Billy Miller’s personal appraisal on his first year as Liversedge boss amounts to something akin to a half-term report – steady but could do better.

They are currently 11th in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division and with the club in a healthy overall position.

“I’m satisfied with things at the moment, and will be happy with mid-table this season, but I think we have a top ten in us,” reflected Miller.

“If we are in the top eight at the end of it, then great, and any higher we will have seriously overachieved.

“But this year was always going to be tough and I’ll settle for where we are at the moment as long as we keep improving. Next year we can see just how far we can take it.”

Miller took over with Sedge staring at the prospects of relegation to Division One. The Clayborn hierarchy wanted Miller back as he had been assistant to Sean Regan the season before last.

The partnership was only broken when Regan was offered a full-time role with Scunthorpe United’s academy. Miller did not want to take over from his good friend, so the pair resigned together.

Despite being based in Harrogate, Miller feels as though he is back ‘home’ and said: “It is like the end of my second year at Liversedge really because of the full season me and Sean were here.

“I have known him for years after meeting him on various FA coaching courses and we became good pals.

“When he got the job at Scunthorpe, I just felt it would be better for the club (Sedge) to have a clean break.

“I was delighted to come back though. For some reason it hadn’t worked out for Waddy (predecessor Stuart Waddington) but it was still a very good proposition.

“They were difficult times and my main aim was getting out of it (relegation zone) and making sure we didn’t go down.

“There is a superb local fanbase here and the supporters kept coming through the turnstiles and that helped us.

“From then we could move on ‘in-house’, as it were. We are well within our budgets, which is really important for securing the long-term future of the club.

“Only once you are stable can you take the project forward. That is what we aim to do but we know there is still a long road ahead of us.”