Yeovil Town chairman John Fry admits fans will accuse him of trying to 'sell' manager Russell Slade.
But Fry cannot hide his admiration for the man in charge of the Glovers.
Slade has been targeted by Carlisle and Millwall in recent weeks and there is little doubt Fry will have to fend off further interest in the 47-year-old before the season is out.
Today Fry and Slade travel to Bristol Rovers with their side above their West rivals in the League One table.
Such a position is mainly down to the work of the pair, with Yeovil continuing to punch above their weight four years after the club entered the Football League.
Slade is under contract until the end of next season, but talks on a new deal are likely to take place after Christmas.
"He is one of the best managers in the league," said Fry.
"There are very few good mangers who you know can handle this type of league.
"Russell is a manger who will go places but he knows he has a job to do here. The job is unfinished but we are backing him to do the job.
"He is an honourable man and he will honour his contract and if he comes up to a situation where he isn't getting the backing he has to make his own mind up.
"But we have got trust between us. He is a manager with huge potential.
"He can certainly take us to the next level, I wouldn't have appointed him otherwise.
"He has got vast potential. The fans will think I am selling him but I have to be honest.
"He has got the record of taking us to Wembley after just 12 months in the job.
"We are in a good position now, three points from the top of the table."
Fry declined to put a timescale on contract talks.
But he said: "Quite clearly these things don't happen at the end of three years.
"They can happen any time before that, it depends on rates of success or opportunities or results in some cases.
"Russell is delivering and he is halfway through his contract.
"There is a time and place to negotiate and we both know when that is. The interest is a feather in his cap.
"The teams concerned are in the same league as us and there are difficulties as we are competing but I am not the sort of person who will get in people's way.
"You either want to be here or you don't want to be here. We have great respect for one another.
"He is a man who is on the up in his career and that's when I like to take people on as I did with Gary Johnson. I always said Gary would take Bristol City up and maybe further.
"Russell has got the backing of the board. We have given him all the players within the budget we have and it is for the supporters to recognise."
Fry insists his major disappointment about the season so far has been attendances.
"We wanted a 6,000 average and we are on about 5,000," he said.
"We look at averages on gates against previous years for the equivalent game.
"We offered a very good season ticket discount and we got our 3,000 target there.
"Football fans want to see goals and entertaining performances - it isn't like that in League One.
"It is very, very competitive and it is very easy to be at the bottom of the table.
"The season is going very well apart from the drop in crowds and the club can't do any more regarding its position in the league and the resources it has.
"The results against the availability of the resource have been pretty good.
"We are having marketing meetings to identify what we can do to encourage crowds."
Fry also revealed that Swindon fans were now unlikely to be banned for the derby on Boxing Day.
Such a move is one of the options open to Yeovil after they were told the potential police bill for the game is £40,000.
Fry said the most likely solution would see the kick-off being brought forward to 2pm with Yeovil's highly-trained stewards managing affairs inside the stadium.
"We budgeted for the season for £20,000 of police charges," revealed Fry.
"We were told the best that could be done was £16,000 just for Swindon.
"We are not questioning the police's intelligence for the game.
"We simply do not have the money to pay out the possible higher fee.
"We are very conscious of safety - we may be the number one club in the league in that respect - we take on a lot of stewarding.
"Stopping away fans coming in is not acceptable from a sporting point of view.
"We feel we can manage the match ourselves and there will be minimum police presence.
"We are confident we can handle the situation.
"We have had a load of promotions and not one person has been on that pitch in that time.
"Swindon have bent over backwards to help us have the match on Boxing Day and at the moment it looks 80 per cent likely to be played then."
Back to Top of Page
|
20 October 2007 : Fry Hails Slade's 'Vast Potential'
