Top man-manager who gets message across

LEE CROFT

Latics’ wing wizard writes every week for Chron Sport

IT was a really positive day all-round as John Sheridan took his first training session back at the club.

I’ve known him for years, and really liked him in my first spell on loan here in 2004-05.

There was a positive feeling about the session and I was able to take a full part in it as well, after suffering an ankle injury before last week's game.

Besides the fact that he has done well management-wise – he has plenty of experience of taking sides to the top end of tables – he is also renowned as an excellent man-manager.

When he spoke to the squad for the first time he set out a very strong message. He told us that he will do absolutely everything he can for us, provided that we do right by him.

And he also made it clear that if we don't, then he won't be shy about telling people they need to buck up their ideas.

It is tough, but fair and players really appreciate that. On top of that, he is a person steeped in the game. He wants us to play attractive, attacking football. The supporters appear to be very happy with the appointment and the mood has been lifted.

Bradford is a great game for John to take on first and we have now got a run of difficult fixtures, but ones that we can really get stuck into with Bury the following week and Wigan away not long after that.

I was sad to see David Dunn go and so were the rest of the players. He was well-liked. The Millwall game summed it up. In terms of the performance, we played well and I don’t think anyone at the game would dispute that. But we didn't get the points and that’s how it’s been going.

This is now a clean slate and there is more or less half a season to go.

With a new manager installed, we have plenty of time to sort ourselves out – starting at Valley Parade tomorrow.