Gary Taylor-Fletcher has more important things to think about at present than how his former clubs are getting on in the Football League.
He is currently attempting to steer Nantwich Town away from danger in the Northern Premier League.
But he will be keeping half an eye on how teams with a special place in his heart are faring.
And there are plenty of those, with the well-travelled frontman having turned out for 15 different sides over the course of a nomadic playing career that was brought to a close in 2019 as attention turned to coaching and management.
Distinction
One of the clubs that GTF once represented with distinction is Huddersfield Town, with two seasons spent in West Yorkshire between 2005 and 2007.
Some 26 goals were recorded across that spell, and how the Terriers could do with a few of those in the present.
A fall from grace has been endured at the John Smith’s Stadium, with football betting odds pricing them at 8/11 to suffer relegation out of the Championship when the 2022-23 campaign is brought to a close.
If such a tumble is to be taken, then it will occur just 12 months on from a place in the Premier League falling agonisingly out of reach.
Huddersfield were second-tier play-off finalists in 2021-22, with 90 minutes separating them from a return to the promised land.
They are now stumbling their way towards League One, with promotion dreams beginning to feel like a distant memory for a side that has become stuck in a serious rut.
Taylor-Fletcher will feel the same about the squad that he is working with at Nantwich, with belief and optimism required in abundance if trapdoors that lead down to a lower division are to be avoided by outfits competing at any level.
GTF once netted a history-making goal for Huddersfield, with said strike – which was the 500,000th scored in the Football League – registered on August 8, 2006.
Some 16 years on and heroic efforts that make cult heroes of those involved are required in Cheshire, with six wins and 23 points collected prior to Christmas.
Taylor-Fletcher, along with Nantwich manager Ritchie Sutton, has spoken of the pride being taken from the battling qualities on show from a squad that is buying into the methods of their coaches and proving that there remains plenty of stomach for a fight.
Progress
End product has proven hard to come by at times, along with priceless clean sheets – as the struggles being endured by the lowest scorers in the Championship are mirrored at Nantwich, who only scored 23 goals in their first 26 games.
But time remains a commodity in plentiful supply and positive progress can be made if momentum is established in the coming weeks.
Taylor-Fletcher knows better than most how important goal-getters are to any given cause, having once been in that business himself, and will be hoping to see the net bulge on a regular basis at the Swansway Stadium in the coming weeks.
He will also check in on events occurring some 75 miles away from time to time, with a number of other spiritual homes still tugging on his heartstrings.
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