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Who Are The League Two Managers? No.19: Neil Aspin (Port Vale)

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Although 34 years of age by this time, Aspin helped Darlington to finish fourth in his first season and to a place in the Third Division playoffs. A 3-0 aggregate win over neighbours Hartlepool in the semi-final took Darlington to Wembley, although a 1-0 defeat to Peterborough gave Aspin his third play-off final defeat. Darlington struggled in 2000-01 and Aspin left for Hartlepool in January 2001. He helped Hartlepool to finish fourth, but this time the play-off campaign ended with a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Blackpool in the semi-finals. At the end of that season Aspin called time on his professional playing career and joined Harrogate Town of the Northern Premier League First Division as player-coach in July 2001. Harrogate won promotion as champions in his first season by a ten-point margin from Ossett Town, and at the end of 2003-04 the club was invited to join the newly-formed Conference North after finishing fifth. At the end of that season he left to join former club Darlington as a coach, but the move fell through. He was not away for long, and was appointed manager back at Harrogate on 18 January 2005.

At the end of his first full season of 2005-06, Harrogate reached the Conference North play-offs where they were beaten 2-1 by Stafford in the semi-finals. Harrogate missed the playoffs by one place in both of the next two seasons (by one point and two points respectively). A ninth-place finish followed in 2008-09 at which point he decided he had taken the club as far as he could on the budget available, and left the club by mutual consent.

He was immediately appointed manager of phoenix club FC Halifax Town, at that point playing in the Northern Premier League Division One North after their first season since formation. Aspin led Halifax to three promotions in four years including back-to-back championships in his first two seasons. They were beaten in the Conference North play-offs in the other season. In August 2011 he sold striker Jamie Vardy to Fleetwood Town in a deal that would eventually realise £500,000; he had signed Vardy from Stocksbridge for £16,000 a year earlier. Having reached the Conference Premier in 2013, Halifax immediately mounted a challenge for promotion to the Football League. A superb end of season run of nine wins and a draw from ten games gave them a fifth-place finish. It meant yet another play-off campaign for Aspin, although this one was to end in a 2-1 aggregate defeat to eventual winners Cambridge.

Halifax started the 2014-15 season on fire and sat top of the table after winning their opening five games. Aspin was named Conference Manager of the Month for August and was linked with the vacant manager’s job at former club Port Vale in September. Halifax sat in the top six as late as February, but form fell away badly towards the end of the season. Twelve points and one win from their last fifteen games saw Halifax slip to ninth, well off the pace at the top. After only one win from the opening ten games of 2015-16, and two wins in twenty-five league games, Aspin was sacked on 17 September 2015.

Two months later he was back in the game, appointed manager of his home town club Gateshead on 30 November 2015. Gateshead had finished level on points with Halifax the season before, and were sitting six points off the playoffs. A 3-2 win over Aldershot at the end of February took Gateshead into the top five, but another end of season collapse saw them slip to ninth after winning just three of their last thirteen games – an almost identical scenario to the previous season at Halifax. Despite that disappointment, he signed a new two-year deal in August 2016. A run of seven wins and two draws from nine games carried Gateshead into the top five in March 2017, but five defeats from their last six games – including a famous defeat to Lincoln – saw them miss out yet again. After a poor start to the 2017-18 season left Gateshead fifteenth, Aspin departed for former club Port Vale on 4 October 2017. After thirteen years as a manager, he had finally arrived in the Football League.

Recently relegated from League One after a disastrous season, Port Vale had plummeted straight to the foot of League Two and had just five points from their first eleven games. Things picked up immediately under Aspin, with three wins from his first four games. However, there was a lot more to do including sorting out a huge multi-national squad assembled under previous managers Bruno Ribeiro and Michael Brown. A 4-0 win over league leaders Luton in the final game of 2017 took Port Vale eleven points clear of the drop zone, but form dipped alarmingly into 2018. Fourteen games without a win combined with improved form from the teams below them meant that safety was only confirmed with a 1-0 win over Lincoln in April. Vale eventually retained their Football League status by a single point, and everyone could breathe again.

Neil Aspin has as much experience as a player and manager as anyone else in League Two but is about to begin his first full season managing a Football League club. That is an unusual state of affairs, and it is impossible to say how Vale will fare this season. Aspin has started to build his own squad, and now has two transfer windows behind him. However, the mess at Port Vale was substantial and may take longer to resolve before the club can rise again.

P = Promoted; R = Relegated; SF = Lost in play-off semi-final; F = Lost in play-off final; PO = Won play-off final; D = Demoted.

Figures are league games only; cup matches and playoffs are not included.

League position shown is either the position at the end of the season or the position at the time of departure.

Writer: Scotimp

Posted by Vital Lincoln City on Sunday, 29 July 2018

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