XI questions with | Redcar Athletic

Across the country, fans are preparing for the new campaign with renewed hope and ambition for the season ahead.

Ahead of the 2026/27 campaign getting underway on Saturday 8 August, we sat down with supporters from the NPL clubs at Step 3 to hear their thoughts on how things are shaping up.

With less than two weeks until the season begins, attention turns to Step 3 debutants Redcar Athletic and their supporter, Mark Ing. 

An amazing season in 2025/26 saw you crowned champions of the NPL East Division, securing back-to-back titles. Are you optimistic about making it three in a row?

We are always optimistic as this is a very positive club. 

I doubt anybody is talking of ‘threepeats’, but I know the management team and players will approach every game knowing they can win.  They know no other approach: they fear nobody.  

Last season, I do not remember anybody talking about titles so early on. We just started well and then kept standards very high throughout. I am optimistic that we can start well again and see where it takes us.

Are there any concerns about the higher level? This is your first-ever season at Step 3, so how do you expect to cope?

It is very much unchartered water for us. 

This is the highest we have ever been in the non-league pyramid and will be a big step up for us.  But the last two seasons were also “this is our highest point in the footballing pyramid” moments too, and we won the league titles both times.  

We don’t expect that again, but as I’ve mentioned, this playing squad will fear nobody, and this lot doesn’t do anything just to make up the numbers. 

We have a much deeper squad than we had even last season, so I expect we will finish the season closer to the top spot than the bottom.

Obviously, it was an incredible effort from Adam Boyes to win the NPL East Division Golden Boot and Player of the Season awards recently. How important will he be again this season if you’re to have a successful campaign?

Goals are so important, yet the hardest thing to get.  

Bosh got 41 in the league last season, and in the title-winning game vs Matlock, he popped up with four second-half goals.  

He has been as prolific as anyone for a number of years now, a real non-league legend. He isn’t alone though. We scored 140 league goals last season, and with Louis Johnson (26 league goals), Brad Fewster (24 league goals) and Oscar Fletcher (19 league goals from midfield) also in the squad, we have plenty of firepower to convert the chances the whole team creates.

Boss Carl Jarrett has been instrumental to your success since his appointment in January 2024. What style of football can we expect Jarrett’s Redcar to bring to the league this season?

Carl and his assistant manager Dave McTiernan have always built attacking teams. I don’t expect that to change now.  

The summer's transfer reinforcements mean we now have more attacking options than ever before, but don’t be fooled into thinking we are like Keegan’s Newcastle from the 90’s. 

Last season, we had the third tightest defence - 38 conceded, and a goal difference of +102 - and at one point kept 10 consecutive away clean sheets in the league.  

Our defence and goalkeeper are superb, full of leaders who demand the highest standards every match. 

We will undoubtedly score fewer than 140 at Step 3, but I would love us to keep that miserly attitude at the back!

Which new ground are you most excited to visit, and why?

All of them. 

Last season, only my son's U13 team holiday camp in Salou stopped me attending every match, home and away.  This year, we travel a little further, but apart from local derbies against Whitby and Stockton Town, every away ground will be a new adventure for myself and the family. 

Our home average attendance last season was 367.  This is going to be the division of “massive” grounds to visit and significant away followings coming to our home of Redcar. I cannot wait!

Sum up your transfer window so far…

Some seemed to expect us to spend fortunes this summer, but I think our recruitment has been very, very clever and more understated.  

We already had a very talented squad but managed to get through last season with a core of 19 or so players. That won’t happen at Step 3, where we will need a bigger squad. 

There have been no major “marquee signings” but very talented and proven players who mean we now have superb squad depth.  

I love how we are building the squad and the club as a whole. 

You were so free-scoring in the NPL East last season. Making the step up to a higher level, are you confident that you can continue in that manner, or are fans expecting Redcar to be a little more pragmatic when they need to be?

We won’t score 140 league goals again, for sure!  

But we have Boyes, Johnson, Fewster and Fletcher who scored 110 league goals between them last season.  This summer we have added Andrei Ardelean and Luke Spalding to our attacking ranks and these look like very exciting talents too.  

We have plenty of firepower and a very strong midfield and defence behind them.  We will attack teams every week.

Which player, current or new, are you most excited to watch play at Step 3 next season?

All of them! 

It sounds cheesy, but we are a smaller, up-and-coming club and Step 3 is historic for us.  I’ll be proud to watch all the lads walk onto the pitch wearing the Redcar badge. 

We have been magnificent for two seasons now and fully deserve our spot there. And we aren’t there to sit quietly in the corner. 

I want to see every single one of them give all these “bigger” clubs a metaphorical smack in the mouth and show them who we are.

That said, Andrei Ardelean has looked lethal in the training sessions I have watched.  I look forward to watching him battle the Step 3 centre-backs in a Redcar shirt.

Which player are you hoping could have a breakout season for the Steelmen, and what do they bring to the side?

Not so much of a breakout (as he won Managers POTS last season), but we have a young box-to-box central midfielder called JJ Bartliff. 

He is a magnificent player and the one player we could never truly replace whenever he was unavailable: we never had the same energy, I didn’t think. 

Two of his very best midfield mates have left the club this summer, and I hope this is the season JJ matures into our new midfield leader and voice. 

He has undeniable talent, and this level could be a brilliant platform for him.  

What does a successful season look like for your club?

On the pitch, play-offs or above. 

I suspect that is our minimum aim, knowing the management team and the players. Don’t take that as arrogance because they are anything but arrogant, but these lads aren’t there to aim for anything else. 

I also want the brilliant connection between the management and players and the core supporters to continue to be so great. The club is blessed with a dedicated group of supporters, and those connections need to remain strong.

Off the pitch - continuing to develop our ground and infrastructure. 

Our owner, Shaun Weatherhead, and chairman Kevin Fryett are doing an amazing job. We will be hosting some fantastic away followings, and so we need to make sure we do that well and maximise the resulting matchday revenues. 

Step 3 should really help transform our club and build a legacy for years to come. It is a very exciting time for us.

Who do you think could be the league’s dark horses?

Ashton United have signed plenty of players and are gaining some media attention for it. 

Bury and FC United of Manchester are obvious powerhouses in terms of attendance and revenue, I would imagine, and I have seen Avro highly touted too.

Dark horses? Not sure to be honest. I will just stick with us.  

We averaged 367 fans last season, and many will think we are a tiny club. But I back us to pack a punch on the pitch this season. And if not, win, lose or draw, the Redcar fans will be there every step of the way.  

The Matlock boss last season, Adam Clayton, called us an anomaly, so hopefully people keep underestimating us this season too.