Tuesday, 13 February 2024.

Harrogate Town are on the receiving end of a humiliating 9-2 defeat at Mansfield Town and long-serving manager Simon Weaver knows he is facing tough questions from fans, local media and… his dad.

Irving Weaver, 75, is owner and chairman of the North Yorkshire club who vowed when he took over in 2011 to “put Harrogate further up the football pyramid”.

Together with former Sheffield Wednesday defender Simon, they are the father-and-son team that has lifted Harrogate from the National League North to League Two.

Simon, 46, had already been manager of Harrogate for two years when his dad took over, with the team drifting in the sixth tier of English football and surviving on crowds of around 200.

Fast forward 13 years and no longer does the team coach break down (more about that later), while the bus shelter that once seated fans has gone and season ticket sales have increased from just seven in 2011 to 700-plus this season.

It is a unique set-up with the manager answering to his dad, but there have been two promotions and a Wembley FA Trophy triumph in the past six years.

Harrogate – who have one of the smallest budgets in the EFL – are in their fifth season in League Two.

There have been bumps along the way, not least that crushing midweek defeat at Field Mill in February.

“I’ve never lost like that in my life,” says Simon, who is the current longest-serving manager in England’s top four divisions, though 11 of his 15 years in charge were outside the Football League.

“You feel wounded after a result like that. You care that much because it’s your dad [who is owner], you don’t want to let him down.”

Simon will be looking to deliver his dad a financial boost when Harrogate host non-league Gainsborough Trinity in the FA Cup on Friday (19:45 GMT) – a match you can watch live on BBC Two.

Victory will secure them a place in the third round for only the second time in their 105-year history – and a potential money-spinning tie against a Premier League club.

When Simon took charge of Harrogate on 21 May 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo had just helped Manchester United win another Premier League title, Pep Guardiola had just completed his first season in charge of Barcelona, while Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Portsmouth were all Premier League clubs.

“We lost 3-0 away to Corby Town,” he recalls of his opening league game in charge. “I had a playing budget of £1,600. I had to count on a few friends and some played for free as a favour.”

Watford have made more than 20 managerial changes since Simon was recruited by Harrogate after answering an advert placed in the Non-League Paper.

Friday’s cup tie will be his 766th game in charge of the club.

“I got a cake for my 700th game,” he says. “I left it at the ground and we didn’t have another home game for a fortnight. It had gone off by the time I got back.”

Guardiola, who took over Manchester City in 2016, is the longest-serving current manager in the Premier League but trails Harrogate’s boss by some distance in the top four divisions.

What does it mean to be the current longest-serving manager in English football ahead of the likes of Guardiola (eight years and five months), Brentford’s Thomas Frank (six years and one month) and Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, who is approaching his fifth year anniversary in charge of Arsenal?

“I’m proud of it,” says former Lincoln City defender Simon. “Sometimes I think ‘gosh, how has he been in and out in such a short space of time’ when I hear about a manger losing their job.”

He is aware of insults from opposition fans – and a few home supporters when form has dipped – about his longevity being down to his dad being the owner.

“It’s an easy jibe, isn’t it?” Irving tells BBC Sport.

“It’s unfortunate but it doesn’t impact Simon. Look what’s happened [two promotions in 2017-18 and 2019-20 and the FA Trophy success in 2019-20].

Multi-millionaire Irving made his money as a property magnate and is not afraid to make tough business decisions when needed.

So, has he ever come close to sacking his son?

“We’ve never had to go that far,” he says. “We were both shocked that night [the 9-2 defeat at Mansfield] but it was out of context because we had won seven of our previous 10 league games.

“We were quiet for a couple of days afterwards. Simon then named the same XI four days later at Crewe and got a 0-0 draw.

“He has always managed to find a way to turn it around.”

Manager-owner relationships can be fractious but the Weavers, including Simon’s mum Dorothy, who bakes cakes for the players to eat on the journey back from away games, are a close family who have always managed to work through problems together.

“Arguments are a waste of time,” says Irving.

“There’s a concern when we’re on a losing run. We’ve just been down to 20th in the table. There’s a serious discussion about where the problems lie.

“But it’s a discussion – not an argument.”

The pair try to fit in a game of padel each week to escape the stress of owning and managing a League Two club with a full-time staff of 50 or so people, including a psychologist.

However, minor disagreements have flared over playing budgets and contracts.

“Dad knows how passionate I am,” adds Simon, whose team knocked out League One Wrexham in the FA Cup first round.

“But I know straight after a game is not the right time for me to say to him: ‘If I had a 6ft 2in centre-forward that could win every first ball, we’d be higher up the table.’

“I remember a few years back I’d just had an operation and I had one of my children with me in the back of the car while dad was driving.

“He said ‘you’ve overspent by such and such amount’, and I said something like ‘just give me a break! I’ve just had an operation and I’ve got one of my children with me’.

“I’ve got so much respect for dad. When I was a player, whether I was 11 years old or 29 years old, he would always encourage me after games and say ‘keep at it’ or ‘well done’.

“Working with dad, the highs are amazing when you’ve won. Earlier this month we beat Chesterfield in the last minute and afterwards he’s got a beer in his hand. It means so much and sometimes I’m quite teary-eyed.

“Equally when we lost the week before in the last minute to Morecambe, I felt for him.”

Simon, who has two years left on his current contract, is six months away from celebrating his 16th anniversary at Harrogate.

Is there a danger staying at one club for so long could hamper his chances of landing a job elsewhere?

“I do think that sometimes,” he says. “When you’ve had moments like winning trophies at Wembley, you want them again.

“Ideally I want to manage Harrogate Town to the next level and say I’ve done it again.”

Whatever the future holds, Harrogate appear to be heading in the right direction under the Weavers – on and off the pitch.

After the club won promotion to the EFL in 2020 after beating Notts County in the National League play-off final at Wembley, one of the first things Irving did was find a reliable coach company to transport the team to away games.

“It was two hours getting a replacement,” he says of the time the coach taking the team to Wembley failed to start outside Harrogate’s ground on Wetherby Road.

“On the way back from Wembley the coach carrying the directors and families wouldn’t restart after a stop at a service station.

“We had to get the players’ coach, which was ahead of us, to turn back so we could get a few people on that.

“A minibus took the remainder back to Harrogate.”