Bootle manager Chris O’Brien is upbeat about his club’s prospects for the new year

Dec 29 2009

AFTER promotion and a good start to this season, Bootle manager Chris O'Brien is upbeat about his side's prospects for 2010 as they tackle the busy festive programme.

The Bucks have made their mark on their first season back in the Vodkat Premier Division after a long absence, and having built the squad in Division One gradually over the past couple of seasons, many might have expected Chris to bring in a host of new faces over the summer. But he says that was never on his mind.

"We didn't consciously set out to strengthen the squad over the summer.

"We retained every player from last season and we brought one player in but I genuinely felt that these lads were good enough to compete in a higher division.

"We're all local lads, we all live within a couple of miles of the ground and what we are trying to build is what we had last year.

"We know how to win, we've got a winning mentality and we've got the ability to go to places and battle hard to get a win.

"Another great thing is that I've got a squad of 22 players, so I've got the option of making changes when I need to.

"We had a Liverpool Senior Cup game last midweek and I made four changes but we still won the game. We went up to Padiham and won well when we had Carl Dale, Jamie Hay and Andy Fowler missing who are all key players for us.

"We brought a lad on as a sub in that game, Steve Mahoney, and he scored a cracking goal, and it was the first time he's featured all season.

"They are all as good as each other, and I'm very lucky to have that strength in depth.

"We haven't got anyone who has played at a higher level than this, so it's all new to them, and we have a real spread in age range too, our youngest player is 17 and our oldest is 35.

"We will have a look this year at alternatives, and we will bring people in if need be, but for now I'm happy to go with the lads we have.

"If you look at AFC Fylde this season, they've gone up two divisions in successive seasons, but they have fallen apart a bit.

"The backroom team have gone, eight or nine players have gone and we don't want that sort of thing to happen to us.

"I'm happy to see how our lads shape up and take it from there."

In terms of targets, Chris is happy with the progress his team has made so far.

"I've been a manager for six years now, three in this league and every year I set a goal.

"Two years ago we got to two cup finals which in hindsight probably set us back a bit in the league, so last season we sort of reneged a bit on a couple of the cups to concentrate on the league and it paid off.

"So far we're on target for where I would have hoped to be at this stage. We started well and didn't concede a goal in seven games, and people were getting a bit carried away saying we were going to win this and going to win that. But reality kicked in and formed dipped a bit.

"November was a bit sticky, we had three defeats albeit against good sides like Glossop and Ramsbottom.

"We've lost Andy Fowler for five games, although I must point out we won four games without him, but he's been a big miss for us because he's a fantastic asset to have at this level of football."