Carey job under threat - Dickens

18 October 2007

Brian knows you live by results on the football field Neville Dickens

Wrexham chairman Neville Dickens says manager Brian Carey's job will be on the line if results do not improve.

Carey was given a two-year contract after keeping Wrexham in the Football League at the end of last season.

But the Dragons are third from bottom of League Two after losing seven of their first 10 games this term.

"Brian knows you live by results on the football field. Obviously, if it keeps going as it is, things would have to change," Dickens said.

Dickens, speaking to the BBC's Sport Wales programme, said Christmas would be a telling time for the inexperienced manager.

"Things would speak for themselves [if Wrexham were still struggling at Christmas]. I'm sure Brian would understand that.

"He would be the first one to come to me. I would listen to what he had to say."

Dickens, though, said he was confident Carey would reverse Wrexham's poor start to the season, and urged sceptical Dragons supporters to put their reservations to one side and back the manager.

"We can understand the fans' frustration, they pay their money and are entitled to their opinion," he said.

"But we're a bit closer to it and we know Brian's ability. We're confident in his ability.

"Time will tell, but I'm sure he will turn it round. The signs are there. The squad is too good to be languishing down near the bottom of the division.

"I want to give Brian the chance, without even considering changes at this juncture.

"Patience is required now. We don't want to be in the position we were in last season and Brian is working very, very hard to rectify the situation."

Carey, who took charge at the Racecourse when Denis Smith was sacked in January, saved Wrexham from relegation after the Dragons secured four victories from the final five matches of last season.

The former Dragons defender signed several new players over the summer, including defender Richard Hope and strikers Michael Proctor and Eifion Williams, but he has come under fire from supporters after overseeing just three victories so far this term.

Carey accepts results must improve quickly if he is to remain in the job on a long-term basis.

"I'm realistic enough to know that if results don't improve over the next few weeks and months, changes will be made," Carey told Sport Wales. "That's the nature of football.

"The club deserves to be higher up the league, the supporters deserve that.

"The supporters are frustrated, but I know we will get this right. We've got a group of people committed to getting the club up the league again.

"I'd say over the games so far we've probably had half of the players pulling the other half along. Everyone involved has got to start pulling their weight."

Sport Wales is on BBC 2W on Thursday at 2200 BST.

BBC 2W is available outside Wales on freeview and digital/cable satellite.