Next up to speak to the press on a baking hot day at Nethermoor was Joint First Team Manager Russ O’Neill, the former Alfreton and Burnley man has been looking forward to making a return to football.

Following on from our interview with Marcus Bignot we caught up with Russ to get his thoughts on his new job.

“First of all I have known the people at Guiseley for quite a long time now, we have always had a great relationship with everybody at the club and I have always helped them with players when they asked me.”

“I have had a year out but have been doing some recruitment work at Burnley, I have had the opportunity to go back in three of four times but never really had a gut feeling about the other clubs.”

“As soon as I had the phone call from Guiseley it is always a club that has a real friendly feel to it, as soon as I got the phone call I was 100% behind it and keen to get going again.”

The first comments from Russ signal just why he has made the move to join as Joint Manager, meeting with Marcus too helped make his decision easier.

“We’ll both bounce off each other and we will both bring different attributes to the cause, for me it cannot be a bad thing to have more people around with the experience at this level.”

Looking at the current squad list O’Neill said “The players that we have here now, looking at the list, there are some really good footballers here. We just want to get people in and get the smiles back on people’s faces.”

“We want to create an environment where young players want to come and can see a pathway. We have got a good young academy, we are not scared of putting young people in, if you’re good enough you’re old enough.”

The former Alfreton man also highlighted how good a season the academy has had after work from Dave Currie and Danny Ellis over the years.

Moving on to the future O’Neill said “We have signed a two year deal and that is something that appealed to me, it gives us time to come in and stabilise and build something from scratch.”

The new management team are keen to get everyone behind the club after a tough campaign last time out.

“We want everybody in and around the club to be involved in this, I always thought it was a friendly club before I came in here. Straightaway we are getting all the help that we can from volunteers and people around the club.”

“We want our players to be proud to play for Guiseley.”

One Guiseley fan will be waiting for a handshake from the new Joint Manager in a few weeks time “I went to the playoff final and saw people with Guiseley shirts on, which again is exactly what we want. We want to be as proud as the lad wearing that Guiseley shirt, I am looking forward to seeing him when the season starts and shaking his hand.”

“We have got to be full of enthusiasm all throughout the club, we want every single person on board.”

“You will see the commitment on the pitch and we want that commitment behind it and off the pitch and I am sure we will get it.”

O’Neill’s interview ended with passion and an assurance that commitment will be seen on the pitch and he is keen to see this matched by the supporters and all around Nethermoor.

Our interviews will conclude with the thoughts of new Assistant Manager Paul Clayton.