Out with the old, in with the new

10am: Joe Royle gives his final pre-match press conference. . .

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PENNEY CLOCKS IN AS ROYLE STARTS TO WIND DOWN

ONE-TIME bricklayer Dave Penney is looking to lay the foundations for a successful new era at Boundary Park.

Athletic’s new manager will strive to build a team which is capable of challenging for promotion from Coca-Cola League One.

Penney, from Castleford, believes the fact he was a late starter in professional football — he was playing for non-league Pontefract Collieries until the age of 21 — has served him well.

He said: “I came from a mining area and it was a good grounding for me.

“My dad worked down the pit and it was very much a working-class background.

“It makes you appreciate what a £1 is and the value of money, whether your own or somebody else’s.

“It also gives you hunger because when I came out of the building trade at the age of 21 and signed a two-year contract at Derby County, the last place I wanted to go was back on a building site.

“And here we are 24 years later. I wasn’t technically the best footballer, but was hard working and always put in a full shift.

“I had a good work ethic and that has stood me in good stead on the management side.”

Penney expects his players to pull their weight once they cross that white line on a Saturday afternoon.

He said: “I will live with anyone who does that and, if they have quality as well, you have a chance of achieving success.”

Penney explained that, as a youngster, he even had to battle for the right to play football.

He said: “Castleford, where I was brought up, is very much a Rugby League area and we didn’t get encouraged to play football.

“In fact at school you had to play rugby or you couldn’t play football.”

Penney kicked off his playing days as far down the footballing pyramid as you could go.

He said: “Whether I was too small or not good enough, I don’t know, but I never went to any academies.

“I played non league for Pontefract Collieries while working as a bricklayer for five years.”

Penney kicked off his career as a centre forward, but also played wide on the right.

He became a utility player towards the end of a career which featured spells at Derby, Oxford, Swansea and Cardiff as well as Doncaster, who had just dropped out of the Football League.

He selects captaining Swansea in a play-off final at Wembley as the highlight of his playing career, even though they were beaten 1-0 by Northampton.

He said: “To play at Wembley, especially after coming from a non-league background, was a dream. Better players than me have never played there.”

Penney “stumbled” into coaching at the age of 31, and admitted he became a better player towards the end of his career after he had gained his qualifications.

He thrived on the responsibility of being captain at Swansea and Cardiff and it is something he has carried over to management.

“I put more pressure on myself to succeed than anyone else would, and I don’t think that will change,” he said.

Penney gained considerable experience at Doncaster, guiding the once downtrodden South Yorkshire club to back-to-back promotions from the Conference to League One.

That was followed by the challenge of trying to revive the fortunes of Darlington.

He said: “I think I’ve had about 380 games as a manager so I ought to have gained experience in building and managing teams.

“I have a good win ration and my teams try to play attractive football, but that is not possible week in, week out. Some teams stop you from doing that.”




Penney factfile

::Born on August 17, 1964.

::Became a professional footballer at the relatively late age of 21.

::A midfielder, he played for nothing at non-league Pontefract Collieries while earning a living as a bricklayer.

::Helped first league club Derby County win promotions from the third to top tier of English football, which included a division two title-winners’ medal in 1986/87.

::Played for four league clubs in total — Derby, Oxford, Swansea and Cardiff — making 292 league appearances and scoring 43 goals.

::Spent eight years at Doncaster Rovers as a player, player/manager and manager.

::First managerial success was at Doncaster, where he achieved back-to-back promotions. They won the Conference play-off final and 12 months later the League Two title.

::Guided Darlington to the League Two play-offs in the 2007/08 season and would probably have repeated the feat this season but for the club being docked 10 points after going into administration.