Fleetwood Town's interim boss will remain part of the senior set-up for now

Simon Grayson has ensured former Fleetwood Town interim boss Simon Wiles is around the first team picture by keeping him among the senior coaching staff.
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Grayson has brought in one new member of staff at Highbury, that being his assistant David Dunn.

Other than that, though, the existing staff structure will remain in place with Wiles working alongside the first team for as long as he chooses.

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Should the 35-year-old prefer a return to his former role as Under-18s boss, Grayson will not stand in his way.

Simon Wiles had been in interim charge at Fleetwood town  Picture: Dave Peters/PRiME Media Images LimitedSimon Wiles had been in interim charge at Fleetwood town  Picture: Dave Peters/PRiME Media Images Limited
Simon Wiles had been in interim charge at Fleetwood town Picture: Dave Peters/PRiME Media Images Limited

He said: “There are a lot of people here already that I know, but it’s nice to have someone you know and that you trust and that knows how you work.

“Dunny has got the experience of being with me before. He’s got the bonus of being a first-team coach at other clubs, so he understands the relationship with players but also he understands being a manager as well.

“We know each other really well and we work well together.

“It’s nice to have Simon Wiles, who is a really good lad. I played with him and managed him at Blackpool.

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“At this moment in time, Simon is going to be with us and we’ll see how things go in the next few weeks.

“Simon might turn around and say it isn’t for him, and I wouldn’t stand in his way in doing that.

“He might say he’s enjoying it and he’s learning. He’s had a really tough month since he took over.

“He wants to be a sponge and take a lot on from the experiences that I’ve had, good and bad, which will hopefully improve him as a coach.

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“There’s Barry Nicholson, who I’ve known a long time, knowing the football club and players, David Lucas and Stephen Crainey as well.”

Grayson wants to impose an effective style on to his Fleetwood side, one that is centred around winning rather than purely possession.

That is often used as a measure of the quality of football a side plays but Grayson is focused on winning games, no matter how that needs to be done.

He said: “When you look at the group here, there are some talented players.

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“It’s the right balance of being hard to beat but being expansive and creative at the top end of the pitch.

“My philosophy has never been to have 700 passes in a football game where 400 may win you the game as well.

“It’s being expressive and creative at the top end of the pitch – and that’s down to the players you’ve got at your disposal – but we want to be hard to beat.

“We want people to know, when they come off the pitch against a Fleetwood Town team, that they’ve had a really tough game.

“I think we’ve got that already at this football club.

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“I spoke to Karl Robinson (Oxford United manager) on Sunday and he said, ‘The lads at Fleetwood gave everything on Saturday. They gave us one of the hardest games we’ve had in the last few weeks and months.’

“That’s a good, basic starting point for me to work from as a coach. That’s what you want.

“If you have to have 30 per cent possession of the football and win a football match, then so be it.

“I go back to when I was at Preston and won a play-off final 4-0 and had 30-odd per cent possession.

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“Possession doesn’t win you football matches. It’s creating chances, taking chances and making sure you’re hard to beat and ruthless.”

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