Chorley have changed tack in bid to take club to the next level

The misery of last season’s relegation has certainly altered the thinking of the people in power at Chorley Football Club.

The Covid-19 crisis is to the forefront of everybody’s minds, not just in football, but life in general.

The urgency to get the disease under control and minimise the risk for people means things like the beautiful game have very much taken a backseat.

But that’s not to say that Magpies co-owners Ken Wright and Graham Watkinson, chief executive Terry Robinson and manager Jamie Vermiglio have not been looking towards the future.

There is certainly a slight sense of injustice within the corridors of Victory Park that they were one of just three clubs within the entire English non-league pyramid to suffer relegation last season.

The National League decided against null and voiding the season instead making a decision on its final league placings via an unweighted points per game system. Being denied the opportunity of completing the campaign and saving themselves was a bitter pill to swallow especially as other clubs in similar positions in the divisions below have been handed a second chance.

But on the other hand, the club’s hierarchy have accepted that it would have taken a remarkable set of results and circumstances for the Magpies to avoid the drop even if the season had been played to a finish.

Marooned at the bottom of the National League table for virtually the entire campaign, they were a whopping 13 points behind the nearest club to them – AFC Fylde.

After enjoying a decade of almost permanent success – where the club rose through the pyramid courtesy of three promotions in eights years alongside countless play-off campaigns, cup runs and trophy successes – last season certainly came as a rude awakening. Even in spite of the effects of Covid-19 and the potential consequences arising out of that, there was no hiding the fact that the club had struggled last season

The general feeling was the club needed to change course if it was to succeed at the highest level of non-league football.

The part-time model had served the club well through the lower leagues but when it came to trying to compete at the top table, it was very much found wanting.

Up against big clubs, many of whom had enjoyed stints in the Football League and were operating as full-time concerns, the semi-professional Magpies were unable to compete.

Over the summer, the club has taken stock and decided to alter its infrastructure.

There has certainly been a changing of the guard within the playing squad at Victory Park with a raft of new signings replacing many of the ‘old guard’.

Stalwarts such as Andy Teague, Jake Cottrell, Courtney Meppen-Walter and Adam Blakeman had provided sterling service over the years but maybe found last season a step too far in terms of coping with the demands of playing at the high end of non-league football as well as holding down a full-time job.

While the club may still be operating on a part-time basis, this summer Vermiglio has targeted a profile of player who is younger in age and will find it far easier to leave their jobs behind and turn full-time should the Magpies return to the National League at some point in the near future.

The club is also putting plenty of resources into its youth development programme.

They have created a player pathway scheme, which will enable youngsters to continue with their educational studies as well developing their football abilities.

Starting from Under-14s to Under-21s level, it is hoped that the scheme will provide the club with a regular stream of players capable of holding down a spot in the first-team squad in the future.

“There has been a big change,” said Vermiglio. “You look around the club now and there’s probably four or five players that you would recognise from previous seasons.

“We have kept a really good strong nucleus who I thought were the better players from last season.

“We offered opportunities to other members of the existing squad but they decided to go elsewhere and that’s part and parcel of football.

“But the players that we have brought in, I am really satisfied with.

“There’s been a real shift in mentality and it’s one I am really enjoying.

“We have got lads who are really young, hungry – they listen intently and want to learn more about the game.

“They want to learn about how we do things and what we want from them.

“With what’s going on in the world, they are really understanding of that and they will work with the club to make sure we can sustain National League North football.

“We have got quite a lot of the Under-21s squad who I have been really impressed with in pre-season.

“It is quite likely that we will see a lot of these lads who have come through on the player pathway scheme.

“On Tuesday night in our final pre-season friendly against Burscough, we had a young lad called Malakai McKenzie, who came on and scored a goal.

“He’s come through the player pathway and signed first team forms.

“The infrastructure of the club is as strong as its ever been. We’ve got these kids teams, who are well managed and well organised, right the way up to a B-TEC structure which my assistant Andy Preece is running with a company called LLS Online.

“All of that is now in place and we are in a much stronger position infra-structure wise than we were 12 months ago.

“It is really positive news.

“We are a lot more organised, well-oiled, people behind the scenes like the chief executive Terry Robinson, they have been like a breath of fresh air organising the club from top to bottom.

“There’s really strong leadership and drive coming from the chairman and the Board.”

Despite all the best laid plans, no amount of planning can deal with something as catastrophic as a worldwide pandemic.

The premature end to last season, combined with the news that all clubs from the National League upwards are set to play behind closed doors for the next six months means the Magpies are faced with a situation they would never have imagined.

Without spectators clicking through the turnstiles, many clubs like Chorley would face extinction.

Indeed Wright revealed last week that the club could probably survive until Christmas before the money would run out.

There was a very real danger that the season would not begin this weekend – Chorley are due to face Gateshead in the FA Cup at Victory Park this weekend before their first league game in the NL North takes places at York City on Tuesday night.

If that was to be the case, then it would have been disastrous for many of the players Chorley have recruited this summer.

It appears the season will begin though after the Government agreed a financial package to help clubs through this unprecedented time.

“It’s been a difficult time,” said Vermiglio. “As soon as the first competitive ball is kicked then the players’ contracts are activated.

“If that first ball had been pushed back until November then the club would have been safe from paying the players.

“But the players would not have been safe. It’s a catch-22 situation because you have players who are relying on the club as their main employer .

“They have mortgages to pay, bills to pay like the rest of us.

“We have recruited players who are footballers. They don’t have a primary income coming from elsewhere.

“They are predominantly footballers so they are relying on the money they get through football.

“So if the season was not to start then the players would not get paid.

“How long you can do that for before the player decides to move on and look elsewhere I don’t know.

“But the security for the club is that every other club is in the same boat.”