I travelled up with Kev to Eston School near Middlesbrough for the first pre-season session on the first Tuesday of July – an hour’s drive from York and 20 miles from Whitby. Eston was chosen because it had a decent open space and room for us to do some running, but also because it was fairly central in terms of travel for the players. Most of the Middlesbrough based lads lived 10 mins or less from there, but it was more of a trek to get to for the rest of the boys. We trained Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until the games started but Harry said that we only had to go to two of the sessions.

It was a bit like the first day back at school at the first session. There were at least 40 lads there, and I suddenly realised that I was by no means guaranteed a place in the squad. At least 10 of the 40 were lads who had been released after YTS or 1st year pro contracts at league clubs. They looked fit, skilful and most seemed to have an air of confidence about them. The lads who’d been in the side for years appeared relaxed but as far as I was concerned, I was basically in with the triallists because whilst I knew most of the established lads, I didn’t know them well.

Its important to point out just how fickle non-league football at that level was. Whitby had an unusually high proportion of lads who’d been together a while. Most sides had 5 or 6 lads who formed the core of the team but the remaining seats in the dressing room would often be home to numerous changing faces throughout a season. I played later on in my career with Andy Saville, who had played hundreds of league games and was a guy I respected more than anyone else I played with, once told me that “footballers are just ships passing in the night – someone else will be in your seat if you don’t keep performing and that goes for me too.” This didn’t mean the bond in the dressing room was any weaker. The team spirit was probably stronger because everything was more intense at that level, but it took a bit of getting used to. One week you could be travelling through with another lad and the next he’d be bombed and you’d be meeting someone else at the service station to share lifts with. I have stayed in touch with about 5 or 6 of the lads I played with and 2 of them were mates from Uni. I probably played with over 100 team mates in English football so that goes to prove the point that Savs made. He had played for many pro clubs, scored a hatful of goals and is still revered by fans at Hartlepool and Preston where he achieved cult status. I remembered watching him on Match of the Day when I was a kid – I hung on everything he said at least in the early days our time playing together.

The first two weeks were basically fitness sessions and new faces seemed to come and go. The sessions weren’t as hard physically as I’d expected them to be, and before I knew it, the first friendly of the pre-season programme was upon us, against Halifax Town – then a football league club. Pre-season games against pro clubs are eagerly anticipated by everyone connected with a non-league side like Whitby. The fans look forward to catching a glimpse of better players, perhaps fairly famous names who are on the way down or rising stars who are tipped for the top. Players look forward to the chance to impress against full time pros, some may have recently been released from the full time game and are looking to try and prove a point or impress sufficiently to get another chance at that level. For me, just to step out and have a go on the same pitch as a pro team was enough. For the club’s directors, these games brought in much needed funds. Though admission tended to be a couple of quid less than normal home games in the league, they attracted decent crowds as the pro sides often had fans who would follow their team and there were games where there were more away fans than home fans. There were also no wages to pay as we only started getting paid once the league season commenced.

We got beat 2-0 against Halifax, but I had a decent enough game for the hour or so I played. The fact that I was substituted did not concern me – Harry had a squad of 20 lads there, all of whom he wanted to get a look at for more than just a 10 min run out. I marked a lad called Grant Holt who was on trial there at the time. He managed to secure a contract that season but went to Barrow after being released the year after, where I played against him a couple more times. He subsequently went on to play for Sheffield Wednesday, Rochdale, Notts Forest and Shrewsbury before joining Nowrich where he is currently skipper in a side that looks like getting promoted to the Premier League. He was the sort of player I liked marking – big, strong, not that quick and definitely happy to put himself about – and I can honestly say I never thought he’d go on to be anything more than a journeyman in the bottom tier of the league at best but he’s already had a fantastic career, making the most of his opportunities.

I was really getting a taste for this level of football now and as pre-season progressed, I grew in confidence and started to feel like I belonged. We beat Ilkeston, a top side from the Doc Martens/Southern League at the time, 2-0 and then beat Rotherham 3-2. It was by no means a full strength side Rotherham fielded that night, but like most of the pre-season games against pro sides, we got to play against a few first teamers, some of their youngsters and a couple of triallists they were taking a look at. Given that Harry was usually giving at least 18 players a game, it wasn’t as if we were the finished article, so our results were quite encouraging.

The next part of Kevin Graham's Whitby Town story will be available tomorrow.