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Sheridan: “I Want To Finish The Season Strongly.”

6 May 2016

Club News

Sheridan: “I Want To Finish The Season Strongly.”

6 May 2016

Manager John Sheridan is already planning for next season, but admits he will not experiment with his squad as he looks to finish the season strongly.

Both sides enter the game with little to play for but pride on Sunday, but the gaffer wants to end the season strongly in front of the home supporters.

He said: "I want to win, especially for the supporters, and I like winning. I want to finish strongly. It’s a home game and the lads need to give the fans reasons to be hopeful for next season. 

"We are playing a good team tomorrow. I fancied them for automatic promotion but they haven’t but they are finishing the season strongly. They play good football and they’ve got an excellent manager in Tony Mowbray and hopefully it will be a good, entertaining game. 

“Both teams will try and win the game and it will be attacking and something for the supporters to look forward to."

Usually games near the end of the season allows the manager to experiment with his squad, but Sheridan will be picking his strongest team.

“I could have thrown a one or two in last weekend but I’ve got all pre-season to do that,” he admitted. 

“Sometimes the players who have done well whilst I’ve been here don’t want to be left out. 

“I could ask them all if they want to play tomorrow and they would all say yes, so I’m going to pick my strongest team available.”

Attention does now turn to the off-season and the retained list and the gaffer admitted he has already spoken to players about their futures.

“It’s the hardest part of the job,” explained the 51-year-old. “I don’t like telling anyone that I’m going to be letting them go. 

"It’s a difficult time and something I don’t like doing but I do it for the benefit of the club. I’m trying to make us strong and competitive for next season as I want to do a lot better than we have this season. 

"The decisions I make are purely professional and that’s to make us better. I always say to any player who I release that I want them to prove me wrong. 

"I totally understand players have families and want to do well so it’s not something I like doing but it’s part and parcel of my job. 

"I’ve spoken to the players that I want to keep. The ones I have spoken to want to stay so it’s down to sorting deals out. 

“I’ve done a couple this week, and with the breathing space that we’ve had, I thought it would be easier to do it now."

Watch the full interview on Latics PlayerHD. 

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