'IT's BEEN TOUGH BUT WE HAVE WORKED HARD TO TURN TIDE'

AS EVENTS of the past week have proved, being an EFL manager is a precarious business.

Sheffield Wednesday’s Xis-co Munoz, Bradford’s Mark Hughes and Gillingham’s Neil Harris have all said their farewells after results failed to match expectations.

Perhaps Harris can feel the most aggrieved. Although his side haven’t been able to maintain their fast start in League Two, they were eighth before the weekend, outside the play-off places on goal difference and only four points off top spot.

Salford City boss Neil Wood can probably sympathise with Harris and Co. When his side fell to a fifth successive league defeat, at Harrogate a couple of weeks ago, his position at the helm seemed in doubt.

Indeed, co-owner and one of the famous ‘Class of 92’ Manchester United stars Ryan Giggs was heavily tipped to take over in the hotseat.

However, Wood, an ex-United graduate himself and former Red Devils U23s coach, has lived to tell the tale. Last weekend’s 2-1 home win against Newport brought a wave of relief to the Ammies and they built on it with a solid 2-0 success at bottom of the table Sutton in midweek.

So did the 40-year-old, who led Salford to the League Two play-offs last term in his first season in charge, feel the pressure before the recent turnaround?

“Not really, it was more disappointment,” he told The FLP after Tuesday’s victory in the capital. “I’ve said it before that nobody puts more pressure on me than myself.

“I’ve high standards of myself and the team of the way we should be playing so it’s continuous work, continuous lessons to get where we need to be and also integrating a fair amount of new players.