Kelly follows Rosler in signing new Town deal

Uwe Rosler said they come as a pair and now his assistant head coach Rob Kelly has also committed his future to Fleetwood Town as the duo look to build something special at Highbury.
Rob Kelly and Uwe RoslerRob Kelly and Uwe Rosler
Rob Kelly and Uwe Rosler

Kelly and Rosler arrived just four days before last season kicked off and are now embarking on their first pre-season with newly signed contract extensions that will keep both at the club until at least the summer of 2020.

And 52-year-old Kelly, the former Leicester City player and Preston North End caretaker manager, is pleased to have agreed fresh terms.

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He said: “I’m really pleased I’ve been asked to be part of the club for a longer period and moving the whole thing forward. It is really pleasing to be part of it.”

Of his partnership with Rosler, he added: “You can see we are obviously close. We spend a lot of time together, and when Uwe said that the club wanted us to commit for a longer period, and that he wanted to do it and build something, I was really happy to be part of it.”

Kelly was keen to stress this building for the future was not only a job for Rosler and himself – he says first-team coach Barry Nicholson, goalkeeping coach David Lucas and head of sports science Youl Mawene are all growing together.

And Kelly is anticipating another exciting season as Town bid to build on the core of the team that finished fourth in League One last term.

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He says David Ball’s move to Rotherham and the departures of fellow out-of-contract duo Conor McLaughlin and Jimmy Ryan will give the club an exciting opportunity to rebuild.

Kelly said: “We have good people here. We are building together and growing together.

“It is going to be an exciting season – different in a lot of ways to how we came in last year, right before kick-off.

“Also some players are gone, some senior players who contributed a lot. They have moved on but it is exciting in another way – there is an opportunity to build and grow another side.

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“(Having a pre-season) always helps because it gives you that little bit of extra time to bed in some of your ideas.

“We aren’t going to change massively from what we did last season. That would be foolish because we had a good season and there is a good base to go from, a good base of players who are still here.

“But there are already one or two new ones coming in and we think there will be one or two more.”