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Archived News from September 2005

SHIRTLIFF/APPLICANTS/DAWSON/BAPTISTE
29th September 2005 23:53


Players back Shirtliff bid to be boss
CHAD website, 29 September 2005

ALEX John-Baptiste today backed Peter Shirtliff's ambitions to be the next Mansfield Town manager.
But he knows the players can best help his bid by winning at Leyton Orient on Saturday (3pm) and getting the Stags off the foot of the Football League.
"Peter has been different class in training and getting us up for the games," said John-Baptiste.
"He is a good coach and, if he got the job, I think we will go far under him.
"This is a massive game for us on Saturday. The players feel we will turn the corner soon.
"We don't want to be bottom for long and there is certainly no way we will be relegated. We were flying pre-season but we keep making mistakes that cost us goals at crucial times We also need a bit of luck."
Stags chairman Keith Haslam continues to look at his options for the manager's job and Shirtliff said; "I have been given no time scale and it doesn't concern me.
"I am enjoying the job and am focusing solely on preparing the team for the game at Orient.
"We need to start the game like we played in the second half at Macclesfield and play in a more relaxed way.
"Being bottom is not a problem to me as there is only a quarter of the season gone and plenty of games left. Two wins and things change."
Rhys Day (groin) and Richie Barker (back) have not trained since Tuesday and remain doubts. And Jason Talbot picked up a sore foot in a reserve friendly 4-0 win against an Alfreton Town side last night, Nathan Arnold, Adam Rundle, Kyle Jacobs and Danny Heron the scorers.
Foruth-placed Orient beat Torquay 2-1 at home on Tuesady ro end a miserable run of a draw and four losses in their previous five League and cup home games.
But their away form has been superb and, overall, they are unbeaten in four games.
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Fifty applicants for manager's Job
mansfieldtown.net, 29 September 2005

Since the departure of manager Carlton Palmer the applications are pouring into Field Mill with nearly fifty applicants' CV's landing on Chairman Keith Haslam's desk with a couple of would be managers showing their interest publicly. Last week on Mansfield 103.2 both Paul Hart and John Hollins have made their interest in the job known but both have agreed that Caretaker Manager Peter Shirtliff deserves a chance to have 'a fair crack at the whip'.

"I know Paul Hart very well from playing with him at Barnsley, he's a good man and I like him a lot. I also know john to some extent through dealings I had with him at Charlton Athletic as a player and I don't blame them for wanting the job. I still want it and I think it's nice that they recognise that I should have a chance to make it mine first." He said

Whoever gets the job, if it isn't Shirtliff he has said that he would be happy to sit down with whoever takes charge with a view to him staying on as assistant

"I came here as assistant manager and if whoever took charge and wanted me to stay on in an assistant role we would sit down and talk about it"
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Shirtliff looking to strengthen squad
mansfieldtown.net, 29 September 2005

Stags Caretaker Boss Peter Shirtliff just wants to get on with the job he has been charged with and that is to 'settle' things down at Field Mill. He believes that he has got a good set of players but feels that he needs to strengthen the squad a little to compete.

"I am sick of people saying to me that our players are too good to be bottom of the league

"It's all nonsense you are at the bottom of the table because you are not getting the results and deserve to be there. And there is still a lot of very hard work to get us out of that position. Other people are telling me that this was billed as the season that we would be making a promotion challenge. But in all honesty my immediate thoughts are on the Leyton Orient game (Sat 1st Oct) and getting as many points as we can there and start climbing the league.

"However, I still believe in the squad and I would still like the job of manager, I would be looking at adding strength to the squad by bringing a couple of players in. I am already looking for players to bring in" he told the official website this morning.

Shirtliff is under no disillusions about the quality of player that will be available to him though.

"I am looking at both experienced players and those from the lower reaches which have the qualities to make a difference here. The likely hood is though we may have to settle for younger players because of where we are in the league and circumstances that senior players will not want to come here on loan."
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Stephen Dawson - 'Play-offs are still our target'
mansfieldtown.net, 29 September 2005

Irish Under 21 International and Stags Midfield player Stephen Dawson says that the tough times Mansfield are going through at the moment are not surmountable and if you do the job at hand things will work out:

"You just have to the job - and that's basically training as hard as you can. We have to keep going and keep motivated as a team and get out the position where we are at the moment. We have been working really hard and we all believe that we can get off the bottom of the table. After beating Southampton in the cup then losing to Wycombe does hit you but with a bit of consistence we can hopefully start winning a few games and start to move up the league.

"We can't understand what's happening, we know that we have the players here to start moving up the league and we are still looking to hit the play-offs.

"Okay we have a young side here at the club but we do have some experience in Richie Barker, Gareth Jelleyman and Kevin Pressman all who have plenty of games under their belts. But for whatever reason we are just not putting it together at the moment.

"Unfortunately this is a results based business and we need to pick ourselves up and start doing the business out on the pitch. I know that the fans are starting to get Impatient because they don't believe we should be at the bottom of the table but as I said we believe that we can do it and hopefully on Saturday we can start getting a few wins together.

" The reason I came to Mansfield was to play football. I didn't get the chance at Leicester so coming here was a great move for me. I have been out for a couple of weeks and coming back in on Tuesday night was hard, I started to feel a little tired but I will keep pushing myself and hopefully start scoring a few more goals and get us up the league. As a player I always set myself monthly targets and push to achieve them. It's no good just turning up on a Saturday afternoon and going through the motions so I will be pushing forward to reach my targets. If you believe that then things will come good and you help others around you that aren't going through such a good time.

"I feel very passionately about the club, they have given me a big chance and when we lose I go home after the game and it hurts. So I just hope that I can repay the club and the fans and help us get up there - we believe we can do it and with the backing of Shirty I think that things will change soon"
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Alex John-Baptiste - 'We definitely WILL NOT get Relegated'
mansfieldtown.net, 29 September 2005

Stags centre half Alex John-Baptiste admits that confidence is low at the moment but feels that a share of the spoils at Macclesfield mid week is definitely a point gained and is a place to build on.

"We have tried to get on with things the best we can, working hard in training. Confidence is a little low but all we can do is get on with it. We have a massive game on Saturday against Leyton Orient and we are looking to come through it with some points.

"On Tuesday we played some good football, we passed the ball well and I felt that we should definitely have taken all three points. I think that the players feel that we are due to turn a corner and a couple of wins will lift the confidence in the changing room. This is mainly due to the league position so with a bit more consistency we will start getting results."

Alex cannot explain why such a group of promising young professionals are languishing at the foot of the basement division but does say the Mansfield Town FC will definitely not get relegated this season.

"I don't know why we are at the bottom of the table. Players have made mistakes at crucial times of the game but if we can eradicate these errors then we should start getting the consistency we shown in the pre-season and things should change.

"People are talking about other clubs looking at signing at me and this could possibly be my lasts season at Mansfield and I can safely say that we will not be relegated this season. In fact we will be nearer a promotion battle than a relegation dog fight - if this is to be my last season here, there is no way I am going to leave on the back of a relegation" Alex boldly told the official website.

Talking about the departure and the temporary charge by Peter Shirtliff and the interest by some of the well known managers like Paul Hart, he says that the mood around the ground despite the low confidence levels is quite positive.

"It is testament to Mansfield Town and the squad that we have here, that the likes of Paul Hart are interested in being the manager. It says to the players that he has identified that the young players here have a lot of potential and it does feel good that he is interested in taking us under his wing.

"However, Shirty (Peter Shirtliff) has been absolutely different class with training and motivation before games and stuff like that. He is a really good coach and if he gets the job which the lads are hoping for, I feel we go far"

Looking forward to the game at Leyton Orient on Saturday Alex says that after a point gained mid week against Macclesfield Town we have a starting point to build on and will travel to Orient and just 'do our best'
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