Saturday is party time Duff’s deal with promoted players
CHELTENHAM Town’s promotion-winning players will be allowed to party in earnest after Saturday’s game with Harrogate Town.
There were boisterous celebrations after last Tuesday’s game with Carlisle as promotion was secured, but manager Michael Duff revealed he had done a deal with his players.
“The lads didn’t go mad,” said Duff. “They had a few drinks after the game but it was only the local ones as most of them had to drive anyway.
“The only pressure there is, is to try and win the league.
“We have done the most important part and it’s nice to look at the league table and see there is a ‘P’ next to it.
“Obviously you want the champions tag now. The players will want that as well.
“There was a bit of partying on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t a 5 or 6 in the morning job, or anything like that.
“They can do that on May 8, when they hopefully have a medal around their neck.
“We did a deal with them two or three weeks ago, when we looked like we might be able to do it, but we didn’t want to limp over the line or lose the last three games and nick it by two goals or something like that.
“That’s when they can do their real partying.”
Duff also hopes that the club will be able to do something with the supporters to enable them all to celebrate the club’s achievements.
Players and fans danced in the Whaddon Road car park, but Duff said: “I have no idea to be honest. It’s happened so quickly.
“In terms of supporters, I don’t know the rules well enough. “Hopefully we can do something. “We have lost a few people in the last 12 months as well. People like Jasper Cook would have been unbelievably proud on Tuesday night.
“There needs to be some sort of celebration when we are allowed to remember those we’ve lost and celebrate what we’ve done.“
Thoughts will also turn to making decisions on those players whose con- tracts run out at the end of the cam- paign.
“We have not got that far down the line yet,” said Duff. “We need to find out what the budget is before we can start offering contracts.
“The message to the players is that people are always looking and watching. They might not be staring you in the face, but you are always looking at what people do.
“The sign of a good team is that when they have been promoted, they keep doing it.
“I was lucky in that my last two promotions at Burnley, we had six dead games so to speak, in terms of already being up, but we didn’t lose one of them, which shows the mentality of the group.
“That’s what we’ll be looking at. Who is going to come off it now and relax?
“Do what we ask you to do all the time and it should be habit now.
“You shouldn’t have to motivate yourself when you cross the white line, it should just be part of your job.”
The Robins had the 17th-biggest budget in League Two last season, and are sure to be in the bottom two or three in League One.
“We’ve not mentioned the budget all season. It is what it is,” said Duff.
“We can ask for more, yes, but the supporters know the club won’t bet the ranch.
“We don’t have a huge financial benefactor who writes off debt every year, so we have to be creative, but that’s part of the job. Would you like more money? Yes, but I think every person on the street would as well. Just get on with what you’ve got.
“It’s too much of an excuse sometimes to say you don’t have any money.”