Fleetwood Town midfielder eyes future success as coach gets set to leave Highbury

Batty only joined Town on a six-month deal from Saturday’s opponents, Hull City, earlier in the year but has since penned a new two-year contract.

The 23-year-old, the only player signed so far by Highbury head coach Simon Grayson had endured a whirlwind start to his Town career.

Batty has now settled into their starting XI and been a consistent selection under Grayson.

He said: “It’s been enjoyable. I’ve enjoyed it since I came in the place.

“I finally got back into a team, I’ve been playing regularly and I’ve enjoyed my time here so far.

“The manager was here for a day and I joined the next day. It was all very last minute but it was an exciting time for me to come down here and see what it’s all about.

“When I came here and started training, I could see the team was developing quite well and we were going to be pushing well.

“Especially for next season now, I feel like we’ve got a good base to push from.

“We’ve got a group of players that want to work hard for each other.

“That will hopefully invite a few more players in that can strengthen the side and we can give it a good go.”

Despite having high hopes for the next campaign, Batty is not getting ahead of himself just yet.

He added: “You can’t look too far ahead, you have to keep focused for the next one and the next one.

“You can’t look into the future and see what we should do and you can’t look back and think about what we should have done.

“You can’t think like that. You’ve got to take it game by game.”

Town have also revealed that goalkeeping coach David Lucas is to leave the club at the end of the season.

Having joined in 2013, ending his playing days at Highbury, Lucas went on to take the coaching position.

He will end his eight-year stay at the club in May with Town saying he is leaving for an opportunity in the Premier League, which The Gazette understands will be working at Everton.

Town owner, Andy Pilley, said: “We’d like to thank Dave for his service to the club, he’s a hugely popular member of staff.

“Everyone at the club is delighted he’s been given an opportunity in the Premier League and it was something we’d never stand in the way of. He will leave this summer with our thanks and best wishes.”

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