Hine gives youth a chance to galvanise Coppull

Hine is in charge of the Blainscough Park outfit that currently sit 12th in the Premier Division after an impressive return to action after the Christmas break.

They beat Whitehaven Amateurs 2-1 at home on Saturday (Pictures from John Shirras), following a creditable 0-0 draw with high-flying Fulwood Amateurs the previous week.

And Hine, who played as a centre-forward for Coppull, Charnock Richard and Darwen, reckons his young side are now looking upwards.

Speaking before Saturday’s win, Hine said: “We have a lot of young lads. Apart from two they are all under 20.

“If we play the top three clubs every week we’d be OK!

“We beat Euxton, we beat Thornton Cleveleys and got a good draw at Fulwood. It’s when we play teams around us that we have got complacent I think.

“We need to be doing it week in, week out and get some consistency.

“In one or two years we will be competing at the top end. We have got to stay up, 100%, but we’d like to finish in the top half.”

Hine is helping to bring a revolution at Coppull, investing in a conveyor belt of hungry young footballers keen to do well on the pitch rather than simply get paid for the privilege.

“Tony Hesketh at Fulwood is the blueprint,” says Hine.

“Fulwood are the best footballing side by a mile in our league. They are mostly young lads there too and they moved the ball so well.

“We couldn’t match them, they would have just out-footballed us so we had to go with a game plan and it worked.

“We’ve brought most of ours through the youth set up and reserves – my motivation is to see what these young lads can achieve.

“There’s no egos, there’s no-one wanting money, which has not always been the case in the past.

“I’m told we’ve never finished above sixth, not sure how true that is, but that’s got to be our aim. If we finish above mid-table it will have been a good season.”

Coppull travel to third-placed Hurst Green on Saturday.