NORTON AND BIRCH EAGER TO EMBRACE AVRO CHANCE

Experiences give bosses belief

- Andy Simpson

DAVE Birch and Mike Norton remember vividly the first training session they fronted as joint managers of a struggling team close to five years ago.

New Mills had lost six successive matches at the start of the 2019-20 campaign, shipping 25 goals, when the duo answered a distress call from Ray Coverley, the club's chairman.

"There's no script," Birch told The NLP.

"What we'd achieved during a decent career as players went out of the window, and I wasn't sure those lads even knew who we were!

"They probably thought we were deluded because I stood in front of the group and said we don't get beat again from here."

The pair, revered by supporters at Curzon Ashton and FC United of Manchester for their contributions on the field, have come a long way since.

After guiding Abbey Hey back to the North West Counties League (NWCFL) top flight last season, securing promotion in impressive fashion as play-off winners, they were offered the job at Avro.

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