Watson setting lofty targets
NEW Macclesfield Town assistant manager Steve Watson is setting his sights high and wants the club to finish in the play-offs this season.
Watson was officially appointed as John Askey’s number two last week, and is already targeting big things.
The Silkmen have challenged for the playoffs for the last couple of seasons before ultimately falling short, but Watson is urging the side to go all the way on this occasion.
“It’s about keeping that momentum from the end of the season where we only suffered one defeat,” he told the club’s official website. “If we can get a consistently over the season at that type of level, then we won’t be far away from where we need to be.
“Everyone will be looking to start well but we’ve got the added incentive of having finished really well.
“We’ve kept the majority of the group from last season and with a few additions and a sort of helping hand from contacts in terms of loans we’ll be strong again.”
Along with keeping a lot of the existing squad, Askey and Watson are now hoping to bring in some new recruits to the Moss Rose.
Watson is confident that the Silkmen will find the right players, and has a specific criteria that players need to meet.
It’s all about getting the right kind of characters, I think when you get players from big clubs their ability isn’t really questionable,” he said.
“It’s whether they’ve got the mentality to come down and roll their sleeves up and play at this level and play at Barrow on a Tuesday night in the pouring rain, so we’ll also being looking into a play- er’s character to see if we can get the right characters at the club.”
Non-league football has been seen in a positive light in recent months due to the rise of players like Jamie Vardy, and Watson believes there are players in the Macclesfield squad who can achieve big things within the sport.
“We’ve got a lot of young lads with ability who can go higher, there’s been great examples in the past two seasons certainly with Jamie Vardy being the most obvious but not just with what Leicester have done,” he said. “There’s plenty of examples to show them it can be done and I’ve been in and around every league so I will be helping them as much as I can.”