Osborne Again

13/05/2024

Leon Osborne is the second name to remain at the club from the 2023/24 Pitching In NPL East season where he will combine playing duties alongside a place on Dave Wild’s coaching staff.

Ozzy made 36 appearances for Bradford City at the beginning of his career before embarking on a non-league career at clubs such as Harrogate Town, Stalybridge Celtic, Bradford Park Avenue and Scarborough Athletic amongst others.

As a senior member of the squad, Ozzy will be able to call upon this experience in the game to guide the younger players in the squad whilst also making a big impact on the field as he did most noticeably in a player of the match performance as Ossett United took three points at Bridlington Town last season.

Dave Wild: “After meeting with Leon it was clear to me that as a football man we have completely and utterly the same mentality and approach to how the game at this level should be played, which made my decision to ask him to be a player coach this season a no brainer.

His professionalism and drive to succeed was infectious and since we agreed his signature for the coming year, I can only sing his praises for the level of effort, engagement and planning he is putting forward. I’m sure this will be one of the most important signatures for me and the group going forwards.”

Leon Osborne: "As I’ve got older, my love for the game is still as high as ever, so coaching has become a natural stepping stone for me. I have coached for almost all age groups for Leeds and various other clubs over the years and am currently working with Pro Elite and Farsley Celtics scholars through the day which I absolutely love. Naturally I jumped at the chance of being able to be part of the coaching staff as being the manager of a club is on the to do list!

I’ve played in every division from League 1 all the way down to step 7 and played 8 seasons of full-time football so feel I have a lot of valuable experience I can pass on to people around me, on and off the pitch.

I coach the same as I play; extremely passionately with a very high drive to consistently grow - but with personality! When you have a group of men who all naturally have those characteristics, I think you’re on to something and that was a massive factor to me staying. Not just given the permission to encourage others to be that way, but to be a part of getting players in who already have that winner’s mentality, starting with the Watto who was announced earlier!

Because of that, I have very high hopes for the season ahead but will remain quietly confident in the group we’re building. It’s easy to be ambitious at this stage and say we’ll do this, we’ll do that but for me personally my aim is to have us competing at the opposite end of the table and so far, everyone involved is in full belief of our shared goal. From the people behind the scenes such as Phil and Spoff who have been nothing short of first class with me personally, to the new Gaffa who’s ambitions are identical with my own and hopefully that will spread through the lads and into the fans."

Keep your eye out over the next few days as there will be more player news as well as details of the 2024/25 Season Tickets and Membership packages.