JOE Hare hopes history can repeat itself after rejoining Denton Town – and he may get chance to make it happen.
For the Cheshire League is weighing up whether to finish the season, with an end date of the end of June being mentioned.
League One side Town lie outside the non-league pyramid, in step seven, which may actually end up counting in their favour.
As the game discusses how to finish the season, with null and void being mentioned at all kinds of levels, Cheshire League chiefs are now considering the impact of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s latest statement, which allows grassroots sport to resume on March 29.
And there is every chance a new culmination will be agreed, with the FA having agreed to an extension to the season.
This allows leagues at step seven and below to prolong their campaigns if practical and desired and Cheshire League bosses confirmed they will hold discussions.
Denton Town joint manager Phill Cooper described the thought of a second successive null and void campaign, meaning no football until at least July as ‘ludicrous’.
And few players want to get back on the pitch more than defender Hare, who has rejoined the club from North West Counties League side Cheadle Heath Nomads.
The 32-year-old has some time to make up.
He said: “Denton Town was where I made my first senior appearance when I was 16 or 17-years-old.
“They’ve updated the ground and the clubhouse has changed a bit too. It was pretty much falling apart when I was first there.
“When I was there, we actually won the division we’re in now and were promoted to the Premier League.
“The club is doing things right and is trying to get on the up, with the eventual aim of making it into the North West Counties League.
“And Denton is definitely big enough to have a team higher up. Phil Bentley, who was manager when I was first there, has always looked at growing, things like building a stadium at the former Two Trees High School.
“We struggled for a few years but now there’s more structure. There are youth teams and reserves, even a Sunday team, so we’re heading in the right direction.
“So I’m waiting for the day we can get back playing again – I’m looking forward to it. The current thought is getting back in the middle of March with a view to games restarting at the start of April – fingers crossed.”
Hare has reasons for being thankful for the lockdown. He has recently become a father and the time allowed the latest addition to his family to settle – he has still been out on the road.
Some signs of a return have started to spring through, in that many players are starting to hit the road again running.
And the resource analyst from British Gas in Bredbury hopes they can pick up from where they left off, with a blistering run that showed why they are aiming to go up.
He added: “Coops had been asking me to come back, so I gave him a Christmas present by agreeing to. To be honest, he’d been trying to get me to come down since pre-season.
“Everyone may be a bit rusty when they get back in but we were on a really good run before the current lockdown. Hopefully we’ll pick up from where we left off and get promotion back to the Premier Division.
“Everyone wants to go up and we’ve got a good 18-20 players, so competition for places is there. Promotion is the minimum, hopefully the title.
“I played against Denton this year for Cheadle, so I know how we play and I went training a couple of times too.”
I am a die hard Denton fan and this signing stinks of desperation. We need to be looking at signing younger and hungrier players. This may well come back to haunt me but based on what I saw of him at Cheadle Nomads he was a mistake waiting to happen!
As a die hard Cheadle Nomads fan – I’m glad he has signed for Denton; I’d be glad to see the back of him – all he did for us was walk around stroking his luscious hair & talking about his knees!