New Mills boss says he is doing something wrong if side aren't challenging next season

The Millers finished 14th in last season’s NWCFL First Division South following a woeful start which saw them lose their first seven games.

But the team started to turn it around after Dave Birch and assistant Mike Norton took over.

And Birch is confident his side can build on that change in fortune to challenge at the top end of the table when football resumes.

New Mills boss Dave Birch excited to see light at the end of the tunnel

“We have got some very good players for this level, who want to play at the highest level they can. Our ambition is to be up there challenging for promotion,” he said.

“That is our aim and target, I think if we are not up there challenging then me and Mike are doing something wrong.

“I don’t ever set out to play, or manage, in football to lose games. I always set out to win and I’m not ashamed to say that.”

And Birch is confident that the high benchmark he has set will help drive him and the players on.

“It puts pressure on ourselves, but we do not accept losing,” he added. “We lost games last year, we didn’t have the team we wanted.

“Every game we lost was not accepted. For me, if every team is not setting out to get promoted or win the league at the start of the season there is something seriously wrong.

“I expect every team that kicks off that season to have an aim to win the league, that’s my ambition and view on football.

“I would like to think me and Mike are winners and we have told the club that that is our aim.

“I am not saying we are going to win the league, just that it is our aim.

“I am not disrespecting the league, there are some very good teams and managers in there and it will be tough.

“That is just how we see it and it is our job to try and get there and bring the right players.”

With Premier League matches set to resume behind closed doors this week, discussions are also under way on how best to start the non-league game.

But, for Birch, any thoughts of resuming non-league football behind closed doors would be a non-starter.

“I had a chat with the owners and the club have said to us if we had to play behind closed doors, we would be ok for a while - but the longer it goes on it would become an issue,” he added.

“The view out there are a lot of clubs couldn’t do it. New Mills is bit different, but some clubs have mortgages on the ground and staff to pay.

“I think if the FA came out and said we have to start behind closed doors, I honestly don’t think it would get voted in.

“I speak to a lot of people involved in non-league and a lot of them have said recently that it would cripple them and the higher up non league you go the worse it would be.

“At our level you don’t get massive crowds, so to me it would be daft having it behind closed doors.

“If they went behind closed doors, the problem they have is that teams higher up the pyramid like FC United would get bigger crowds and find it harder to manage than ourselves.

“But you have to have one rule that applies for all.”