Thackley
Boyle keen to use all his squad
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| John Boyle wants to keep all his players happy |
If Thackley are a club under pressure, fearing the drop from the Northern Counties East Premier Division, then they made a good job of glossing over the fact last weekend.
Faced with a visit from second-placed Glapwell, the only club in the section thought to have received the necessary ground grading for promotion to the UniBond League, Thackley ran out 1-0 winners.
The result underlined John Boyle's recent claims that his side were performing well and almost certainly put to rest any lingering worries about being dragged down into the bottom two.
The head coach hinted that he believed they were now safe when he said: "We are in the situation now where it would be nice to get other players involved. We have two men for every position and it is difficult to keep them happy.
"We will probably utilise the whole squad in the run-in. It's not as though we are 40 strong like a Premier League squad and we can talk of rotation, or even like Bradford City where players are playing for contracts.
"But we do want every available player showing us what they can do and how much they want to be at Dennyfield. We don't want any of them to feel left out or as though they are on the periphery because that just might give them a reason to look around for a new club in the close season."
Boyle has a problem that will strike a chord with every manager of a non-league club, outside the Blue Square Premier. The Thackley players love their football so much they also play for the top Sunday League sides.
He said: "Historically at this time of year you never know who is going to turn up at the next training session or ring you the day before a game to say he is injured. He may have been your best player in the last game and fully fit.
"A lot of our players are involved with Sunday sides as well as us. Unless we had everyone on contract, which would be impossible at this level, we can't prevent it.
"With our season coming to an end and the Sunday League clubs facing fixture backlogs and cup finals, the players could be playing every day of the week."
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11:04am Friday 11th April 2008
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