JUST like a footballing Dr Who, Keith Briggs has completed his third Stalybridge Celtic regeneration. Having been at Bower Fold as manager and player, he’s back again, this time as assistant to Steve Burr.
 
However, the task remains the same — to bring some success to a club that has under-achieved for too long, and which was relegated to the Evo-stik Northern Premier League last season.
 
Like the men who preceded and followed him, Briggs was unable to arrest the slow decline that gripped the club around five years ago. But he believes he has nothing to prove to the supporters.
 
“I’m hoping that the fans and the board will welcome me back so that I can have a good crack at it again,” said Briggs.
 
“When I was manager in 2014-15 the club was in very difficult circumstances. Even so, I really couldn’t have put more into the job than I did. I gave it 150 per cent. It was just one of those things that it didn’t work out.
 
“But I learned a lot and I’m still learning. I’m still relatively young and I’m raring to go and give it my all again.”
 
While no one can deny Briggs’s enthusiasm for the game — it was the key quality that led to him getting the Bower Fold manager’s job — he accepts the enormity of the challenge facing him and Burr. Even though club chairman Rob Gorski has pledged a competitive budget, Briggs knows it will be far from easy to win promotion at the first attempt.
 
He explained: “I spent some time at Ashton United as a player and I’m confident I understand the level. I know numerous players too. If we do things right I’m sure that we can put a team out that can compete and challenge.
 
“But I’m in no way underestimating the NPL and after so many years in National League North we’ll be finding our feet a little bit. I’m also aware that as a relegated side, Stalybridge Celtic will be a prized scalp for the other clubs. We also have a nice ground for teams to visit. We’ll have to be on our toes and grind out results because there’ll be a lot of pressure on us.”
 
Briggs’s return to Bower Fold is also a reunion with Steve Burr. He has worked with the former Macclesfield striker several times as a player and staff-member, most recently as his assistant at Southport last season. The two men have an excellent relationship and it is one which Briggs believes will serve Stalybridge well.
 
He said: “I’m looking forward to it. Celtic are a good club with good people and I know Steve through and through. I’ve been with him four or five times.
 
“I’m so pleased to be back at Bower Fold because Stalybridge are a team that’s very close to me. I think it’s a great opportunity to get in there again and help as much as I can so that we hopefully do better than over the last few years.”

CURZON Ashton boss John Flanagan is torn on the question of extending the National League play-offs from four to six clubs.
 
While he fully expects the proposal to be passed at this Saturday’s annual meeting at Celtic Manor — and appreciates the merits of the scheme from a club point of view — he believes it’s a bad idea from an overall football perspective.
 
Under the terms of the plan, the clubs finishing second and third would automatically qualify for the last four. The other two places would go to the winners of fourth v seventh and fifth v sixth in one-leg ties.
 
Semi-finals would also be over one leg, and played at the ground of the team finishing higher. The national division final would take place at Wembley. In National League North and South the finals would be hosted by the club ending the season with most points.
 
Sunday’s Non-League Paper featured the story as its front-page lead under the headline “It looks like a landslide! National League play-offs set to grow as clubs back revamp”. It quoted three managers and one chairman who enthusiastically backed the plan, while another chairman said his club was edging towards a yes vote.
 
However, all were from the south: Weston-super-Mare, Hungerford, Concord Rangers, Hemel Hempstead and Maidenhead United. John Flanagan, who is most certainly from the north, has serious doubts.
 
“The scheme does have its positive side and I can understand why it’s got so much support. Any ambitious club wanting to go up would say ‘yes, let’s go for it’,” said the Nash manager.
 
“Six-club play-offs would present a slightly better chance of promotion to a side like Curzon. If you put a good run together at the right time you could get into the top seven.
 
“On the other hand, if you ask me if it’s a good thing for football I would have to say no. I believe play-offs have been a really good addition to the game and there have been some very exciting matches. They keep the season going.
 
“But if you increase the clubs from four to six, where do you draw the line? Do you then take it to eight? I think it’s all being driven by a desire to keep the door open for the big clubs.
 
“York, for example, are the latest for EFL side to fall into National League North. I think this is all geared up to the benefit of clubs like them so that they get another opportunity to get back up to where they believe they should be.
 
“I think the play-offs work fine as they are and I would say leave them alone. But I fully expect the plan to be pushed through on Saturday.”