KNARESBOROUGH Town's newly-appointed Head of Development Nigel Corner has confirmed that the club are looking to form relationships between the club and the community.

Corner played a crucial role in the development of the Knaresborough Women's side, who have just celebrated promotion in their first season since forming.

His new role sees him overlook the overall development of the club, including the men's and women's side, and is keen to develop younger players within the squad through other clubs in the community.

“That’s something that’s already in the process, and there has been work being done and there are talks going on between one of the junior teams in the area, Knaresborough Celtic, to have some links to Knaresborough Town.

"That is something as a community and ourselves will be looking at to see if we can push that forward.

"It’s about the two clubs becoming one, and that will create a real strong club within the town.

"It obviously gives Knaresborough a full pathway into getting the junior players to come up through the ranks through the reserve teams, and the women.

"It just makes sense, you’ve got a really strong senior section in Knaresborough Town and then you’ve got a really strong junior in Knaresborough Celtic. So actually the two go hand in hand and work together closely anyways, it makes perfect sense to take it that one step further and that’s what we’re trying to explore at the minute and that’s something that both parties are keen on.

"Discussions are progressing, and hopefully we will end up with a positive outcome."

Corner was previously chairman at fellow non-league outfit Harrogate Railway, and has been involved in football for many years.

“I just want to do what I have always done in football, and that is to help.

"The guys that get involved at this level, at grassroots level and semi-pro, and the committee members, the groundsmen, 99 per cent don’t get paid for what we do.

"We do it because we love football, we love our clubs and we love the town’s that we are in.

"We try and give a little bit back to help. In terms for me, it’s about helping the club if I can. Let’s not be blind to this, I enjoy what I do. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it, I get a lot of pleasure out of it.

"Hopefully the club benefits from my experience and knowledge and ideas and it’s my benefit because I get to do something that I enjoy.

"Everyone down at Knaresborough is fantastic, so for me it’s about trying to move the club forward as far as we can and when we get to that point, let’s see where we can move it to next.

"If we can bring more alignment and success off-the-pitch, in terms of revenue and sponsorships and the commercial side of things then enables the playing side of things to potentially do better.

"So there’s no set targets and nothing set in stone like in three years we have to be here and in five years we have to be there.

"It’s about enjoying the journey, seeing how far we can get and when we get there let’s see how far we can get again."