

"I've always known the value of the staff and the people around us, but through the testing periods we had last season, they were crucial.

"They don't get the recognition or the financial reward they deserve but they are a stellar group of people who the club would sorely miss if they were to go anywhere."

From being bottom of the table in October to lifting silverware at Wembley in May, it wasn't your average first season in senior management for Millington.

But he believes he is a better manager for it.

"Definitely, and if I wasn't that would be a problem in itself," he said.

"If I didn't learn any lessons from the experiences we had last season, which were such important lessons, then that would be a problem.

"I learned a great deal about myself, how to best use my attributes in the role to make sure I allow others to use their strengths as much as possible.

"There's been a great deal of learning which has put me in a better position to manage the club in a better way."

It is to be hoped Town are a better team for the trials and tribulations of last season too.

"We always reflect on every game thoroughly, reflect on our processes and performances," Millington said.

"The reflective process threw out some really important values and you started to see them in the performances and the way we ended up as such a resilient team.

"I was never in doubt that the processes we had in place were good, but it enabled us to adapt to difficult situations, adapt to where we felt we fell short and enabled us to turn the ship and get back on track.

"Leaning on those processes was crucial in helping us finish the season so strongly and winning the FA Trophy, so they're key things we have to lean on consistently to maintain our progress.

"We've got to recognise the run of form we had against the Chesterfields, the Wrexhams, the teams at the top end, the Woking away performance towards the end of the season, we performed well against Bromley on two occasions, we competed with Boreham Wood, who were right up there.

"So there's loads of positives that highlighted what a competitive team we can be.

"The real area for improvement is the results against the lesser teams who were struggling around the bottom of the division, we can't afford to be as weak against them this season.

"The FA Trophy run, the experience of winning at Wembley, alongside some of those fantastic victories along the way, have got to provide some motivation and encouragement for the squad going into the new season."

It wouldn't be a summer at The Shay without a few comings and goings, such is Town's place in the food chain.

But Millington feels he has emerged from the close season with a more energetic and dynamic group.

"We wanted to improve our athletic ability as a group and I think we've done that, we've got a very athletic front line," he said.

"The addition of Ryan Galvin gives us more athleticism, we've got more quality technically in the midfield I think going forward.

"We should be more athletic across the park, we should be better on the ball and we should be able to maintain possession better and hurt teams with the ball more consistently.

"So there's a number of areas that should translate into better performances and results.

"Alongside that, when we talk about needing long-term planning, we've tried to get the average age of the squad down a little bit.

"We're trying to protect the development of the squad over the medium and long term better."

Energy and dynamism were in short supply at the start of last season as The Shaymen stumbled to just two wins from their first 11 matches.

There can be no such false start this time round, and Millington is confident there won't be.

"It was tough last season, last pre-season was tougher than we realised at the time," he said.

"This season has been a much smoother transition from losing the players we lost to replacing them, because we've had a lot longer to plan and evolve the squad.

"Pete leaving so suddenly last season, all the plans he'd put in place went with him, so it was a situation where we had to react immediately and start to build things with only the bare minimum of planning.

"This season we've been planning from before Easter onwards, so we've had a lot of time to get things organised, which should translate into more consistent performances at the beginning of the season.

"We've got some challenging fixtures in August and some that will prove very difficult, I'm sure.

"But teams should also be looking at us knowing they're going to be in for a match whenever they play us, we're going to be very difficult to beat and we'll have greater athleticism this season.

"We should also have an increased technical ability across the squad.

"I'm excited and I'm looking forward to it."

Excitement was another sensation sorely lacking at times last season, but Millington believes his squad can offer plenty of that, and that Town can be competing among the league's pacesetters.

"I think it's going to be an exciting season for us across the board because the average age of the squad has come down, there's a real buzz about them as a group, they're a very exciting group of footballers," he said.

"We've proven over the back end of last season we can compete with anyone.

"We're really hopeful and there's a great deal of expectation within the camp.

"What we guarantee is that we'll go into every game trying to win it. Starting against Bromley, our objective will be to go into that game to win it.

"If we do what we expect to do then we're going to be competing right at the top end of the league throughout the season. That's certainly our objective."