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Jim’s championship challenge

12/ 9/2007

JIM Gannon has reaffirmed his commitment to County’s ambition of competing in the Championship within five years.

The Hatters boss has been speaking to me about his future after he received the fantastic news last week that he is now fully UEFA Pro Licence qualified.

The UEFA Pro Coaching Licence is a qualification normally aimed at Europe’s elite band of coaches, but after two years of hard graft and having already secured his UEFA A, B and C certificates, Gannon is now as highly qualified as the best of the best in the Premiership, Serie A and La Liga.

However, Hatters fans needn’t worry just yet, the big Irishman still harbours big plans for his beloved County and he is just as ambitious for the club now as he has always been.

Gannon said: "I’ve always wanted to be the best coach I could be, in the same way as I did when I was a player.

"If I can work my way up the divisions by being the best I can be, then so be it. I have always said that I want to bring the best education and experience to the job I’m currently doing, and that’s what I am doing at Stockport.

"Things do depend on how much progress we make here, but obviously we’ve all got an ambition at the club to be competing in the Championship within the next three, four or five years.

"That would be a great achievement, but after that we would have to change the structures so we could continue to compete and progress further.

"That would be a huge challenge to myself and the people that run the club.

"If, in three or four years time, we haven’t made the progress planned, then we’d have to look at the situation at that point, but at present I find my job a great challenge and very enjoyable.

"I’m looking forward to fulfilling what the club’s ambition is, what the players’ ambitions are, and what my ambition is, and that’s to play in the Championship and work in the Championship on a regular basis."

Gannon was unsurprisingly ‘absolutely delighted’ when his UEFA Pro Licence certificate arrived in the post last week.

He added: "It’s been a lot of hard work for me, I’ve put a lot into it, but I’ve taken a lot out too.

"It’s something that I can now say, with great pride, that I’ve achieved.

"The education and experience that I’ve gained on the course is something that I’m now trying to reproduce at County."

Some may say that Gannon is a glutton for punishment.

He has now turned some of his attention to a League Manager’s applied management course which is based at Warwick University!