 | It was a shock when I left Oldham but I'm proud of what I did there |
Ronnie Moore fully expected to spend the summer preparing Oldham Athletic for a promotion push from League One. Instead the 53-year-old is back at Tranmere, the club where he started his playing career, and is hopeful of restoring Rovers to the division where he believes they belong.
"Everybody here wants promotion - the club should be playing in the Championship, there is no doubt about it," said Moore, who has been enjoying putting his players through their pre-season paces in Liverpool while acquiring a "lovely tan".
Moore was signed as a player by Tranmere in 1971 and remained at the club until 1979, when he was sold to Cardiff for a then club record �120,000.
He returned to Prenton Park in 1986, enjoying a spell as player-coach before becoming assistant coach to John King during one of the most successful periods in the club's history.
Tranmere went up from the basement division to the brink of the top flight and, under John Aldridge, reached the League Cup final in 2000, but finished bottom of what is now the Championship table in 2001.
| If we do not win promotion this coming season it will not be due to a lack of effort |
Moore had left Rovers by this point and was in the midst of a largely successful eight years in charge at Rotherham that eventually ended in January 2005.
The Liverpudlian took over at Oldham two months later and guided the club away from the League One relegation zone.
The Latics finished 10th last season, six points off the play-offs, and Moore was planning for the new season when he parted company with Oldham on 1 June.
"It was a shock," reflects Moore.
"For some reason a lot of the crowd did not take to me and I did not take to them. The same thing happened to Alan Pardew in his first year at West Ham but look at the success he had in his second year.
"The owners at Oldham said it was a two-year job and if they had held the faith I think we could have delivered promotion.
"I'm proud of what I did there and we only needed to add three or four new faces this summer to have had a wonderful chance."
Oldham unveiled John Sheridan as their new manager the day Moore left and just over a week later Moore was named as the new boss at Prenton Park.
A twist of the fixtures calendar will see Sheridan and Moore in opposite dugouts when the new season starts on 5 August.
"We are all raring to at Tranmere, waiting for the kick off, but trust it to be Oldham for the first game of the season," said the Rovers boss. "It is uncanny the way it happens.
 Moore was successful on a tight budget at Rotherham |
"I was out of work for eight days, which shows I must be doing something right, and was glad this opportunity came along because I was born in Liverpool, I still have family here. It is nice to be back.
"In some ways nothing has changed. There are still a lot of supporters who watched me when I played - it has been a bit like Groundhog Day."
Moore knows that there has been a touch of the Groundhog Day for supporters over the last few seasons, with the club often close to winning promotion but always falling short.
And he is determined that by the end of the forthcoming campaign Tranmere fans will have something to celebrate.
"A lot of the squad have played in Championship and it is probably as good as we have had for a while.
"It is not a big squad, I have tried to ensure it is comprised of proven, tried-and-tested players. We have 18 first-team players plus four kids who are knocking on the door.
"Lets hope we can get the club back into the Championship and if it does not happen it will not be due to a lack of effort."
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