Gray’s shock at boss exit

MARTIN Gray reckons Dave Penney will soon find another job in football.

MARTIN Gray was stunned by the departure of Dave Penney and believes the outgoing manager achieved the expectations outlined by the board at the start of the season.

Gray, who is in for the vacant manager’s job at Boundary Park, was Penney’s right-hand man at Darlington and then at Athletic before the events of last week.

The 38-year-old feels that some of the players brought to the club simply didn’t perform as well as they should have done and that this contributed to a difficult season in which the team flirted with relegation to League Two before finishing 16th.

And the Stockton-born former Sunderland player also reckons that Penney won’t have to wait loo long for another job.

“When Dave first came in he was told to keep the club in this league,” said Gray, who took charge of Athletic in a caretaker capacity for Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by Charlton.

“That was the statement made from boardroom level, I am led to believe.

“It has been such a shock what has come about. Regarding that, the manager did his job.

“Yes, we wanted to have a better season and not just keep the club up but push it forward.

“There have been a lot of distractions along the way and we have had a lot of long-term injuries to key players.

“That never helps any team and you need a bit of luck in that respect.

“He is a man whom I respect very highly and worked with for three years .

“He is a fantastic man. People have opinions but for me, he was a fantastic manager to work for and a fantastic boss.

“We didn’t see any signs and you usually do see the signs.

“So it was a massive shock to everybody and the players, too.

“I think a lot of the players feel that they maybe haven’t stepped up to the mark. Some of the players the manager brought in have, for me, let him down.

“That’s my opinion and the players know it. There are players like Sean Gregan and Reuben Hazell, who have been outstanding.

“With the CV Dave has got, it stands up against most managers at this level of football. So I am sure he will be back in work very soon.”

Penney had been linked with the manager’s job at League Two outfit Shrewsbury, whose outgoing boss Paul Simpson is ironically one of the men heavily tipped to move in at Boundary Park. But he has since ruled himself out of the running.