Jim looks to the positives

HATTERS boss James Gannon accepts one or two of his star players will make the move up the footballing ladder this summer – but he insists there is plenty to be positive about.

“I suspect we may lose one or two of our best players who’ve earned the right to make the step up, but what’s positive this season is that plenty of people in football have heard good things about Stockport County; how we conduct ourselves, the hard work of our players, no red cards all season,” he said.

“It is disappointing to miss out (on the play-offs), but maybe like ten years ago, it turns out to be a positive as we can continue to build a side which is ready to go up and then go up again or at least be competitive in the league above.”

Gannon was alluding to County’s final day heartbreak ten years ago, when a 5-0 win over Darlington in League Two wasn’t enough to earn a play-off berth, as Bristol Rovers snatched the seventh and final position on goal difference – although The Hatters stormed to an emphatic play-off win the very next season.

And the County manager said the hard work begins immediately, with talks over contract extensions and any players to be released coming this week, as The Hatters now look forward to a fifth season in the sixth tier of English football.

“There’s plenty of conversations to be had, from players we’d like to keep to players who haven’t done enough,” he said. “We have to trust that we can attract better players, and keep progressing as a team.

“We’ll be having those conversations this week, and we will start preparing then for the off-season and for pre-season. We know we need to be ready, because at the end of the day we want to succeeed, and we want to start next season how we finished this one.”