Rookie Kelly is positive example

DARREN KELLY: totally positive

THERE have been some indications that harmony within the club has been lacking this summer.

Jim Harvey left this week after only two months at the club; Brian Wilson had been farmed to Notts County on trial but returned, and Jonathan Forte saw his transfer to Barnsley fall through and he is now back too, both seemingly involved as first choices. There have also been suggestions that coaching hopeful David Dunn’s arrival could put pressure on Kelly’s shoulders.

With the large gap at centre back solved only this week when Jonathan Burn and Gavin Gunning signed, some pundits have predicted a long, tough season for the club. But if there is one thing manager Darren Kelly can’t abide, it’s negativity.

Motivational quotes are pinned up in his de-cluttered office at the ground and as he sits in the interview chair for the first time to discuss the upcoming league game — his first competitive match in charge of a senior side — he is affable but firm in his determination to ignore critics.

“People will have opinions about me as a manager,” he said ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Walsall.

“That’s fine. I have to go out and prove my worth. The only thing I can ever do is give my all. I’m a very positive character and I hate negativity.

“Working around the players, I need them to be positive as well. It is vitally important. To get paid to do what they do, having such loyal supporters, you can only give your all.”

Refusing to confirm his playing formation for the game, he smiled: “You don’t want to give too much away and it is important to keep things up your sleeve up until the last minute.

All will become clear when the team sheets land at the Banks’s Stadium. Come the first whistle, Kelly is clear on a positive plan to collect three points.

“I want us to hit the ground running from day one,” he added. “It is vital we go and show what we are about at Walsall. Confidence breeds confidence and if we can get off to a good start in the first game the players will get a lift into Middlesbrough.

“We have identified we need to be more clinical. We have created chances but not finished them often enough in pre-season. It’s putting all the little pieces of the puzzle together and hoping it comes off on the day.”