Tranmere Rovers manager Les Parry ready for talks about his future at Prenton Park

May 10 2010 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Echo

LES PARRY is ready for talks about his future at Prenton Park after succeeding in the mission to keep Tranmere in League One.

The long-serving physio-turned manager, together with coaches Shaun Garnett and Wayne Allison, hope they will be given the chance to remain in charge of team affairs after engineering a last day escape from the threat of relegation.

The Parry regime, initially installed on a caretaker basis following the sacking of John Barnes in October, saw the arrangement extended until the end of the season.

A last-day 3-0 win at Stockport ensured Tranmere finished in 19th place on 51 points, one more than Gillingham, who took the drop into League Two.

Now the ball is back in the court of chairman Peter Johnson and the board of directors.

Parry said: “I have got to sit down with the chairman and see what his thoughts are. He may have thoughts of bringing someone else in and have someone lined up. If he does, it's not a problem with me.

“Hopefully he will see what we have done, see the way we've gone about things and consider us for the job.”

Parry admitted he had to fight back the tears when the final whistle at Edgeley Park signalled Tranmere's deliverance from the threat of relegation.

“I felt so elated; I don't know how I stopped myself from crying,” he said.

“I had to take some deep intakes of breath to stop myself from filling up. It is a dream come true to keep us up. We knew when we took over that we had an uphill battle on our hands. It wasn't easy but we stuck to the way we wanted to play. The players delivered and the staff delivered. And I'm not just talking about the coaching staff but all of the staff at the club.

“This achievement means everything to me. To have taken this club down would have devastated me. That makes the elation of keeping us up even greater.”

Tranmere had just seven points from 11 League One games when Parry, Garnett and Allison, introduced a more pragmatic pattern of play that delivered a steady but significant improvements in performances and results.

Even so, Rovers needed to win the last two games to make the escape possible. Parry said: “It was a fairytale ending because we had not been able to put back to back wins together until the final two games of the season.”

Tranmere spent most of the campaign in the bottom four, save for a month in March when they were just above the drop zone. Parry said: “I always felt we could escape, mainly because we were always there or thereabouts. We were not tailed off at any point. After the first month in charge we were never more than a couple of wins away from safety.”

The biggest surprise, Parry admitted, was being asked to do the job in the first place.

“I never dreamt I would take charge of this team.” he said.

“Even when I found out John Barnes had been sacked, never for a minute that I think the chairman would ask me to do the job.”

Ian Goodison, Tranmere's longest serving player, delivered the all-important first goal seven minutes before half-time. Team skipper Ian Thomas-Moore notched the second on 53 minutes and Joss Labadie, one of four loan players in the side, completed the scoring on 78 minutes.

Parry said: “Our senior players have been brilliant. I would also like to mention our loan players.

“I have heard it said, by the director of another club, that loan players are a waste of time at the end of the season because they switch off and don't drive all the way for you. Ours, to a man, have given everything. They have taken the club to heart and played as if they were permanent members of staff.”

Parry also paid tribute to Tranmere supporters home and away. More than 3,000 made the trip to Edgeley Park.

“They were amazing,” Parry said.

“They never shut up all through the game. They did not want to leave the ground afterwards.

“Throughout the season they've given me that support. There have been times when the performances were not good and we were poor to watch. But never once have they turned on me or had a go at me, which is fantastic.”