Harrogate Town: 'We want to make it our destiny to be at higher levels but my dad is not a Hollywood movie star'

It goes against everything a sports team is about to want to stand still, but when the time comes to move to the next level, you have to be very careful how you do it. There are plenty of cases of clubs finding themselves moving in the opposite direction to the one they planned.

Think of Bradford City signing Stan Collymore and Benito Carbone to move up a level after securing Premier League safety in 2000. Or Leeds United "reaching for the stars" as they tried to establish themselves as a European powerhouse around the same time and instead triggered the financial problems that dragged them into League One.

Sheffield United did a £24m deal for Rhian Brewster to build on finishing ninth in the Premier League, and ended up bottom the following season. Sheffield Wednesday's over-reach in the Championship saw them deducted points which dropped them into the third tier in 2021. Today they are in crisis.

There are plenty more examples.

In these impatient times, Harrogate Town could be getting twitchy after five straight seasons – the first in their history – in League Two. Seventeenth, 19th, 19th, 13th and 18th-placed finishes have kept them above the Football League trapdoor but there will always – should always – be people wanting more.

Championship Wrexham and League One Stockport County have overtaken them up the pyramid despite Harrogate's head start.

Fortunately, as well as being one of the league's smallest-budget clubs, the Sulphurites are also one of its' more sensible.

It is why manager Simon Weaver has been in his job more than 11 years longer than the Football League's next most enduring manager, Mansfield Town's Nigel Clough.

Realism and ambition are not mutually exclusive.

Harrogate have plans to build a £2.75m training facility at Wetherby Racecourse by 2027.

The academy set up in 2021 brought in a fee this month when 18-year-old Jack Bray joined West Bromwich Albion after just two senior substitute appearances, but this summer the junior set-up has been rejigged.

Josh Falkingham is Town’s first director of youth football having hung up his boots at the end of last season. A new B team will compete in the Football League's Central League, an Under-18s BTEC Football Academy will take part in the National League Youth Alliance League.

A new away stand was the latest development in the club's small but growing Wetherby Road home.

Gates have been on the up too, with every home attendance after February in excess of 3,000.

They are undoubtedly baby steps, but without the money that has turbo-charged Wrexham, Stockport and plenty of others, it is all they can really do. Besides, Weaver thinks it suits a club who have managed to retain a non-league feel whilst establishing themselves in the Football League.

"We've got to progress at the rate which is feasible for us," stresses the 47-year-old, who has made six free transfers and a loan signing this window, and has no plans for more.

"We don't want to lose the dynamic of our united front but what's always there in equal measure is the ambition.

"We want to make it our destiny to be at higher levels and we're prepared to show the resilience to get there. It's never going to be an overnight sensation.

"It takes time and my dad (chairman Irving Weaver) is not a Hollywood movie star riding into town to completely change the outfit and it wouldn't be us. It's good to be on a journey.

"It's always an upward hike but we're proud of that and the characters we're bringing in.

"It feels good in the changing room and it's a delight to work with these lads who want to better themselves. At the heart of everything we all want to improve ourselves."

Jack Evans has come from Conference side Halifax Town, Shawn McCoulsky and Reece Smith from Maidenhead United in the tier below. January signing Tom Cursons arrived from Northern Premier League Ilkeston Town. None were squad "fillers" – Harrogate cannot afford to carry them.

If some clubs with long Football League histories and bigger fanbases sneer at Harrogate, it is important for fans of the North Yorkshire club to remember where they came from. When Simon Weaver took charge in 2009, they were in Conference North club playing at the highest level they ever had.

"We started in a school gym for one hour a week, then an old-school astroturf for two hours a week, so a new training ground would be huge for us," he points out.

"We're not quite there yet but we might be in the next two years which will be great for everything – recruitment, training and the Monday to Friday job you do as a manager."

Slow and steady – it might not be to everyone's taste, but it is the best way for Harrogate.