I'VE EARNED MY STRIPES, NOW I'M READY TO MAKE THE STEP UP

BIG APPOINTMENT AT FC HALIFAX

- By MATT BADCOCK

IT WAS exactly one month between Adam Lakeland’s surprising departure from King’s Lynn Town and his appointment at FC Halifax Town.

But reaching Non-League’s top-flight has been many years in the making for the 40-year-old.

“I've had to do it the hard way,” said Lakeland, who led Farsley Celtic to the NPL Premier title in 2019 and then went on to set new records with Curzon Ashton, where he’d previously been on the coaching staff.

“I've managed over 430 games — over 230 in National League North alone. I am only 40 but I am incredibly experienced.

“So I feel like I've earned my stripes and I feel I’m ready and more than capable of making that step up to the National League.

“I am obviously grateful to the chairman for giving me the opportunity to come into a club the size of Halifax. I'm really looking forward to putting a group together to, hopefully, continue the good work Chris Millington has done in the last three years.”

Lakeland knows he's got big shoes to fill. Millington has consistently shown himself to be one of Non-League's best gaffers in that time, taking the Shaymen into the play-offs for the last two seasons as well as lifting the FA Trophy at Wembley in 2023.

All while developing and nurturing players who have gone into the Football League and replacing them with more talents each summer.

Adam Senior and Ryan Galvin have both joined League Two Barnet this summer and Jack Evans has moved to Harrogate as the production line continues to churn.

“It’s a club that enables people to come in and progress their careers,” Lakeland says. “The chairman’s not the kind of man who stands in the way of progression for players or managers.

“Look at the number of players they’ve brought in, developed and sold into the EFL. It’s questionable whether there’s anybody else within the Non-League pyramid who has done as well as Halifax have in that regard.