Axed boss Harry Harris speaks about Hednesford Town exit
Harry Harris believes his sacking at Hednesford Town was unfair and says it came as a huge surprise.
The Pitmen relieved Harris of his duties on Sunday morning sitting 19th in the Northern One West standings and five points adrift of safety after a 1-0 loss to Mossley on Saturday.
New owners Craig and Amanda Gwilt had said Harris was their man, and backed the former Walsall Wood boss who took the reins in late-October. However, the 35-year-old was fired with 10 games left this season – a decision questioned by the outgoing boss.
“I don’t think it’s fair, I’ve not been there long,” said Harris. “I’ve not worked under the new owner very long. It was a tight budget under the previous owner and I think we recruited quite well and then the new chairman said we can get some more quality in and I made four more signings.
“Unfortunately, two of them were unavailable to play on Saturday, so I haven’t had time to work with them. I’ve been sacked before I could work with them so I’m disappointed.”
Asked if it came as a surprise, Harris said: “Yes to be honest. I had a really good meeting with the chairman and new owner a couple of weeks ago about plans going forward.
“I was told I was part of the plans and that we’d sit down and go through a contract for myself. I signed the contract under the old chairman, and the owner said we would renegotiate for one with him.
“Unfortunately, I was told to go for a meeting in the morning.”
Hednesford released a statement saying: “Results recently have been well below expectation, leaving the club in an unhealthy position and a change is felt necessary to give Hednesford Town the best chance to stay at step four.”
However, given time, Harris believes he would have kept the Pitmen up, and thinks this decision may have already been made before Saturday’s defeat to Mossley.
He said: “With 10 games to go and 30 points to play for, I 100 per cent believe we could’ve stayed up.
“If I’m being honest, I don’t know if this decision had already been made before the game.
“I want to thank the supporters because they’ve been absolutely brilliant with me and I’ve loved every minute of managing the football club. It was a massive challenge and a big risk to leave Walsall Wood and take that job, but I was willing to take the risk and the job because of how the club is.
“Maybe behind the scenes it’s not been great, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
