RAYNES GIVES ROBINS A LIFT
MICHAEL Clegg has built a solid foundation at Ashton United since arriving in December – now he has set his sights on turning the Robins into serious promotion contenders.
Flirting with relegation when Clegg replaced Jody Banim in November, the Robins slowly found their feet and comfortably secured their survival with six wins from their last ten league games before the season was curtailed.
Now Clegg has used that scare as a platform in which to build from.
A number of high-profile names, such as Jake Cottrell, from Chorley, Louis Almond and Tom Bentham have now been joined by experienced defender Michael Raynes, who arrives from Hartlepool United with just under 500 Football League appearances under his belt – as a player-coach.
“It’s a big signing,” Clegg said. “A total of 497 games as a professional footballer says it all. He isn’t coming here for a rest, he will be part of our coaching group whilst leading on the field too.
Identity
“It’s an exciting project we have here and it excites him too. We’re just delighted to have him and not only is he a fantastic player, he is a great person.
“We want to be horrible to play against,” he told The NLP. “I came into a team struggling in confidence. There was a lack of cohesion between the fans and players, some were on big money last year and didn’t perform.
“They let the club down. Our last game was a 3-1 win against Mickleover (Sports) and I felt we’d really turned a corner. It was a shame the season ended.
“But a good long break has given us time to plan and look at where we want to go as a team which has been needed after the stresses of the past year.
“We’ve acquired two very good number nines [Almond and Bentham] who bring people into the game. Last year we didn’t have people to bring off the bench who could make an impact and any side who do well will have a strong striker to bring on.
“We want to have an identity and for Ashton to be an incredibly tough place to come, whereas last year sides knew they could come here and pick up points.
“This year, it will be really hard to outwork and out-bully us. We want to be known as the hardest working team in the league, who’s dangerous on the break and dangerous from set pieces.”
Raynes, 32, is equally excited with the challenge which awaits and can’t wait to get going.
“It’s going to be different to what I am used to,” he said. “I know it is a tough league which is very competitive, but Ashton have a good set-up and a seriously impressive coach in Cleggy.
“He is as close to professional as you are going to get the way he organises his teams. I was unsure on what to do but he sold it to me.”