Athletic scotch Ritchie rumour

Sean Gregan: Supposedly in line to be No 2 at Boundary Park.

ATHLETIC have distanced themselves from talk that a new managerial team of Andy Ritchie and Sean Gregan is being lined up to take over at the club.

With the side currently languishing in the bottom four of Coca-Cola League One, former boss and club legend Ritchie — currently working as a match summariser for the BBC — is rumoured to be in line for a managerial return, with captain Gregan as his player-assistant.

But Athletic chief executive Alan Hardy described such gossip as “paper talk”.

Current managerial duo Dave Penney and his number two Martin Gray have presided over three successive losses against sides all in the top four, but now face a make-or-break month of six matches against teams all in the bottom half of the division.

The 49-year-old Ritchie was previously in charge of Athletic for three years up to 2001, promoted from Neil Warnock’s assistant when he left to manage Bury.

Ritchie faced a tough task with a small budget and left the club in Chris Moore’s first season, going on to head up the youth set-up at Leeds United.

He moved back into first-team management at Barnsley — who he took up to the Championship via the play-offs — and then Huddersfield Town, where he was sacked in 2008.

Meanwhile, a number of Athletic fringe players will have the chance to stake their claim for a place on the coach to Exeter for this weekend’s crunch basement battle.

Deane Smalley, Keigan Parker and Joe Colbeck all played a part in the 1-0 home defeat to Norwich at Boundary Park at the weekend and they get a chance to catch the eye of Penney when reserve team boss Lee Duxbury takes his side to Hyde United’s Ewen Fields ground tomorrow.

Rochdale are the opposition once again and Athletic will be out for revenge after being thrashed 7-0 by their local rivals in a reserves fixture last week.

Jon Worthington and Lewis Alessandra also play as they work their way back to full fitness following ankle surgery.

Reserves (from): Flahavan, Floszmann, Rowney, Black, Worthington, Fodor, Aljofree, Smalley, Marrow, Alessandra, Parker, Colbeck, Eaves, McKerr, Steer, McCall, McGrath, Millar, Rose.