Why Ainsley Is Still Learning As Moors Stay Nears 15 Years

A painfully slow start to the previous two National League North season had left Spennymoor Town chasing their tails.

Last time out, leaving the starting blocks at a snail's pace cost them dear when the pandemic struck, stopping their juggernaut towards the promotion places dead.

The Head of Key Stage 4 at South Shields' Mortimer College has taught his players all about the importance of not making the similar mistake.

Seven points from their first three matches is a big tick with a manager determined to spend his fifteenth season in charge of the club as fifth-tier boss.

“I’m very happy with the start,” he said, in our latest special feature. “Especially because in the last two years we hadn’t got much in the way of points on the board.

“We were in the Chairman’s office more times than not at the start of last season! Seven points from three games is a good start, but we’ve got some really tough matches coming up.

“I think we have to blame ourselves for last season. The start we had wasn’t great.

“When we knew it would be points-per-game we knew we were always likely to miss out. It’s a shame as we were on a great run.

“We won six of our last eight and we fancy ourselves in those one-off games. Altrincham, the team who played the best football, went up and rightly so,” he told the National League’s Oli Osborn in a Zoom chat.

“You look at the clubs in there and you know how demanding it is. That’s why it’s so important to get the season off to a good start.

“It’s hard to be in the top six or seven every year and it’s going to be even harder this time around, I’m certain of that. One thing is for sure, we’re going to need to fight tooth and nail to stay in and around it.”

In his 14th season, the nostalgic 50-year-old, who has won five league titles, two domestic cups as well as the FA Vase in 2013 for the club, has been looking back.

He spoke about how different things are from when he first took the helm back in 2006.

Spennymoor, a town of some 19,000 inhabitants, aren’t just building on the pitch. Far from it.

“I have so many great memories of my time here,” he said.

“I have been backed by the chairman. He keeps blaming me for bringing him into the club 13 years ago!

“I have had some tough times too, it’s not all been battles at the top end of tables.

“People just see the good things of recent years but not so long ago I wouldn’t even meet players at the ground, I would meet them in a pub.

“The carpets were mucky, the pitch was terrible - and I was trying to sell them the dream!

“People didn’t want to come here. We now have an academy with 50 teams, they all wear the Spennymoor kit with pride. We have a managing director, a full-time groundsman.

“We are now getting, or were getting, crowds of 1,300. You have to blink sometimes - I have had 35 years here as I played as a teenager, we used to get 150 if we were lucky. To see it where it is now is wonderful.

“The chairman gives a lot and takes in very little. He’s on my case every day, don’t get me wrong! But what he does for the area and the community, aside from the football? Well he needs to be knighted to be honest.”

One thing in recent years hasn’t changed over the years - Glen Taylor’s value to the team.

The prolific frontman has scored in every game so far this term and once again has his eye on the Golden Boot - despite, shall we say, 2020-21 teething problems.

“If you would have asked me about him during the Bradford PA game I would have said he’s finished!” joked the manager when asked to describe the striker, who first signed for Moors in 2012 from Blyth Spartans.

“He missed two penalties, but then he scored a header then another penalty.

“He is a late developer. Sometimes in football you just get a good fit, and he’s a really great fit for this club. He’s an asset and a friend of mine.

“He puts pressure on himself. He has started his fourth year at this level with a goal in every game and hopefully he won’t stop there.”

“He’s a local lad, which helps - he has a good job, a baby and is happy. He loves it here and we get the rewards for that.

“If we put him on the transfer list tomorrow I would be shocked if teams in the league above, and the league above that wouldn’t be coming in - not that I am going to be putting him on the transfer list!”

PICTURES BY DAVID NELSON AND NORTHERN ECHO