Andy Geary is thrilled to be back in charge of the Silsden team and is enjoying the process of building a squad.

Geary was appointed caretaker-manager midway through last season and has been confirmed in the hot-seat for a second spell as full-time boss.

The players have been back in training for a couple of weeks and opened their pre-season fixtures with a 2-0 win against Harrogate Railway on Saturday.

Geary said: “It’s my job to get a squad that will stick around for a while because we need a settled side.

“When I was last at the club, that is exactly what we had. But that was a special group of players and the club doesn’t expect to match the progress we had at that time.

“Last year I worked hard on bringing the juniors through. We have a very good junior section at Silsden and players have always come through the ranks. They didn’t let us down and they picked up valuable experience.

“With those young players and some of the main squad, we have a good base to build from – but we need to add some experience.

“The North West Counties Premier Division is a tough league and we need to be able to compete. On the back of that I have brought in three new coaches, who will be working with all the players.

“Along with the two who are helping me with the first team and our goalkeeping coach Kevin Knappy, we have Paul Evans, who will be running the reserves.

“Paul has been on the look-out for a number two for the reserves, so we should have all bases covered as we look to take the club forward again.”