Fleetwood Town chairman eyes an upward curve

Fleetwood Town chairman Andy Pilley has never seen his side relegated in his 15 years at the club '“ and has no desire to start going backwards any time soon.
Andy PilleyAndy Pilley
Andy Pilley

This time last term Pilley saw Uwe Rosler steer his club into an automatic promotion chase with hopes of a Championship place dashed on the final day by Bolton Wanderers and in the play-offs by Bradford City.

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But, after picking up their highest points tally and league position last term, Rosler’s side could not reproduce that form this season.

An 18-match unbeaten run fuelled that fourth-placed finish but, this season, an eight-match losing spree saw Town fall towards the bottom end of the table.

That run saw Pilley decide to make a change with John Sheridan replacing Rosler.

That appointment has already been vindicated with Sheridan unbeaten in his opening five games and guiding Fleetwood five points clear of the drop zone with eight games to go.

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As Town head to AFC Wimbledon tomorrow, Pilley says their current form of back-to-back wins, three straight clean sheets and seven points from nine in games against Charlton Athletic, Rochdale and Northampton Town is form befitting the other end of the table.

And Pilley, who took over in 2004, says things are looking up and that he is certain Town will beat the drop.

He said: “Fifteen years and, so far, I have never gone backwards and I never plan to.

“But we can do our bit and the league can be down to fine margins.

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“I’m really proud of the players; the haul of seven from the last nine available is exceptional.

“That is promotion form rather than relegation form.

“Where we are now I think the team has got a feel good factor about it and I fully expect to amass enough points to steer clear of any danger.”

Last year’s promotion push was built on clean sheets and Nathan Pond is pleased with a blank blueprint.

He said: “We’d not had one in a while before Charlton, so three in a row is fantastic.”