MCGUIRE BRINGS FIRE TO ATHLETIC
JAMIE McGuire was nickname ‘The Fire’ by former Fleetwood Town boss Micky Mellon – and the midfielder is hoping to turn up the heat on Frickley Athletic’s promotion charge.
The 34-year-old was part of the Cod Army’s Conference title winning side in 2012, before spending four seasons in the Football League with Mansfield Town.
McGuire is now a coach at the Stags’ Academy and this summer signed for EVO-STIK NPL East Frickley. Spencer Fearn’s Blues finished third in the EVO-STIK South last term, just three points off automatic promotion, but were beaten in the play-off semi-finals by Shaw Lane, who this summer quit the National League System.
And McGuire says he’s really impressed by the professionalism Fearn is instilling at the club.
“Frickley phoned me out of nowhere,” McGuire told The NLP. “The gaffer said he’d watched me on YouTube and phoned around about me, so I went in for a chat.
“I like what he’s doing and the players signed so it was like, ‘Why not?’ I like it here, it’s a club who want to do well. They’re doing things right. We’re going to Scotland together for three days, we’ve got GPS – it’s really good.
“So I’m academy coach at Mansfield Monday to Friday then Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I can carry on playing and hopefully get the next three or four years out of it.
“When I was at Fleetwood it was done properly. We won and achieved with the players we had. I went to Mansfield and it was the same.
“That’s what I liked about Frickley, they’re trying to be professional about it. They’re not the biggest club in Non-League but Spencer wants to do it right. He’s a learner and that’s great.”
McGuire’s know-how will be vital in helping the Step 4 club during the season but the former Droylsden man says it’s also about winning.
“I’m just trying to pass my experience on but also win,” McGuire added. “I’m a winner and that’s what they want. They were beaten in the play-offs so he’s brought in a bit more experience to help the young lads and hopefully we can go one better.”