Jim Bentley doesn't regret stepping down to National League with AFC Fylde

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Last October saw Bentley return to non-league football’s top tier for the first time since skippering Morecambe to promotion play-off victory at Wembley in 2007.

The next 12 seasons were spent establishing the Shrimps in League Two, firstly as a player and then as manager from 2011.

That stay ended last autumn when, with the Shrimps bottom of League Two after defeat at Stevenage, he accepted the job as Dave Challinor’s successor at Mill Farm.

Having brought with him his Morecambe assistant manager Ken McKenna and goalkeeping coach Lee Jones, Bentley’s first six months haven’t exactly gone to plan.

A year on from losing the promotion play-off final to Salford City, the Coasters were second-bottom of the table when football stopped last month as a result of the coronavirus pandemic before the National League season was suspended indefinitely last week.

Having been edged out in the majority of their games during a winless league run from November to March, Bentley’s players had taken seven points from their last three matches to lie only four from safety when the action halted.

It has been said that there isn’t a huge difference between National League and League Two, a view that Bentley can understand.

He said: “The standard in the National League is very good, very competitive.

“There is a lot of ambition in the league and a lot of good players. There are a lot of good players I’ve come across in my eight or nine years at Morecambe.

“It’s a tough league but, like in any division, there is a slight increase or decrease in certain areas.

“For example, maybe the centre-forwards are better in the league above.”

The competitiveness of the division is perhaps best illustrated by some of the sides the Coasters are now up against.

Notts County, Yeovil Town, Stockport County, Hartlepool United, Torquay United, Barnet and Chesterfield are all looking for a return to the EFL, having dropped out in the time the rebranded Coasters have progressed from North West Counties League to National League.

Then there are clubs that don’t have the history of those just mentioned but have the ambition to try to break into the EFL.

While it’s been a struggle on the pitch, Bentley has no regrets about making the move to Mill Farm.

He said: “With regards to facilities, tactical awareness and things like that, there are a lot of good managers, coaches and players.

“The majority of them are full-time and it’s a very good league to be part of, I have to say.”