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Archived News from December 2004

EVENING POST LATEST
10th December 2004 22:07


PALMER WILL GET THE NOD
Evening Post, 10 December 2004
CARETAKER BOSS IS URGING FANS TO BACK TEAM, REPORTS MARK ROACH

Carlton Palmer is expected to be officially confirmed as manager of Mansfield Town next week.

But the caretaker boss says he will walk away from the job if he feels he is not wanted.

And he appealed for Stags fans to forget about the furore off the pitch and get behind the players when they face Rushden tomorrow.

"If people are not prepared to give me a chance then I will walk away and do something else," said Palmer.

"Staying would only hamper the players. I know the football club wants me to stay on and the players are keen as well.

"The situation is not of my making and I am trying my best to sort it out and restructure the club.

"When I came in, I was hard pushed to name a side that I felt could win us a football match."

Stags chairman Keith Haslam told the Post he had been hoping to make a decision regarding suspended manager Keith Curle's future by close of business this afternoon.

"We tried to set up a meeting today, but Keith's representatives can't make that meeting until Monday or Tuesday of next week," he said.

Curle was suspended just over a month ago, following allegations of bullying a Stags trainee.

But Palmer wants fans to put the off the field turmoil behind them and support the team.

"Forget me, forget Keith Haslam, please come down here and get behind the club you say you support," he said.

"You can make a difference. Don't come down and give Rushden a big lift by having a go.

"These players need you right now. Back them and I am sure they will deliver for you.

"They are working hard at it but not getting the breaks. Just coming down to have a go at me and the chairman is hurting the club."

Palmer added: "The players are giving their all right now. It is a difficult situation for them.

"We just need something to go for us right now and things will change. The players have lost a bit of belief and confidence.

"But I know there is enough in that dressing room to get us back into the play-off reckoning.

"I have come into a difficult situation here. Don't forget this side had only won once in 11 games before I came here."

Palmer wants fans to forget about his record at Stockport.

"Fans should forget about Stockport and start looking at their own club, how the results were going before I came and asking why so many good players were allowed to leave at the end of last season," he said.

"We are a million miles from that side right now and no one can change things overnight. But I would like to try to sort it. All I am asking is that Stags fans come tomorrow and give their players a chance."

LATEST TEAM NEWS
Evening Post, 10 December 2004
Stags could again have just three defenders available for tomorrow's game, but Carlton Palmer said: "I won't bring in another defender just for one game."

Fraser McLachlan is not fully fit, but could still be involved. Dave Artell is a doubt with flu and a sore tendon, while Jason Talbot is ruled out after an operation on his toe.

Stags: Pilkington, Buxton, John-Baptiste, Dimech, Neil, Asamoah, Corden, Murray, Curtis, Barker, Warne, White, Maxwell, Brown, McLachlan, Artell, McIntosh, Wood.


USHDEN could field the same squad which lost 1-0 at Boston on Tuesday - the side's fourth successive league defeat.

Meanwhile, Neil MacKenzie faces a long spell on the sidelines.

The Stags midfielder, currently on loan at Macclesfield, is believed to have suffered a cartilage injury in training.

Boss Brian Horton said: "He could be out for a month."

Former trialist Marvin Robinson won't feature after signing for Walsall in midweek.

Rushden: Turley, Connelly, Gier, Gulliver, Hawkins, Bell, Gray, Burgess, Dove, Broughton, Mulligan, Hay, Sambrook, Taylor, Allen, Worgan.

 

Latest | December 2004