AFC Fylde can use National League champions as their template

The Coasters’ relegation had been confirmed before Barnet won at Mill Farm on last Monday’s final day of the season.

In contrast, Barnet had already claimed the National League title and promotion back to the EFL before their 3-0 victory at Fylde took them past 100 points for the campaign.

With Coasters chairman David Haythornthwaite reiterating his desire to win by playing fast, attacking football, Longwell said the club could do worse than look at Barnet’s way of working.

Speaking after last Monday’s game, the departing interim boss told club media: “Their manager (Dean Brennan), (we) had a really good conversation; three years this took for them to do that.

“Again, from a personal point of view, you can only do so much in two or three months; it’s impossible to have that style on the pitch.

“We’ve had to try and keep a group going but they’ve been in this hole all season.

“The only thing you can do to change that is there’s so many mistakes been made at the start, those mistakes have to be corrected.

“Doing that during the season is tough but, if you look at Barnet, they build it all the way through, they’ve been doing that for three years and what you’ve now got is the product on the pitch.

“That’s why they’ve been promoted. When you look at the types of players they’ve got, they’re more athletic, they’re stronger and they’re better footballers, hence why they’ve done so well and I think you’ve got to give them a lot of credit.

“I think they’re a really good example for anybody to look at when you think about the job that they’ve done.

“They’ve had three years to do that and I think supporters have got to show a little bit of patience that it isn’t going to happen overnight, suddenly you’re going to have a team on the pitch bopping the ball around and playing a certain way.

“The boys are trying to do that, they just struggle to do it because the types of players we have don’t fit that style.”