Ahead of the Spireites’ return to the Football League and League Two, we are taking a look at all 23 other teams that make up the division.
We are continuing with Harrogate Town:
FACT FILE
Team Name: Harrogate Town Association Football Club
Nickname: Sulphurites
Year Founded: 1919
Stadium: Exercise Stadium
Capacity: 5,000
2023/24 SEASON
Harrogate Town suffered a tough start to the season, losing six of their first eight league games. After that, Simon Weaver’s side would not have a run like that for the rest of the season – trading victories and defeat until the end of November. The Yorkshire clubs only lost once from December to the middle of February as they started to look towards the play-offs. However, a 9-2 away defeat to Mansfield Town started to undo their good work. Only three more wins would come Harrogate’s way before the end of the season as they settled for a 13th place finish. They were only seven points off the play-off places.
MANAGER
Simon Weaver enjoyed a career in the Football League and Non-League, amassing over 250 appearances. In 2009, he was named player/manager of Harrogate Town who at the time were strugglers in the sixth tier of English football. Nine years after joining the club, Weaver guided the Sulphurites to the National League after beating Brackley Town 3-0 in the National League North play-off final. They immediately set their sights on a promotion to the Football League and only took two years to achieve their goal. A 3-1 victory over Notts County at Wembley Stadium secured promotion to League Two for the first time in the club’s history. Weaver also guided Harrogate to the FA Trophy during the same season – beating Concord Rangers 1-0 in the final. The 46-year-old is now guiding the North Yorkshire side into their fifth consecutive campaign in the fourth tier.
KEY PLAYER
Every team wants a midfielder that can pop up with goals and Harrogate have theirs in the form of George Thomson. Last season, the wide midfielder enjoyed one of the best campaigns of his career, not only in front of goal but also creatively.
Last season in numbers:
Appearances – 49
Goals – 18
Assists – 8
Yellow Cards – 3
Red Cards – 0
Minutes Played – 4,068
PLAYED FOR BOTH
Ash Palmer joined Harrogate Town on a short-term loan in 2012 from Scunthorpe United. He made his debut for the club in a 2-1 home loss to Vauxhall Motors. The centre-back made three appearances during his time in North Yorkshire.
After a vastly successful spell at Stockport County, Palmer was signed by Chesterfield in November 2022. He played a big part in the Spireites making the National League play-off final and then winning the league the season after. The 31-year-old has made 57 appearances and scored five goals whilst at the SMH Group Stadium.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
P 4 W 0 D 1 L 3
During Chesterfield’s transition years in the National League, they came up against a Harrogate Town side pushing for promotion. In the four meetings that the two teams have had, the Yorkshire side have come away with three wins.
PREVIOUS GAME
A few weeks before the 2019/20 National League season was brought to a halt due to the pandemic, Chesterfield and Harrogate Town met at the SMH Group Stadium. Jon Stead gave the visitors an early lead when he calmly headed past Shwan Jalal. Tom Denton tapped home to level things up in the 26th minute before Liam Mandeville brilliantly controlled and struck the ball into the back of the net a few minutes later. Harrogate equalised before the break when George Thomson fired a rebound into the goal after Jack Diamond’s initial shot was saved. The latter had a goal controversially ruled out before Stead headed home his second of the game on the hour mark. Scott Boden thought he had salvaged a point when he turned the ball in from Denton’s header back. However, Diamond’s low cross was diverted past Jalal by Jack Muldoon to give Simon Weaver’s side a late win.
