NELSON boss Andy Harrison says you are only as good as the coaches you surround yourself with.

The Admirals boss insists it is ‘we’ rather than ‘me’ when it comes to trying to turn the fortunes around at Victoria Park – affectionately known as Little Wembley.

At the age of 29, Harrison is one of the youngest managers in the North West Counties League – not that it concerns him – but he says it is important to have a ‘sounding board’ to bounce ideas off.

And along with his assistant manager Guy Heffernan and coaches Joe Ormond and Mark Sharples – who is still playing –Harrison is certain the four will get it right.

“I’ve never believed in the ‘it’s me or the highway’ approach to football,” said the former FC United and Burscough player. “I’ve worked with managers in the past who have been like that and, in my opinion, it doesn’t work.

“We work as a team and as far as I am concerned, it is ‘us’ and Guy, Joe and Mark play very important roles in what we are trying to achieve.”

Harrison took over the Nelson hot seat in October last season, stepping up from assistant boss to replace Steve Cunningham.

The club were rock bottom both in terms of league position and prospects of attracting new players.

“It was tough and we were in a bad place,” added Harrison who also ran the University of Central Lancashire First XI for two years. “We were bottom of the table and no-one wanted to come and play for us.

“But we worked hard, really hard, and we rebuilt the side and we ended up finishing in 13th place in the table and, if I am being honest, we probably could have finished even higher.”

He added: “I have to say, I worked with Steve and he was brilliant, he taught me a lot and that is something I am very grateful for.”

Harrison had every intention to build on that successful finish and recruited players who he thought would help Nelson kick on.

But it just didn’t happen.

“I hold my hands up for that one,” added Harrison. “Maybe I was being a little naive but we brought in players who we thought would work, make us better as a team, but they just did not suit our style of play.”

Once such player was Jack Coop who scored 20 goals for Barnoldswick the previous season who has since moved on to join Maine Road and has another 12 to his name.

“Jack won’t mind me mentioning his name because he is a smashing lad and a great player, a natural goal-scoring. But it wasn’t him, or any other players’ fault. We got it wrong.”

Harrison was big enough to put his hand up and was determined to do something about it. “We could have left it how it was but it would have cost me my job, it is as simple as that,” he said. “So we pressed the reset button, went on a recruitment drive and this time made sure we brought in the right players.”

Yves Zama, Nathan Heath, Morgan Crowther all arrived, along with with Burnley FC youth player Matty Carson and Harrison is adamant Nelson are now on the right track.

The Admirals sealed a late victory at Daisy Hill on Saturday thanks to Sam Dickinson's 88th minute winner but Harrison has not set his side any targets.

“The results have improved,” he said. “I think we have turned the corner.

“We haven’t set targets. We just want to climb the table, improve results and see where it takes us.”