AMBITIOUS Warrington Town boss Paul Carden wants to move up the leagues – and wants to do it with the Yellows.
Carden’s side suffered heartbreak in the play-offs last season, humbled 3-0 at home to Grantham Town, after a series of injuries and suspensions left them short on numbers for the run-in where they ended up finishing third having spent much of the second half of the season in second place.
The aim for this year is clear – to go one better, and secure promotion to the National League North.
“I’m ambitious, I don’t want to be in the Evo-Stik Premier League and I don’t want the club to be there either. It’s up to me to prove I can deliver and fulfil mine and the club’s ambitions.
“I’ve learned a lot in my time here, about being a manager, training, my own management style, and I know I’m not Pep Guardiola, but hopefully I can bring some success.
“Everyone goes on about it being a tough league, but we are one of the reasons its tough.
“Some clubs have kept their cards close to their chest on recruitment so we’ll only see once the games get going.
“We want to go one better last year. We want promotion.”
It’s perhaps testament to Carden’s stature as a manager that the Yellows have once again been able to attract the calibre of player that he has.
Although he will have been disappointed to have lost a number of players from last season, many of them have gone on to play at a higher level – including Sean Williams, Liam Goulding, Steve Jennings, Rory McKeown and Joe Piggott.
He has been able to keep a solid core of players from the last campaign though, including club stalwart and captain James McCarten, goalkeeper Tony McMillan, exciting young winger Dylan Vassallo and striker Tony Gray.
Carden said: “It is pleasing, and without blowing our own trumpets, I think it’s because we do a little bit extra.
“We won’t sign a player without meeting them face to face, so I can look them in the eye and get a feel for what they’re about. I just think it’s the right thing to do. It’s easy to phone or text, it’s the cheap option, but the personal touch can sometimes make the difference.
“I’m glad the budget is tight. Warrington had got a bit of a reputation as big spenders at this level, especially after the FA Cup run, and we’re starting to shake that label off now.
“We’re signing players who want to play and rejuvenate or kick-start their careers.
“I’m glad it’s not about the money and it’s more about them seeing how we do things and wanting to be a part of that.
“Seeing the lads that have moved on, that gets talked about, and they’ve been able to kick on with us. In some ways, we don’t want players who want to spend their life at Warrington Town, we want players who are hungry and want to be successful.”
Amongst the new signings are former Football League striker Richard Brodie, who scored 16 goals in this division for Rushall last season, ex-Wrexham captain Robbie Evans and the experienced David Raven, who made three appearances for Liverpool at the start of his career.
Defender Mark Roberts and winger Jack Mackreth, who is still awaiting international clearance, have been added to the squad this week with Carden hopeful of adding one more to his 18-man squad before Saturday’s opener at home to Farsley Celtic.
Carden added: “I feel like we’ve got more goals in the squad now. We’ve got Brodes (Brodie), Josh Amis who if fit is more than a handful, Jack Dunn who is a proven goalscorer and Tony Gray, who if he plays 40 games in a season he’ll score 20 goals.
“It’s not just about one player adding goals, it’s about adding goals to the team. We scored the lowest amount of goals out of any of the top nine last season.
“We’ll learn from last year. What I have learned is that you need a bit of luck.
“We were knocking on the door last year and then we lose Jay McCarten, we lost Dylan, Tony Gray, Rory through suspension, Shaun Beeley.
“We needed more firepower and now I feel we’ve got that.”
