MELLON MARKS RETURN IN STYLE

Boss delivers emotional message to club he loves

NEW Tranmere boss Micky Mellon says the opportunity to come back to Prenton Park where he enjoyed success as a player was simply too good to turn down.

Mellon made over 150 appearances for Rovers during two stints at the club, but there were raised eyebrows this week when the 44-year-old parted company with Shrewsbury Town to drop two divisions and take the reins at the National League promotion hopefuls.

“It’s been an unbelievable couple of days,” said Mellon after his side’s impressive 2-0 win at home against Wrexham yesterday (above).

“I know why people would be surprised I’ve dropped two divisions, but I’ve come to a club I love.”

Mellon joins Rovers following last month’s sacking of Gary Brabin, who this week delivered some stinging words (see

page 7) following Mark Palios’ decision to wield the axe just weeks after he had steered the club to its best start to a season in 97 years – earning him the Manager of the Month award for August.

Mellon, who guided Fleetwood Town out of the Conference National in 2012, will take on one of the biggest playing budgets in Non-League football. But he is keen to stamp his own authority on the squad and backroom staff, and is expected to bring in changes as Rovers seek to find their early season form again.

He added: “It’s a wee bit like moving into a new house, getting a bottle of wine and then realising there’s no bottle opener or it’s broke and you have to get another one, or a better one.

“There’s no rush because I want to make sure that we cover everything and take it at the right pace and make sure that we build a football club here that gives itself a fantastic chance of winning lots of football matches.

“We’re not going to get carried away. We’ll enjoy our wins one at a time and we’ll work hard on the things that we believe we need to improve. Rest assured that the players are fully committed.”