By Matt Badcock
Richard Money was in good form on his return to management. The new Hartlepool United boss is refreshed and ready to go even joking about taking inspiration from Harry Redknapp's I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here triumph.
“It's my wife's line actually, I can't really take claim of it,” Money smiles when The NLP catches up with him on Thursday evening. “But if Harry Redknapp can do that aged 71 then this at 63 should be a walk in the park.
“You're not sure what you're going to get in the jungle – you know what you're going to get here!”
Pools fans will crown Money, who takes over from Matthew Bates, as their King of the National League jungle should he deliver the promotion back to the Football League they so desperately crave.
The similarities with some of Money's previous jobs are striking and he delivered two promotions at Walsall and Cambridge United haven taken over struggling clubs.
Before he took the U's to an FA Trophy and play-off winning double in 2014, he had a win percentage at Luton Town of more than 50 per cent.
The remit is the same at the Super Six Stadium to revitalise a fallen Football League club still coming to terms with their current position in English football. Acceptance is often the big turning point.
Lottery
“I think that's the first bit,” Money says. “There is a stigma about Non-League, wrongly in my view. People underestimate it and we know that if you underestimate it, you do so at your peril. You get smacked in the face or kicked up the backside – that's what happens.
“So there has to be an acceptance of where you are first and get through that denial stage. Then start to renew and regenerate to go forward. I think that's where the club is at and I hope that's where I can help them to do that.
“Within the club they are beginning to [accept it] and I'm guessing some of the supporters are starting to realise it also.
“As ever at a club like this, the support-base is huge. We have to get them on our side – and I'm not saying they're not – to help us move forward in the right direction because it takes everyone at the club to do that.”
Money believes the National League is a one-of-a-kind competition and, because of the single automatic promotion spot before the lottery of play-offs, the hardest to get out of.
“It's not going to be easy,” Money says. “The league is strong this year. There's always clubs like ourselves who drop into it and there's always clubs like Salford or Fleetwood or Crawley, or whoever else it might have been in the past, who have that dream they can be a League club.
“So it makes this league unique. We've spoken about it loads of times before. People talk about the Championship to the Premier League as being the biggest hurdle, but it's only because of the money on offer and the profile.
“People who have worked at various levels know this is the toughest league to get out of because of the rules of the competition, the type of clubs that fall into it and the type of clubs from a Non-League background who have that burning ambition to be a League club. It's a very tough league because of it.
Confidence
“I was pretty keen in the interview to make them understand that you've got to be all things to all seasons in this league. If you think you've got one way of playing or one type of player, then it's not enough.
“You've got to meet various challenges on various days. Sometimes the pitches are not great, sometimes the weather's not great, sometimes the environment is not very welcoming. You've got to roll your sleeves up and get on with it.
“If you can play good football on top of that then all well and good. But if you can't meet those challenges then it's very difficult.”
Defender Harvey Rodgers has joined on a one-month loan deal from Accrington Stanley, but Money feels he has inherited a good nucleus in the squad. His first task, he says, is to make them better and instil confidence while assessing the areas where they need strengthening.
“I was keen to make the point that the good thing about this time of the year is you see a lot of them very quickly,” Money, whose new side are in mid-table but eight points away from the play-off places, adds.
“You see them in different challenges very quickly so you can assess quicker at this stage than at others stages in the season. Having said that, we get through to January and it's another five games gone. If we haven't picked up good points in those games then life becomes probably a little bit too difficult for us.
“Conversely, if we can get good points then the table can look a bit different in January. So we need to hit the ground running, I'm aware of that, if we're to have any chance this year.
“The club obviously wants to challenge, the supporters want us to challenge – it's probably a longer-term job than that. But let's see. Nothing is impossible.”
