If we got relegated I’d go — Corney

Simon Corney

ATHLETIC chairman Simon Corney has revealed his fear of failure as the club’s battle for League One survival continues.

Corney wasn’t pessimistic in a frank interview last night - but clearly his future at Boundary Park would be in serious doubt if Athletic were relegated.

He also revealed some players will leave at the end of the season. Asked where he sees Athletic in two years’ time, Corney revealed on the club website: “I used to make predictions but now I take it day to day, even hour by hour.

“We’ll have a new stand — that’s why I’m here, I want to get that built. If I then leave when the stand is built I can go with my head held high.

“Some may argue whether I’ll have achieved anything - we were in League One when I arrived - but this stand (which he expects to start building in the summer) will help generate income that can help project us to the top of the division.

“It may, with the right manager, give us an opportunity to get in the play-offs or even secure automatic promotion and Championship football.

“Who knows? If we got relegated I’d also go because, I’d look at that as failure.

“If it goes down under my watch then I don't think I would be here.

“I don’t even want to contemplate that though, because I love being here. It’s a great club with a good fan base.”

Corney says the team will lose some players at the end of the season.

“In one or two cases it’s out of our hands. A couple of agents have already indicated players won’t be staying, so what can you do?

“It’s not a case of money; we’re not able to compete with Championship clubs.

“There are four or five players we do need to tie down - but if we try to start next season with the basis of what we’ve already got, we've got a very good base to build on.”