From off-the-field struggles at Hartlepool to success at the Nomads- a two-year turnaround for Craig Harrison
Two years ago Craig Harrison was having to contend with turning up to professional football matches with no warm-up gear and having no internet at his club’s training ground.
The Cymru Premier’s most decorated manager had gone from trophy after trophy to dealing with off field issues and transfer embargoes.
It is a move he says he does not regret in the slightest.
Two years on and almost 18 months after returning to Welsh football and Harrison is back among the titles as First Team Coach at Connah’s Quay Nomads.
They have knocked Harrison’s former giants TNS off their perch for the first time in almost a decade.
It marks a huge turnaround on Harrison’s managerial career after his tough stint over the border, and the 42-year-old admits that this win is his sweetest since his first crown at TNS.
‘This one is probably the most I’ve enjoyed winning since the first title at TNS,’ admitted Harrison.
‘At Hartlepool we lost more games than we won, and that is the way with 80% of football clubs.
‘At TNS the first one was great, and then after that you celebrate a little bit for maybe that evening, or the day, and then it is, right how can we go and win the next one.
‘It was great, but this title is one of the most enjoyable.’
Harrison’s six years at Park Hall saw him amass 13 trophies, including six league titles as his TNS machine continued to steamroll the Cymru Premier.
Over those six years Harrison revealed he almost left on three occasions, but the moves did not materialise for one reason or another.
But in 2017, when Hartlepool United came calling, it was too much for the North East boy to turn down.
The Pools had recently been relegated from the Football League and after a slow start, Harrison began to string results together and picked up a manager of the month award.
But nine months after his appointment things had turned sour, and after a down turn in results Harrison was sacked.
It came after tales of a transfer embargo that fans did not know about, and a launderette not handing the club its kit back due to an unsettled invoice.
Harrison has no regrets about making the move south after what he described as the ‘smooth road’ at TNS and believes it has made him a better manager.
He explained: ‘At Hartlepool I probably learnt more in the time I was there than in the last three to four years at TNS.
‘It was really tough. It was an excellent opportunity with them coming down from the Football League, but looking back I should have done my due diligence on them.
‘They went through eight managers in a short space before I joined, and I should have looked more into it.
‘I’d had chances to go somewhere before and had waited and when this came up, I made the decision when I should have done a bit more homework.
‘We turned up to one game at Leyton Orient with no training kit and bibs because a bill hadn’t been paid and kit wasn’t being returned.
‘We even got to one point where we had no internet at the training ground.
‘There was a transfer embargo so we couldn’t sign anyone, lads on loan whose deals were running out couldn’t re-sign and players out of contract couldn’t re-sign.
‘But I don’t regret it, it has made me a better manager and has given me more life skills.’
After that short stint out of the game, he was back in the hot seat at Bangor City.
The club weren’t in the best place, having finished second in the top tier before being relegated after failing the license criteria.
Harrison assembled a squad that had title winning potential and results were going well. However one aspect he struggled with was the transition back to part time football.
‘Apart from three years at Airbus, I’ve never been in part time football,’ he explained.
‘I do find it hard, because you aren’t the player’s priority. Family and work comes first which I understand, and then it is football.
‘From my experience I got on great with Stephen Vaughan Junior, he was great for me there and I enjoyed my time.
‘At one game against Porthmadog there was 1,100 people there, probably only Caernarfon in the top division can get crowds like that.
‘What has happened since I left the club has been a bit messy, with the new club set up in Bangor, but I enjoyed it there.’
Just months into the Cymru North season, and the carrot of full time football again was too much for Harrison to resist.
Appointed First Team Coach at The Nomads, he helped Andy Morrison to guide the Deeside men back into Europe again and progress past sides like Kilmarnock.
And now he has added another Cymru Premier title to his collection, as the Nomads were handed the title on a points per game basis after the season was curtailed by Covid-19.
There is no doubt in Harrison’s mind that he wants to be a number one again someday, possibly in England, but his current situation is something that is exciting the former Premier League player in a different way.
Harrison, who this week signed a new contract with the Nomads, added: ‘I am lucky that Andy (Morrison) gives me responsibility and good contact time with players.
‘I’m coaching, I’m with the players in a different way and I’m able to connect in a different way as a number two.
‘Andy has all the pressures of management to deal with, and I can work with the players in a different way.
‘I’ve got ambitions to manage as high as I can again as I’m an ambitious person, but I’m enjoying what I’m doing and what we’re building.’
(Featured Image: NCM Media)
