JAMES Kinsey has seen Stalybridge Celtic develop off the field – now to do his bit and guide them to success on it.
Since last year’s takeover by Nigel Jones and Paul Bowden, Bower Fold has seen several changes to make the club better, with more to come.
But all fans want is triumph on the pitch and after falling short in their bid for promotion from the Northern Premier League’s West Division last season, eyes are set on doing it this term.
And the man in charge knows developments away from the field can bolster their aims on it.
Manager Kinsey said: “I’ve worked with Nigel before, so I know what he’s about and when we came in, we always said it was a process and would take time. It wasn’t going to happen overnight.
“You can see around the ground the changes and the transformation of everything around it – it just feels like a better football ground and a better football club.
“There are more aspects than just the football, we’ve got the social side and the community side.
“It’s there now, it’s in a good place. It’s just down to us now on the pitch to make sure we get it right.
“Last season was frustrating as we were in the play-offs until the middle of January from the second week of the season.
“We spent such a long time there and we know what it takes to be in the play-offs now as we had such a long period in there.
“And we’ve learned lessons. We had some players who we couldn’t help leaving last season, but we did swap and change too much, there’s no doubt about that.
“That was probably a knock-on effect from the start of the season. We didn’t have one single player that remained from the previous squad.
“Now we’ve kept the main core of the group we wanted to keep and we’ve added real quality around that – hopefully, we can push on.”
Some of the quality Kinsey refers to comes in the form of pre-season arrivals, including former Hyde United ace Liam Tongue.
Also at Bower Fold this season are the likes of Sean Tse, Kyle Brownhill and Jack Banister, who moved across Tameside from Mossley.
Nigel Jones made no secret of a two-year plan to get promoted – as Kinsey enters the second season, that may add pressure.
Instead, he is realistic as a number of other sides are investing as they chase success.
As he has changed the playing shape for 2024/25, he added: “There’s a lot more experience now in the group.
“There are some big names but there are seven or eight others in the league who are doing the same.
“It’s not an easy league but we’re more than happy with where we’re at.
“I’ve worked with Nigel before. We’re not daft, we recognise this isn’t something that happens overnight.
“You can have a one-year plan, an eight-year plan, it doesn’t matter. If other teams are also spending a good amount of money to try and get out of the league, it’s not so easy to just go and do it.
“There are at least seven or eight other clubs who are probably spending more than us on the budget front.
“We’ve got a healthy budget, but a lot of clubs are trying to achieve what we’re trying to achieve – that’s get up the league.
“So, we just have to compete and worry about our own ship.”