ANTHONY Wright has put a new striker at the top of his summer wish list as he looks forward to his first season as a fully-fledged manager.
Wright has stepped up from his role as assistant boss to take charge of Vauxhall Motors following the departure of Carl Macauley last month.
The 33-year-old returned from holiday last week and has immediately began planning for the forthcoming Blue Square North campaign.
Finding a striker to replace Obi Anorou, who topped the Vauxhall scoring charts during his season-long loan from Wrexham in 2010-11, is the main objective for Wright and his new assistant manager Gary Martindale.
The Motors boss said: “We know Obi has left us and he played a big part last year, so without doubt finding a centre forward is our main priority straight away. There are no names as yet, but having been away I’ve spoke a few times to Gary and he’s been chasing leads.”
Under Macauley’s leadership, Motors secured a respectable mid-table finish last season – punching well above their weight in a division full of teams with bigger budgets and Wright is keen to retain as nucleus of last season’s squad.
“The strength of the squad is key and something I want to try and keep hold of,” he said.
“That will be difficult, though, as I know there are clubs sniffing around at the players we would want to stay here.”
Speaking to the Pioneer for the first time since his appointment as manager, Wright said he was looking forward to the challenge of following Macauley, who stood down after five years in charge after being appointed manager of Liverpool FC’s under 16s team.
“It definitely feels the right time to step up and follow Carl after already being here as assistant,” said Wright.
“I haven’t had a great amount of time to think exactly who to bring in, but there are a few new signings we are looking at.”
Being a familiar face already at Rivacre Park, Wright is hoping to make a smooth transition from assistant manager to manager.
“I would like to think, having been here as assistant before, that I do have a good relationship with the team, so the move up shouldn’t really be too much of a problem,” he said.
“The main aim for the year ahead is definitely to stay up. We had a bad end to the season, but I do believe we are good enough, and build on what we have.”
Vauxhall’s first pre-season match is at home to Stockport County on Tuesday, July 19 (7.30pm). They also host Cammell Laird on Saturday, July 23 and Wrexham on Saturday, July 30 (both 3pm), and travel to Prescot Cables on Tuesday, August 2 (7.30pm) and Burscough on Saturday, August 6 (3pm).
