It’s full steam ahead!

CHAIRMAN Simon Blitz admits he will be disappointed if Athletic don’t achieve a top-six finish this season.

The credit crunch may be causing problems off the pitch – Athletic will kick-off in a three-sided stadium – but Mr Blitz says there is good cause for optimism ahead of the 2008/09 campaign.

The club’s owners, in cahoots with manager John Sheridan, have added considerable numbers to the playing staff, with seven new faces brought to Boundary Park.

Only two major earners have gone, yet Mr Blitz revealed exclusively that Athletic had managed to keep their finances strictly in check.

He explained: “The budget will end up similar to last year, even though the amount of players has increased quite a lot.

“I’m sure people understand that it’s hard to keep spending more and more money, so basically we’ve been wheeling and dealing.

“Since the end of last season, Les Pogliacomi (who quit English football in February) has come off the pay roll and Gary McDonald has signed for Aberdeen.

“That’s only two significant wages, but we’ve also been able to cut one or two others without losing the people concerned.

“We’ve managed to free up some funds, and from there we’ve worked on bringing in players who would improve the squad without breaking the bank.

“I think we’ve been successful. There are lots of players here for John (Sheridan) to work with – it’s the best squad in my time at the club.

“We’ve got experience, we’ve got good kids, it’s a nice combination and we are full steam ahead.

“We’ve built a better squad for the same money and, as owners, we are 100 per cent determined for the club to go up this season.

“Promotion has always been the aim, which is something we said from day one, and we also said we hoped to go up within five years – well, this is our fifth season.

“With the squad we’ve put together, I personally would be disappointed with anything outside the top six.

“That doesn’t mean there’s pressure on the manager. The only pressure on John comes from himself, not us.

“He has done a good job in his first two seasons, especially last year when we probably would have reached the play-offs if everyone had been available.”

While Athletic can’t afford to reject huge offers for their players, they have turned down a number of bids during the summer.

They have also been busy demolishing the Clayton Arms and Broadway Stand, clearing the way for new facilities.

At the moment, due to the slump in land and property values, they can go no further – parts of the site must be sold to developers in order to finance the stand.

Mr Blitz, however, insisted he and his co-owners, Simon Corney and Danny Gazal, were not concerned by the hold-up.

He said: “It’s not ideal that we can’t go ahead with the stand, but sooner or later we’ll definitely have the funds in place.

“The only way of progressing at the moment would be to sell the residential land at a ridiculous knock-down price, which wouldn’t make any sense.

“Planning permission came a year too late, but we’ve got it now – and when it comes to real estate values, what goes down will always come back up.

“It goes in cycles and I’m not worried because I can’t control the credit crunch.

“We’ll bide our time, but the stadium will get built.”