Chester City: Ronnie Moore refuses to rule himself out of running for Blues manager’s job

Jun 25 2009 Chester Chronicle

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BOOKMAKERS’ favourite Ronnie Moore is refusing to rule himself out of the running for the Chester City manager’s job.

The former Tranmere Rovers boss has not been approached by the Blues to become Mark Wright’s successor but, contrary to some reports, the 56-year-old last night told The Chronicle he would be prepared to listen to what City have to say.

“You can never rule anything out in football and nothing surprises me,” said Liverpudlian Moore, who was sacked by Tranmere three weeks ago despite leading them to the brink of the League One play-offs. “I would never have thought I would be out of work when not too long ago I was 90 seconds away from getting Tranmere into the play-offs.

“I haven’t applied for the Chester job and nobody has approached me, but if somebody wants to call me to have a chat then you can never say never. You’ve always got to keep your options open.

“My reputation has been made in the first and second divisions, working with no money or on a small budget and keeping teams up or getting them promoted.

“I’ve had one or two sniffs from abroad but I really don’t want to go down that route.”

According to bookies, former City assistant managers Malcolm Thomson and Steve Bleasdale, along with ex-Blues caretaker boss Ray Mathias, are also front-runners in the race to replace Wright, whose third spell at the club came to an end on Monday following talks with owner Stephen Vaughan.

Vaughan was playing his cards close to his chest last night, but he insists whoever takes over the reins will have the means to overcome the club’s 10-point deduction – incurred for going into administration – and then push for promotion.

“We need to get a manager in as soon as possible,” said Vaughan. “They will have to agree personal terms and then tell us what players they want to bring in, which we’ll do our very best to afford.

“Chester City will be one of the top-five payers in the Blue Square Premier next season. We know what Burton Albion won it on last season and we know what Cambridge United got to the play-off final on – that is the money we’ll be paying. We start on minus 10 but hopefully we’ll chase the final play-off spot.”

Vaughan admits, however, the Blues’ budget is likely to be affected after subscription sports channel Setanta, who have broadcast Blue Square Premier matches for the past two years, went into administration this week.

He said: “Each club in the Blue Square Premier has been receiving in the region of £85,000 from Setanta. Clubs also get £13,000 for live home matches and £3,000 for away matches. We could end up losing the exposure we were looking forward to and that could have an adverse effect on potential sponsors.”