Golcar United captain Dan Stocker is determined to earn promotion with the club next season and get his hands on the league title.
Stocker has been at the club for two years now but has yet to complete a full season. Both of the previous two campaigns have been cancelled due to Covid-19.
However Stocker is now hoping United can get a full season in and achieve their aim of promotion.
He said: “Promotion and winning the league is the aim and we won’t take anything less. I want it and everyone at the club wants it. We know it will be a hard season ahead. However it’s achievable and that’s our aim. It’d be great to get my hands on the trophy at the end of the season.”
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The 30-year-old right back, who lives in Meltham, has thoroughly enjoyed his time at Golcar so far. As captain Stocker says he gets on well with joint managers Ash and Gavin Connor.
“The set up at Golcar is exciting and all the lads are spot on,” said Stocker. “When I first joined I spoke to Ash and Gavin and they told me their exciting plans for the place. I just couldn’t say no and jumped into the opportunity really.
“The great thing about Golcar is it’s such a community club and everyone mucks in. All the staff and volunteers just make it special. I can only see the club going one way and that is forward and up.
“Ash and Gav are great and obviously we work together to try and take this club as far as we can.”
Stocker had a successful career in amateur football before going semi pro. He has played for Bay Athletic, Huddersfield YMCA, Campion AFC, Emley AFC and now Golcar. He has racked up a number of honours in that time winning the West Riding Premier three times, the West Riding League Cup and Huddersfield FA Cup four times. He started his career at Bay Athletic at the age of 15.
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Stocker added: “I started by playing for Bay Athletic’s third team at just 15 and then worked my way up to the first team. I then played for Huddersfield YMCA for a season. I then moved up to semi-pro football with Campion in Bradford, I stayed there for a few seasons before moving to Emley for a year and now Golcar.”
United recently played in the Yorkshire Trophy. They reached the semi-finals where they were eventually knocked out by Penistone.
Stocker believes the club gave a good account of itself in the tournament and said: “I thought we did well against some good opposition. Penistone are a good side who I have played against before, so I knew it’d be a tough game. However we as a team showed we can compete with some great local sides.
“It was a good competition and I’m glad we competed in it. The lads were just training for nothing because we didn’t know what was around the corner.
“It was hard to keep the lads motivated. However, as soon as that tournament was announced there was a buzz to get back training again and as soon as that happened the love for the game returned.”
