After his first season in charge of Stockport County, the unfavoured manager, John Gallagher managed to achieve his expectations from both the board and the fans... however, a few neutrals would say that he underachieved, as the media predicted an 18th place finish and a final position of 19th was achieved.
As made clear at the start of the season John Gallagher was unhappy about the boards decision to decline a parent club. Quoted from an earlier interview with the Stockport boss "I am slightly disappointed in the boards decision not to look for a parent club as I see this as a good source of income and talent. I will approach them again regarding this subject at a later date...”. This does seem to be the case, since our last interview with the Stockport County boss, as they have not only managed to come to an agreement with Everton FC to become their parent club, they have also managed to secure Worthing as their feeder club.
Season 06/07 Players In
Kevin McDonald - MC- (Dundee)
Kevin Walker -AMC-
Mark Bradley -D/MC- (Walsall)
Przemyslaw Tyton -GK- (Leczna)
George Abbey
Gilles De Bilde
Players Out
Deasy - £2K
Malcolm – Free
Damien Allen – Free
Williams- Free
Loans In
Zac Barret – GK – (Luton)
Herold Goulon – DMC – (Middlesbrough)
Tom Craddock – ST- (Middlesbrough)
As well as these changes to the squad John Gallagher has brought in Simon Morgan as his Assistant Manager while sacking Peter Ward from the role. Not wanting to neglect Ward after all he has done for the club Gallagher offered him a job as a 1st team coach...Ward, however, rejected as he felt betrayed by being sacked by an unknown manager,
As the season is yet to be finished (with the promotion play-offs still to be played in the coming weeks) Norman Beverley, Chairman of Stockport County Football Club, is yet to state his expectation for the fore-coming season, while also revealing that current manager, John Gallagher, has accepted a 1 year extension to his current contract.
Norman Beverley did, however, reveal that during the last season the club made a loss of £316,867 despite cutting their wage bill to £15,057, £1,152 below the wage budget given at the start of the season.
The Board will no doubt expect the team to improve on what they achieved this season whilst further reducing costs. With an obvious lack of finances John Gallagher should be expecting a challenge if he is to take this team forward.