I would have walked away — Corney

PRAISE . . . Manager Paul Dickov has lifted Athletic’s fortunes on the pitch this season.

CHAIRMAN Simon Corney has revealed that he would no longer be at Athletic had the team’s fortunes not picked up so dramatically.

Last season under then-manager Dave Penney — linked recently to vacancies at Lincoln City, York and Hibs — Athletic limped over the line to finish 16th and avoid relegation by two points, scoring at a rate of less than a goal-a-game at Boundary Park in a turgid campaign.

Since the surprise arrival of Paul Dickov in the summer, the club as a whole has found a new energy.

While the lack of fans coming through the gates continues to be a big concern in the context of the club’s precarious finances, the product on the pitch has been vibrant even despite the slashing of the wage budget.

Corney is the last remaining member of the trio of New York-based businessmen who bought the club in 2004, following the withdrawal of financial support from major shareholders Simon Blitz and Danny Gazal before the start of this season.

And he says that the team’s upturn in fortune — ahead of the home game against Colchester on Saturday, Athletic sit seventh in League One — has persuaded him to stick with the project.

“If this season had been another like last season, then I would have followed Simon (Blitz) and Danny (Gazal) out of the door,” said Corney, who was present to watch the 3-1 win at Brentford last week.

“The manager is great to work with.

“You can see the effect on the pitch and I am the same as any other fan — when the team is really putting in the effort, then I am happy.

“It makes it all worthwhile.

“The way in which the players who were here last season have improved so much pretty much tells its own story.

“It shows the value of man management, which is so important.

“In six-and-a-half years, I have seen the team recover from being a goal down to win three times. And two of those occasions have happened this season.

“It is an indication of the lads’ effort and hunger and it is a big testament to the work being done by the management team.”

Bournemouth showed in their achievement of promotion from League Two last season just what can be done by a club facing severe financial constraints.

Corney, though, is playing with a straight bat when it comes to excited talk about the possibility of Athletic landing a play-off place in a long, tough season.

“It is early days and Paul (Dickov) would be the first one to remind people of that,” he added.

“I am a bit of a realist. While promotion through the play-offs is something I believe the manager thinks we are capable of, you have to look back at where we finished last season.

“Anything of an improvement on that would represent progress.”

While stating that the club has had to find money without Blitz and Gazal to get through to the end of the current season, he warned that without the help of outside investment the prospect of the club entering administration could not be totally ruled out.

“You can never say never,” the chairman said. “But it really would be the last thing that we want to happen.”