As the curtain comes down on the 21/22 season this weekend at home to Sheffield FC, we caught up with First Team Manager Craig Rouse to discuss the season, to go over his highlights and what he’s looking for going forward into the second year of his reign.
Craig we’ve made it to the last game of the season, give us your verdict on how your first season in charge has gone?
It is one of mixed emotions regarding the season as a whole really. We had the highs of the FA cup run and the two games against FC Halifax, that will live long in the memory for everyone connected with the club. To see our ground packed to capacity and the near 600 away fans at FC Halifax, was a brilliant sight and it’s given us the hunger to try and recreate those days moving forward.
In terms of the league campaign the season is ending at the wrong time for us – after a disappointing start our form has been good since December barring the odd blip. The players and this group can take pride in how they turned that situation around and we’ll try to use that as a springboard for next season.
There have been many highs and a few lows this season, what has been your highlight?
For the players to create history three times in the FA cup is a definite highlight and it gave the players, their families, the committee members and supporters some brilliant occasions & memories. So that will go down as an highlight. The run of fixtures throughout December was also a highlight personally, as the players faced a pressure situation head on despite our league position. In three local derbies we came out with nine points from nine available, enabling us to get away from danger.
How pleasing has the turn around in league form been, following that tough start?
We’ve been really pleased with how we’ve all faced the situation. Nobody within the group envisaged being in the situation we were, but for whatever reason we found ourselves there. I always maintained we were too good to be anywhere near that and so it’s proved. The form recently has been good and we’ll look for one final big performance in front of our supporters. Nobody said it would be easy and there’s been ups and downs, but we’ve laid some good foundations to ensure we are a stronger group moving forward.
We finish the campaign at home in front of our fans, how important have they been and how vital is it that the link between the fans and the first team group continues to grow?
They’ve been brilliant throughout the season and never once turned when it would have been easy to do so. To see the support we had at Frickley on Bank Holiday Monday, it just shows the strides that have been taken this season. I’ve been at the club a long time on and off and I’ve never seen a connection between the players and supporters like we have at this present time. I’d like to thank you all for welcoming us all into the club, whether that’s staff & players who returned or new players that came in this season. You’ve made it a really good place to be, we’re proud to represent your club and we’ll continue to work hard to deliver the success you all deserve.
Make sure to join us for what should be a great atmosphere on the final day, we host Sheffield FC and then will host our end of season Awards Night from 6:30pm at the ground. Come and have a drink and catch up with everyone.