Sacking Shez was a tough call

John Sheridan at MK Dons: as low as he could go

ATHLETIC’S owners have admitted that John Sheridan’s sacking was a decision they agonised over.

Sheridan was in his 12th year at Boundary Park and had become part of the fabric of the club.

In a footballing world full of instability, Sheridan clocked up 164 appearances as a player and 151 games in charge as manager.

Sheridan’s first job in management might have come to an abrupt end, but it is worth remembering that he guided them into the League One play-offs in his first season and last season achieved an eighth-placed finish.

Athletic also spent much of this season challenging for promotion until the recent slide out of the top six following a run of two wins in 10 league games.

It is hard to analyse what went wrong in recent weeks, though it is pretty clear there was unrest and division in the camp.

Sheridan, himself, admitted there were players unhappy at being overlooked as in the lead-up to his departure there were seven loan players on the books so each week there were plenty sat on the sidelines, often unable to get into the match-day 16.

And the players he brought in were, arguably, no better than the existing ones.

Perhaps the mistake was not focusing on quality as opposed to quantity.

And when you look back at the summer signings, Chris O’Grady was jettisoned before he had been given a chance to impress, while Sheridan acclaimed the captures of Kieran Lee from Manchester United and Dale Stephens from Bury, but neither have been given a chance.

Lee’s debut was delayed by injury but, after two impressive displays over Christmas, he has not played since.

Sheridan strengthened his squad in the summer with the captures of O’Grady, Kevin Maher, Danny Whitaker, Greg Fleming, Lee, Stephens and David Williams.

Those seven players have been augmented by nine loan players or trialists during the campaign - Richie Byrne, Daniel Jones, Brett Ormerod, Darren Byfield, Dean Windass, Scott Golbourne, Seb Hines, Jan Budtz and Steven Kabba.

Sheridan cannot complain about a lack of support from Athletic’s owners despite his constant carping about having the fourth lowest budget in League One. Athletic’s owners maintain it is in the top 10.

Sheridan’s record shows he did well and was by no means a failure in his first job in management. But there is an overwhelming feeling that, given the resources in the current campaign, he ought to have achieved more.

It was a far cry to back in October 1998 when Sheridan was recruited by Athletic manager Andy Ritchie as his side battled against relegation from what is today’s Coca-Cola League One.

Sheridan had been released by Bolton Wanderers that summer and been playing for Doncaster Rovers in the Conference when Ritchie captured him and striker John McGinlay.

It proved a master-stroke as the pair helped Athletic stave off the threat of relegation by one point by virtue of winning their last two games of the season.

Sheridan went on to make 164 appearances for Athletic between 1998/2004, scoring 16 goals for the Boundary Park club.

His final appearance (aged 39) was against Tranmere Rovers in February 2004.

Sheridan coached the youth and reserve teams at Boundary Park as he made the transition from a player to joining the backroom staff on a permanent basis.

After two brief spells as first-team caretaker Athletic decided to promote from within when Ronnie Moore was sacked at the end of 2005/06.