Colin Robertson caught up with Mark Bower following his return to the club as our first team manager.

Colin spoke to Mark at Borough Park following the final game of the season, you can also listen to the interview here.

The reaction to you and Danny Boshell coming back to the club has been really positive, can you just tell us a little bit about how it the move has come about and what the last week has been like for you? 

It has come about pretty quickly, when the previous manager left about a month ago I dropped John a line to see what his plans were with the club and at that time they were looking to finish the season with Liam who has done a terrific job in two spells in charge. I heard from John Gill and I met with Russ and the rest of the board and we managed to put plans in place to take it on and try and take the club forward again after a couple of seasons in this league. We want to try and help push us back up to National League North level initially and who knows beyond that, we are really excited for it and very grateful to have been given the opportunity to come and do it. We have had some lovely messages which has been great but that counts for nothing, we have a job to do and we have already started that with Russ and the board identifying who we want to keep and who we want to bring in, so work has already started and we are getting our teeth stuck into it.

What is it like returning to a club you had tremendous success with, did you have any reservations coming back second time round?

No I don’t think so, jobs like this are few and far between. We have had a difficult time the last few years working under really strict constraints in our previous job and an opportunity like this at Guiseley, where there is the scope to recruit the players that will get you challenging at the top end of the division, was really, really appealing to us. It has been a long time since we have been able to do that and I think when we had the opportunity to do that we did it really well. From a personal point of view I want to prove it to myself that we can go ahead and do that again. Coming back to Guiseley has given us a good headstart, we had such as good time here, not just as a management team but as players as well, Danny more so than me. There are some really good people at this football club and everyone has had a kind word to say with lots of really nice messages. We really want to do well for everyone connected to the club, it is such a tight knit club, if we can help bring everyone back together a little bit more by getting a winning team on the pitch, there is plenty to work with here as there has been two decent seasons, but we want to kick it on and get us up challenging in those top five places on a consistent basis. If we can do that we will be really pleased that we have come back.

You were appointed just before the end of the season, does that give you a real good opportunity to work with the players and do you feel it is a positive to be appointed at this time?

Definitely, I think it is the most important time of the year now, I don’t think I ever had it with Guiseley where we had an end of season with a bit of time to recruit players as we never knew what division we would be in! We have got a bit of a headstart, Russ does great work in terms of dealing with recruitment and dealing with players and a lot has been going on behind the scenes already. Myself and Danny have also been speaking to players when we knew we were here in terms of recruiting new ones, so together I think we are in a great spot. We have got a fair few already tied down for next season, a couple we have been able to agree with and plenty more irons in the fire too. We are in a really good position.

How do you feel the role with Russ is going to pan out and are you looking forward to it?

First of all we have a very similar outlook to Russ in what we look for in players, we will have different contacts and ultimately Russ will deal more with that side of players and negotiations and that is great for us as we can identify who we want and between us we can get a good pool of players to choose from. I have known Russ for a few years and have come up against him a few times and spoke with him about players at times as well. I think it is more of a modern way isn’t it, 10 years ago when we were here managers did everything. I have worked under a similar arrangement in my previous role so that is not going to be a problem at all and with it being Russ, who is such a knowledgeable football person with a lot of contacts, that can only help us.

We have had a good record of getting young players through from the academy, will you be looking at the young talent that is coming through the club?

Always, the work that has been going on and how well they have been doing, having that pathway from the academy to the first team and then professional football. Dave Currie has done a fantastic job and I am looking forward to working with him again and others in the academy to help those lads get into the first team. Ultimately they have to be good enough and Ollie Brown has definitely proved that this season and many more will in the future I am sure.

The supporters have come in their numbers today, I am sure you will be wanting to bring a few more smiles to faces around Nethermoor?

Ultimately whether people are happy that we are back or not they will be happy if we win games so that is the plan. We want to play front foot football and a team that plays with a good energy and moves it well, the ‘Guiseley’ way as we used to call it. That is what we will be trying to instill but it is a tough league with some big clubs and big spenders in it, it is going to be tough but we are ready for the challenge. They have come in their numbers today, it is a long, long way up here, you forget how far away it is! It has been a long time since we have been up here, they have come in their numbers and supported, we just want to give them more to cheer about at Nethermoor. We are really grateful to have been given the opportunity to do this job, we certainly think we are going to be given the resources and help to get a winning team on the pitch and get people coming to Nethermoor enjoying their Saturday afternoon’s.