Exclusive: Ambitious Stockport Boss Challinor Gunning for ‘Third’ Promotion in Four Seasons

Stockport boss Dave Challinor certainly knows how to secure a promotion.

The former County defender returned to Edgeley Park as manager in November 2021 – and his return to the club has been nothing short of a revelation.

The Hatters were languishing in the National League, a far cry from their last days in League One back in 2010.

But Challinor has built a team that is now challenging for promotion to the Championship.

Promotion out of the National League was achieved at the first attempt and, after narrowly missing out on back-to-back promotions with an agonising 5-4 defeat to Carlisle United in the League Two Play-off final the following season, Challinor and his ambitious charges made sure of promotion to League One at the second time of asking the next season.

County could have easily struggled with such an epic rise, but instead Challinor has guided them to sixth in the table and kept them in the play-off mix for most of this season.

With just less than half of the season remaining, Challinor in understandably delighted with the club’s progress, especially after owner Mark Stott’s prediction in 2020 that the Hatters would secure promotion to the Championship by 2027, his seven-year business plan for success.

“It’s been a fantastic journey so far,” Challinor told SportsBoom.com. 

“It’s always hard with plans. They’ll be a blue-sky thinking where everything goes in an upward trajectory and a perfect upward curve – and there’s no bumps in the road - but that’s unrealistic to where things fit."

“When you’re planning things, especially inside of football, it’s really easy to think simply and say it will take us two years to get to this division’, then it will take us two years to get to that division."

“When, the reality it is, the higher up you get, the harder it is to get out of that league."

“What we’ve managed to do is tick off two of them and get ourselves back to a level now where the club sits well."

“The infrastructure has been put in place to be a Championship club but, in reality, this year is probably where we can reflect and review what we’ve done."

“We can also review where we need to get better and also how we can change our profile, and how we go about it to achieve our ultimate aim, which is reaching the Championship.”

FOCUSED PURSUIT OF SUCCESS

Challinor and owner Stott have had to be ruthless in their pursuit of success, with many big-name, experienced players having left the club after the early years of success.

Now a younger breed of player, some of whom will become sellable assets as the club continues to build, have either been bought or inherited through the club’s blossoming academy, with promotion to the second tier the next stepping stone on what has, so far, been a memorable rise through the divisions.

“[Director of Football] Simon [Wilson] would probably speak about it from almost going from buying to building, bringing in ready-made players that were of a certain level, or above that level, to help you get promotion through those lower leagues,” reflected Challinor. 

“They gave us the best chance of getting promoted."

“Now it becomes a case of trying to retain those players than can make an impact, but ultimately trying to inherit and purchase some assets which can develop with you."

“Hopefully they can help us get to where we want to get too, but if that’s not the case in the short term, then they might out-perform and leave the club. They’re the players you can sell on and help build for the future."

“We’re got a recruitment restructure in the club, it’s something we’ve tried to do and, this year, is probably the year where we can dip our toe [in the waters] and see what it’s like."

“But with that in mind we still want to be competitive and still competing."

“There’s still a massive ambition to be successful this year, but also with one eye on seeing what progression looks like.”