Moore made more than 300 appearances for Tranmere as a player

Ronnie Moore has said he was shocked to be sacked as Tranmere Rovers manager.

The 56-year-old, who had been in charge at Prenton Park for three years, was dismissed on Friday after failing to reach the League One play-offs.

Moore told BBC Radio Merseyside: "What happened was a shock - it was a massive surprise to me.

"I never dreamt for one minute that was going to happen, but one thing you know as a football manager is that you're going to get the sack sometime."

Moore's departure came only days after assistant manager Peter Shirtliff also left the club.

But the former Rotherham and Oldham boss had already started planning for another assault on League One next season by signing midfielder Mark Allott.

And the fact Tranmere were only denied a place in the play-offs by a late equaliser from Scunthorpe's Cliff Byrne on the final day of the season - which booked the Iron a top-six spot instead - added to the surprise.

Moore added: "It was a genuine shock, I never saw it coming. I spoke to the new chairman [Peter Johnson] on Friday morning and thought it was going to be about new players.

"Unfortunately he said a decision had been made that they were going to go down a different avenue.

"That's life, I'm not going to complain about it. I've enjoyed my time here, Tranmere have had a lot of my life, as a player, as assistant manager and manager.

"I don't think anyone can complain about last year. People talk about the gates being down, but I don't think you can point the finger at me for that because our home form was the best in the league until the last game of the season."

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