Eyres could be on the way out

Last updated : 10 March 2004 By Dave Moore

David Eyres’ days could be numbered at Boundary Park. With the announcement of a new manager later today Eyres will lose his coaching job as there has been no indication that he will be retained long term. It is expected that he will continue to work with the youngsters as well as being part of the playing squad. As his contract expires soon he could be left out in the cold next season.

Eyres said, “I know John Sheridan has been asked to stay on as number two, but what happens to me personally will be up to the new manager. On the coaching side, I’ll have to wait and see whether he brings his own staff to the club – and with a new manager, Shez as his assistant and Tony Philliskirk coaching the youth team, that would only leave a job with the reserves. I’d like to do that, and at the age of 40 I very much want to stay involved in the set-up. I have to think long-term but, having said that, there’s no way I want to hang up my boots at the end of this season. I feel fit enough to carry on, and I could still do a job at this level provided there were no injury problems. It would be great if that happened here, but if it doesn’t I would reluctantly have to look at other options. Given the choice between a coaching job with Oldham and a playing job elsewhere, it would be the playing contract which attracted me. When managers look back on their careers, most of them wish they had carried on playing for as long as they possibly could.”

“Last year there were a few offers, including a very good one, but I had verbally agreed with Iain Dowie that I would stay here. One or two clubs are still keeping an eye on my situation and I know what might be available if it does come to that.” Eyres was disappointed when John Sheridan and himself were overlooked for the permanent position and added, “No disrespect to the lads, but I think Shez and I have done pretty well considering the squad we’ve worked with. We knew three or four players were needed to make us stronger – and we knew which three or four players we would like to bring in – but we couldn’t sign them. We knew from day one that the squad needed more experience, so with that extra bit of strengthening our results definitely would have improved. It would have been nice to have had a good crack of the whip when it came to signings, and it would have been nice to keep the appointment in-house – I’m sure we could have turned things round between us.”