Rosler's revolution faces the final hurdle

Given the task by chairman Andy Pilley of ensuring Town’s League One status for the third successive season, Rosler has more than fit the bill by transforming the core of a side that just beat the drop on the final day of last term into one that now stands on the brink of history.

It is a complete turnaround from last term, with Rosler revamping everything from the training structure, recovery sessions to the food the players eat.

And the benefits of his rule see Fleetwood third in the league with one game to go and a blockbuster game against Port Vale at noon on Sunday as they bid to topple second-placed Bolton.

It will not be an easy task, with Bolton two points ahead and facing a home clash against a Peterborough side that – as Town fans have witnessed – are already ‘on the beach’.

But Rosler wants his players to relish that underdog tag this weekend and beyond if they do have to settle for the play-offs.

He said: “In football you always need to evolve and move on. We have a great chance and it is up to us because I really back us.

“We have players back now. We have competition for places. We can again freshen things up throughout 90 minutes or before games like we did in our best periods.

“We are the underdog if we have to go through the play-offs. We are the underdog and we can surprise anyone - I back us against anybody, so we see what happens.”

Asked if he had any personal highlights of the season, Rosler took a long pause before saying: “I said once to my players, we are like a drug addict – we want more and we want to win promotion and then it is completed.”

One of the most important things Rosler has revolutionised has been the team spirit .

He installed a morale that has seen his men fight to the finish and achieve the impossible in an already historic campaign that has seen them post their highest ever League One points tally - a mammoth 81.

Andthe German, who previously guided Brentford to the play-offs, praised the existing staff like first-team coach Barry Nicholson, goalkeeping coach David Lucas and fitness coach Youl Mawene, among others, for helping him and assistant head coach Rob Kelly to hit the ground running.

He said: “It is very seldom you walk into a club like we (assistant Kelly) did at such short notice. We met the staff and they absolutely support us with vital information and helped us to start straight away.

“We had a decent start in the first seven or eight games.

“We needed the staff for that and they were always sending in the message every day. That is massively important.

“With every football club, the most important thing is players. That is why we are here. We are here to make them better, make them perform, and they have been absolutely magnificent.

“From day one they bought into everything we try to do.

“They see the benefits of it. They play more, less injured, performing better. They put the hard work in and a lot of sacrifices but next year will be the same... unfortunately!”

And of course Rosler was full of praise for Poolfoot Farm a year since its grand opening and for the man who has orchestrated Town’s rise from non-league to possibly the second tier of English football just 20 years after the club reformed - chairman Andy Pilley.

Rosler said: “I think it is a very important environment. When Andy showed me the training ground that was absolutely impressive for me.

“I never thought a League One club could have facilities like that, and what I was equally impressed with was that he had Steve Curwood and Gretar Steinsson put in positions.

“I got the feeling from day one that he let them get on with their jobs and you don’t have that very often in football clubs these days.

“Andy is a very clever man. He trust his people, puts them in leading positions and lets them get on with the job.

“I think that is fantastic from our chairman and I think that is the way forward.”