Notts County's new assistant manager Ryan Harley is "very excited" about the prospect of being in the dugout at Meadow Lane next season.
The coach joins recently-appointed head coach Luke Williams at the club ahead of the new campaign as they seek to get the Magpies back into the Football League for the first time since 2019.
Their arrival comes after the exit of Ian Burchnall, who left the club back in May to join new League One side Forest Green Rovers. His side fell short of promotion in the National League play-offs.
When asked by NottinghamshireILive how he was feeling about his new role, Harley 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.”
Hartley has “some good and some bad" of playing at the ground, but he's hoping to create some great ones at Notts. "We’ve had a look around the last couple of days, it’s a brilliant football club and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Harley says he has spoken to the owner and the manager about the style of play they intend to play, which Williams has said will see them trying to dominate games and impose themselves on the opposition.
“Just the way we’re wanting to play, we’ve not met the players as they’re all off, but I’m sure we will do in time," he said. "They 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.”
The relationship between a head coach and his assistant can be the key to success at any level of football. Harley expects them to have good chemistry on the training pitch and on the sidelines.
“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," Harley added. "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.”
What's his message to the players? He says they should "be ready to work, embrace the style of play and be ready for hopefully a successful season.”
As for what the fans should expect? “The same really, hopefully they will come and enjoy the football and, we’re all, supporters, staff, players, they’ll all be part of it as well.”
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