MICK'S SETTLED IN THE SADDLE

FORMER leading jockey Mick O’Connell couldn’t resist taking the Tadcaster Albion reins this summer – and now wants to get the Brewers galloping back to success.

- John Lyons

The Yorkshire club endured a nightmare campaign in the NPL East last term, finishing bottom with a meagre 21 points to their name.

However, a summer of change has given Taddy fresh hope as they gear up for life in the Northern Counties East Premier Division. Part of that new broom is the appointment of former Harrogate Railway Athletic boss O’Connell.

The 37-year-old not only brings his football knowledge to the table, but also the lessons he learned in his successful career as a jockey on the flat and over the jumps. In over a decade in the saddle, he had almost 500 winners, travelling the world and meeting the rich and famous along the way.

“I look back on it with really fond memories,” he told The NLP. “It was a big part of my life and always will be. It gave me a really good grounding in how to do things properly, how to gain advantages. It’s the small, little details which is what every sportsperson needs.

“I had a really good career, but, unfortunately, I broke my back in a really bad fall in 2013 and never really recovered. I had just had my best ever season with 86 or 87 winners, but that’s racing, it’s part of the job.