If Ronnie Moore's squad fail in their almost impossible dream of reaching a play-off spot, it will not stop the manager from shuffling the pack for next season. Of his current senior squad, only Danny Hall, Guy Branston, David Eyres and Paul Edwards will become free agents at the end of the season as most of the players are contracted to either 2007 or 2008. With Luke Beckett (pictured) and Lee Grant on loan till the current season ends, who knows if they will be keen to stay or not. Grant has already pledged his future to Oldham so it depends on whether a deal can be arranged or not. Beckett, Athletics most dangerous striker this season, is rumoured to be unhappy with the set-up and his personal treatment this term and who knows if he will want to stay or not? It means that Moore may have to offload some of the non-performers even though they are still contracted to the club.Moore said, “We brought in 12 new players before the season started and hoped it would all gel together quickly. The lads did a great job to get into the top six but, at this crucial time, one or two have shown they aren't up to the battle. We've got players who will be under contract, but we'll speak to their agents and see if there's a chance of moving them on. I'm looking to bring in at least three new signings, preferably more, so we can really go for it. As far as I'm concerned this has been a good season because I said 10th place would be a good position after we only just stayed up last year. The problem is we reached the top six and then lost it with a whimper, so other people will view it as failure."
“When we have our strongest side available we're a match for anyone at this level, but when we don't we can struggle. The lads who come in aren't quite good enough for the job, which is something we need to put right next season. All teams have had their ups and downs, but ours are bigger than others. We don't just lose one game, we lose four or five on the spin. Sometimes you want to throttle the players for letting themselves down, but overall they have done well to give us a chance of promotion. I still haven't given up on the play-offs, but the next step is to look around and find people who can improve what we've got. We'll need to be a lot stronger next season because there's no way this division will be so poor again. This year it has been so bad it's untrue.”
With 30 professionals on their books, including several youngsters who recently turned full-time professional, someone needs to leave before new faces can be brought in. Athletic are expected to lose £1millionin the current financial year so it would be folly to splash out more with gates being as low as they have been. It will be an interesting seasons end and some players will be glad to be out of it as their opportuniteis have been limited or non-existant altogether. Time will tell if Moore has the skill and aptitude to prove his doubters wrong and lead Athletic into the Championship to regain the spot they relinquished so long ago in those dark bad days.