New Notts County head coach Luke Williams says his assistant Ryan Harley will provide "valuable input" when it comes to recruitment, training, matches and analysis.
Harley has been brought in as number two to Williams, who has replaced Ian Burchnall at the Magpies helm for the upcoming 2022-23 National League campaign. Notts appointed Williams after Burchnall left for League One newcomers Forest Green Rovers, and it now falls upon his shoulders to try to restore the club's Football League status.
He will be helped by right-hand man Harley, who has played in every division of the EFL, as well as the National League. The 37-year-old won the Conference play-offs with Exeter City before securing back-to-back promotions with the Grecians in League Two the following season.
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He also won promotion with MK Dons in 2018-19 and went on to coach there with Williams. Harley also played for the likes of Brighton, Swindon Town and Bristol City.
Asked what Harley would bring to the table, Williams said: “Ryan has got a brilliant experience of National League, League Two, League One, he played in the Championship, he’s a player that would have thrived in this club, this environment with this type of football.
“So it’s a belief with him in the way we’re going to try to coach the team, he believes in that himself thoroughly. He has really good understanding of the players at this level and what they’re capable of and so on, he has really good experience of the type of places we’re going to go and play and the challenges they bring and the types of mentalities of different clubs to expect.
"And so he is going to give valuable input into training, into recruitment, into analysing performances, he’s going to be hands on and he’s going to work closely with myself and all the other staff behind the scenes.”
Harley, meanwhile, is relishing the challenge that lies ahead. He said: “Very excited, it’s a very good challenge, it’s obviously an incredibly good football club, so many good things about it. The challenge is to get to the top of the division which is never easy but, yeah, it’s a challenge.
“I played here many times as a player, I always enjoyed coming here. It’s a football club with a good history and we’re looking forward to it.
"They (Notts) had a good season last year, they just have to go that next step which hopefully we can do this year.
“[We do that by] improving every little bit or getting the information we want, it’s going to be slightly different from every managerial team. It takes time, hopefully we can get it in as soon as possible.”
As for his relationship with Williams, Harley added: “We’ve known each other for a long time and we obviously think about the game in the same way, hence why we are working together. It’s never easy to find in football, but we’re quite well suited I like to think so hopefully we’ll work well together.”
