IT’S safe to say that Cammell Laird sitting pretty in the top half of the Evo-Stik Divison One North at the end of February has raised a few eyebrows.
Nobody is more pleasantly surprised than the division’s Manager of the Month for January, Tony Sullivan, who has seen his side lose just two of 15 matches in all competitions.
They were thumped 6-1 by runaway leaders Skelmersdale United on Tuesday evening but Sullivan is happy with how things are progressing at Kirklands.
Sullivan said: “It’s a collective effort; the club is doing the right things. We have players who have been offered more money at other clubs and they’ve turned them down which says a lot about them wanting to play for me and the club.
“They’ve been offered treble what they were getting here, so it’s clear why the players are staying.”
After finishing bottom of the pile last season, Laird were handed a reprieve and they are now flourishing in the fourth tier of the Non-League pyramid.
After just two defeats since mid-November, teams have begun to take note of the Merseysiders, but Sullivan admits that it may not necessarily be a good thing.
“It’s a little bit of pressure, a double edged sword really. We’ve had a couple of good results and that’s down to the players, they’ve worked really hard. This side we have is similar to the Cammell Laird side that won all the promotions, this is the best we’ve had at the club for a long time and it will only improve,” he said.
Sullivan spoke of the three-year plan the club has in place, to make themselves competitive at this level, but with the plan well in progress he was keen to point to the unsung heroes of the club.
“We’re one year into a three-year plan of getting the club challenging for the play-offs. We’re ahead of schedule with our plans, hopefully in three years we’re a side capable of achieving promotion. I’m not saying we’ll be promoted in three years, but I want us to be the side where people think we have a chance.
“Credit goes to people off the park, people that nobody sees. Everyone keeps telling me I’m doing well, but I wouldn’t be in this position without them. It’s a collective, the whole club is pulling together, we’re on a little journey and I just hope it has a fruitful ending. If it doesn’t we’ll pull our socks up and go again next year.
“The spirit in the camp is great and things are good. We get a lot of exposure from 7Waves Radio, and they’ve been great doing commentary and it’s another example of how the club is progressing.”
The Birkenhead side are one of many now homing in on the play-off positions, and whilst promotion whispers are escalating, Sullivan is ensuring nobody gets too excited.
“It’s my job to keep them level headed. It would be easy for me to get carried away with what’s going on. At the end of the season, if we’re sitting pretty in mid-table then there will only be one person with a big ego and that’d be me.
“We’ve progressed well but the season’s not over, you can’t say everything is brilliant now because we could lose ten on the bounce, that’s what football is all about. We keep our feet on the floor, keep working hard, getting results.
“We don’t want to be a club that is always near the bottom and be seen as an easy three points. We want teams to look at the fixtures and know it’ll be a tough game,” said Sullivan.
MARK RIDGWAY
