Six pressing issues Latics must resolve

LIAM KELLY . . . Athletic boss John Sheridan will want to keep hold of the midfield man after another fine season

ATHLETIC will enter a 20th straight season in League One in August.

And with the remarkable rescue act performed by John Sheridan complete, the focus switches to trying to get out of the division at its top end.

One game remains, against Coventry at home, before the club reveal which of the current squad will and won’t be offered new deals.

It promises to be a busy summer ­— but what exactly do Athletic need to do for a happier 2016-17 campaign?

Here, we examine six key steps to success:

1, SIGN GERRARD

He has the ambition to move back into the Championship and at the age of 30, may not have too many years left in the game. Anthony Gerrard would, though, provide a major fillip for supporters if the club can persuade him to stick around for next season. It is hard to overstate just how important the defender has been this season in terms of providing steel and organisation for his manager John Sheridan. And what Athletic definitely don’t need is another protracted chase for a missing defensive commander. There would have been no relegation battle had Gerrard signed at the start of the campaign.

2, OTHER KEY RECRUITS

With only four of this season’s players currently under contract ­— and with three of those (Jake Cassidy, Rhys Murphy and Connor Brown) not getting much game-time under Sheridan ­— it is clear that there will be plenty of new additions this summer, as well as players being asked to stay on. A new pair of full-backs is a must, as is at least one new striker. On the strength of his loan acquisitions to date, Sheridan’s success rate for new players promises plenty. The manager won’t want to lose the services of his skipper Liam Kelly, who is about to enter the final 12 months of his current deal.

3, HOME FORM

Leicester’s Premier League title win was built in no small part on the foundation of a superb home record. The Foxes won five on the trot at the King
Power Stadium to escape the drop last season, generating momentum they were able to maintain throughout 2015-16. Under Sheridan, Athletic’s turnaround has also been very impressive. One win all season has suddenly become five in the last six. Ally that to being tough to beat away from home ­— only Wigan and Walsall have been beaten fewer times on the road than Athletic ­— and it is a recipe for success.

4, WALSALL’S EXAMPLE

The Saddlers continue to provide the model of an over-achieving club. Five years ago,
rock-bottom of League One, the decision was made to promote Dean Smith from the youth ranks to become first-team manager. Hand in hand with stability ­— notwithstanding an ill-fated stint for Sean O’Driscoll as manager in mid-season ­— has come gradual success, building towards this season’s promotion tilt. With the third-lowest budget in the division, a team built around cast-offs from wealthier neighbours give hope that with a stable, youth-focused approach, Athletic will be able to perform similarly.

5, FIND A STYLE

With a difficult home pitch to play on, it is to Sheridan’s credit that he so quickly adopted a pragmatic stance to gaining the nine wins he always felt he needed. True, Athletic would turn on the style on a carpet ­— as at Wigan, for example ­— but there was little sense in trying to play passing triangle when the mud is up to your ankles. The more direct approach, with a non-nonsense attitude to defending, saw the club grind out exactly what was needed. Sheridan wants to play more attractively. But as it stands, his side are fiendishly difficult to play against at their best and he won’t want to risk losing that toughness.

6, KEEP SHERIDAN

Athletic’s manager, in keeping with the club’s directors, doesn’t seem to have been too impressed with the talk of Bolton’s interest in his services. But setting aside that particular club, it’s clear that Sheridan’s excellent work on returning to Athletic has not got unnoticed across the wider game. The positive for supporters is that the talk of a push for promotion next season is not idle for a man who plays as straight a bat as Sheridan. He really believes that the club can go up to the Championship ­— which would satisfy any ambitions of managing at a higher level.