IF HARRIERS clinch promotion this season there's one person chairman Barry Norgrove believes deserves a medal more than most - his wife Shirley!

For the builder-turned businessman believes the support of Mrs Norgrove has laid the foundations for a much more successful season at Aggborough this time around.

By his own admission, Norgrove initially struggled with the added pressure and responsibility of life in the Harriers hotseat after inheriting the chair last season.

But the backing of his wife and family have put things into perspective and now he is a lot calmer and more confident about taking his beloved boyhood club forward.

"I don't think people realised what I went through last season, they need to talk to my wife," admits Norgrove, recalling the dark days of the messy takeover battle and the subsequent season of struggle.

"My missus needs a medal because you take it home, you really do. It's a wonder she didn't divorce me, it is honestly.

"I was here all the time, my business suffered because I wasn't about. I couldn't sleep.

"There's been times where I've lay in bed thinking `what can I do?', `Can I put more money in?' and my wife said `Don't you think you've put enough in? What about the family?'

"She's turned round and told me I don't need this, why do I want something I get nothing out of, I get enough hassle with my business? And she's right, but I can't leave it, it's in my blood.

"Don't get me wrong, she's a true Harrier, she'd love to see us do well, she's keen, she comes up here, she'll help and she'll do anything.

"But she said to me putting up with me these last 12 months has been the worst of the 34 years she's been married to me."

Norgrove, who hesitated over taking control in the first place after weeks of wrangling with former major shareholder Lionel Newton, came close to jacking it in in the early dark er days of his reign.

"If you'd have said to me two months in would I turn the clock back and not take the club on I would have said yes," he reveals.

"I was literally blowing my brains out. People were chasing me up for things, the debt was piling up and everything was breaking.

"I know my father was here for years and Harriers is in my blood but I didn't need all that hassle, it annoyed me.

"I could have hit out at people, it was so hard.

"You put thousands of pounds into the club and you turn around and people are swearing at you.

"Did I need that? I could have gone to Spain and lay on the beach instead.

"I didn't know whether I was coming or going. My son Stuart said I should get out, but I couldn't.

"That would have looked bad if I'd have thrown it all in after two months.

"I'd have been slaughtered and I wouldn't have been able to walk through the town.

Fast forward nine or so months and it is a much more relaxed Norgrove looking ahead to the latest Conference season with genuine optimism.

Behind the scenes changes, the appointment of a manager he has complete trust in and an Aggborough overhaul on and off the pitch has made him a happier Harrier.

"Shirley said to me last week it's been a lot better this summer. And it has," he explains.

"We've actually sat out on the patio and had a barbecue and been able to relax.

"That's because I've been able to stay away from the club a bit more and let other people get one with things."

In just 12 months, Norgrove has overseen the departures of numerous employees on the management, coaching, playing and administration side.

Manager Stuart Watkiss, coaches Gary Barnett and Martin O'Connor, physio/general manager Jim Conway, business manager Phil Mullen and receptionist Jenny Hale have all left, along with around 20 players.

But it is two new arrivals - those of new boss Mark Yates and company secretary Oliver Hunt - that have given the chairman reasons to be cheerful.

"The thing is with Mark is he's local. He can't run and hide," insists Norgrove.

"When Jan Molby was here he went off to Liverpool and you didn't see him until the next match.

"Mark's trying to build a sort of family with local people like Neil Howarth and Ian Foster and the dressing room is a happy place at the moment with no bickering.

"The other thing that has been good for us is bringing in Oliver Hunt as company secretary.

"He's young, he's eager and he's in contact with us all of the time.

"I think we've got a good team, not only the directors but in the dressing room and all over the place. It's getting back to being a nice friendly club again," Norgrove adds with a smile.