Ronnie Moore meets his players

Last updated : 03 March 2005 By The Chairman

New Latics boss Ronnie Moore has asked Tony Philliskirk to remain with the first team even though he has his own right hand man in John Breckin. Moore has the unenviable task of halting Athletic’s run of eight consecutive defeats, their longest losing run since the 1934/35 season some 70 years ago.

The Chronicle reports that at his first meeting with the players he confidently told them, “We can stay up. If you look at the games we’ve still got to play, you can be fearful about our chances of staying in this division. But the lads should relish teams like Luton, Hull, Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford all coming to Boundary Park. I reckon we need five wins from our last 12 games and, although that’s a tough task, it’s something we can achieve. We’ve lost eight on the belt, which can’t be good for confidence, but I guarantee the fans that these lads will show a great attitude.”

“We need to stop the landslide quickly, and they will find things changing now that me and John are in charge. For a start there will be double training sessions, which isn’t a punishment but a way of preparing them right. There isn’t much time but we can turn this season round, and it isn’t as though I’ve arrived when Oldham are stuck in the drop zone and running out of hope. I saw the game at Huddersfield on Saturday and my first impressions are that we need to tighten up at the back, to stop conceding silly goals. But every player is responsible for defending, so I expect hard workers in every position from the strikers to the goalkeeper.”

“I’ve also got an idea of players I would like to bring in, and the owners have agreed that we’ll look at one or two new signings to freshen everything up. Avoiding relegation is absolutely the main concern, but I see this as a long-term job because I want us to be pushing for the Championship next season. My contract is fairly short at the moment, but I don’t feel on trial here, the contract was something agreed by both parties. We can discuss it again in the summer. The most important thing was to just get in here, start working and start picking up points.”

Simon Corney added, “There were over 50 applications for the job, but once we knew Ronnie was interested we focused on him right away. We are conscious of gaining a reputation for changing managers, but we’re delighted to get him and it’s only fair to Ronnie that money will be available for players.”