Caretaker boss Gav Skelton admitted at his Thursday morning press conference that he hadn’t allowed himself to enjoy his first spell in temporary charge as much as he should have (after the departure of Steven Pressley in 2019) and that he had learned from that experience as he once again holds the reins at Brunton Park.
“I am enjoying it,” he told us. “I think last time when I was caretaker I didn’t embrace it as much as I should have done, but I’ve made a point of doing that as much as I can this time around.
“Whatever happens, the most important thing is the club. With where we are in the league, the most important thing right now is the team, and the first thing we need to concentrate on is Saturday’s game against Oldham.
“There’s a lot of noise around it, names and things being talked about, I’m sure, but the most important thing is a massive game on Saturday, and we must remain focused and concentrated on that.”
“I got a call on Wednesday asking me to take Saturday’s game,” he confirmed. “A lot of focus goes into it, you put a lot of work into it, as the other staff do, in preparation for it.
“We know how important it is and nothing else matters other than being completely ready for it. I’m sure there’s a process ongoing but I’m not really privy to that. The club will release the news when there is any, but our focus is just on what is a massive game.
“The powers that be will be looking at the other stuff, I’ll continue working hard on the football side. It’s a unique opportunity whether for one day, a few weeks or whatever it is. I’ve just tried to embrace and enjoy it.
“And both Eric [Kinder] and Mark [Birch] have been really good. Eric’s experienced and Birchy, I’ve played with him, he probably knows my mannerisms, they’ve been very helpful, and they were both important on Tuesday when we were looking at changing things in the game.
“It’ll be the same on Saturday. We’ll do the work to prepare the lads and hopefully we’ll see another good performance and three points to go with it.”
And with an update on defender Kelvin Mellor, he said: “Kelvin will train today, the first time in two or three weeks, so hopefully he’ll be added to the group.
“In terms of everybody else we’ll have a good look, but there was nothing really reported from the other night. It’s been a busy week with travelling, so there’s the potential for freshening things up.”