PARRY IN PLEDGE TO MAKE CHANGES

Nov 3 2009 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Echo

LES PARRY is ready to inject some fresh faces into the Tranmere side next weekend – if he remains in charge of team affairs at Prenton Park.

The popular, long serving physio, has started his fourth week as caretaker manager by preparing for an FA Cup first-round visit from Leyton Orient.

But Parry acknowledges he could be relieved of the temporary command at any moment, once the Rovers board of directors decide on a permanent successor to John Barnes.

Former Derby County and Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell and Ray Mathias, Tranmere's longest serving player – with a previous spell as manager at Prenton Park already under his belt – have been linked with the post.

Parry's prospects of securing the job on a long-term basis were not helped by a 4-1 home defeat to Swindon Town last Saturday.

It was Tranmere's third defeat in four games under Parry and coaches Shaun Garnett and Wayne Allison. But it was the first time the caretaker regime were disappointed by the performance of the side.

Parry said: “We will be looking to make some changes this weekend. I don't think any of the players who played last Saturday can be comfortable with their performances and they should all be looking over their shoulders, thinking that they might be replaced.

“Obviously it is a very important game. It is the FA Cup and I don't really want to be making wholesale changes for the sake of it.

“We can't lose sight of the fact that the team performed well in the three previous games. But we also can't ignore the fact that they did not perform well against Swindon. It's going to be a balancing act.”

Parry says he won't be hammering the players with extra work. And he is confident the excitement of the Cup will provide the stimulus to brighten the moon of the squad.

Parry said: “We could approach this week by punishing the lads, running them hard and letting them know we were unhappy with the performance against Swindon. Or we could go the other way, keep things a bit light and try to lift them.

“No doubt most of the players will be down because of their own personal performances last Saturday. So we are going to try and lift them. We are not going to batter them.”

Parry added: “The FA Cup is one of the reasons why it won't be difficult to lift the players. The Cup is fantastic. It does create a different mood around the place.

“All of this week, building up to Saturday, the lads will be a bit more nervous than normal in preparing for a game.

“The cup is special like that, it does not matter who we are playing.”

Parry was able to find some positive aspects to Tranmere's performance against Swindon after watching a DVD recording of the game three times on Sunday.

He said: “During the first 30 minutes of the match the lads did everything that was asked of them and even after that, there were some good periods of play from us.

“But unfortunately they were intermingled with us switching off and giving silly goals away.”

Parry added: “For some reason on Saturday we stopped playing the style football that got us some good performances. We started trying to out-football a footballing side.”

The excitement of the cup is also rubbing off on the younger players at Prenton Park.

Tranmere's under 18s face an FA Youth Cup first-round tie at home to Farsley Celtic tonight, kick-off 7.30 p.m.

Parry said: “There is a buzz around the place for the FA Youth Cup as well. The younger lads are keen to do well in it.”

Admission tonight is £3 for adults and £2 for concessions.