Cheltenham’s battling 1-0 win against Yeovil on Monday saw the Robins climb off the foot of the table for the first time since January. Despite that victory, Martin Allen’s men remain ten points adrift of safety in League One but at least that success against the Glovers has given the Gloucestershire outfit a lifeline.
It was always going to be tough for
Cheltenham, bearing in mind their restricted budget compared to clubs like Leicester and Leeds, but Allen has never been a man to shirk a challenge.
YOU MUST HAVE BEEN DELIGHTED TO CLIMB OFF THE BOTTOM OF THE TABLE?
It was a great day and the team was superb. It is a good feeling to be off the bottom because I didn’t feel we deserved to be there. There have only been a couple of games in which we have been rubbish – one of them was when the players were told they weren’t getting paid and the club might me going into administration.
YOU RESERVED SPECIAL PRAISE FOR STRIKER PAUL CONNOR AFTER THAT WIN AGAINST YEOVIL?
Paul Connor turned up a lunch time with the flu so his performance was awesome. I had a phone call from the physio saying he wasn’t fit but I had a nice little chat with him and asked him to conserve his energy and not run around too much. In the first 20 minutes he struggled to get into the game but after that he changed the game, he was the catalyst. We were going to take him off after 20 minutes but he stayed on and that typifies the spirit in the team.
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TRYING TO COMPETE IN THIS DIVISION WITH A CLUB LIKE CHELTENHAM?
I have done it at other places with small budgets and I will have to do it again. The summer I took over at Barnet we only had four players, not even enough for a five-a-side team but I built a side that got onto the play-offs and had a good run in the FA Cup. At Brentford, we had no budget and couldn’t recruit anyone from outside London because we couldn’t pay re-location money. I even had my players staying at my house for half a season as they had nowhere to sleep.
THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A MILLION MILES FROM THE BUDGET AT YOUR PREVIOUS CLUB LEICESTER?
It certainly was. The first day I took training three coaches came out with me and 44 players came out of the dressing room – it was like a scene from Zulu. There was obviously much more media attention and public interest because they are a club capable of making it back to the Premiership. They look like they are back in the Championship and in Nigel Pearson they have a good manager and a chairman who is prepared to back him. But I enjoyed my time there, it was a great experience.
THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF CHANGES SINCE YOUR ARRIVED AT CHELTENHAM, HAVEN’T THERE?
Yes there have, but there are going to be a lot more. It was why I was brought in, I suppose. I was not brought in to carry on rowing a nice little boat, it was going to be a rocky ride and a lot of work needed to be done and still has to be done.
Powered by: GiveMeFootball.com, for the
latest football news
