Former Three Lions stopper has vowed to help Reds win promotion

The Reds flirted with promotion to the Northern Premier League’s top flight regularly under Steve Cunningham’s governance, but the 39-year-old feels that this could be their year.

Prior to last season’s 15th place finish, Colne were losing play-off semi-finalists on two occasions and had missed out on a top six finish on the final day of the 2017/18 campaign.

Kirkland, who made more than 200 starts during spells at Wigan Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday, is now determined to get it over the line.

“We want promotion this season, we want to go up, you’ve got to aim as high as you can and then time will tell whether we can do it or not,” he said.

“I wouldn’t have come into the club unless it was ambitious and unless they were going to aim high because there’s no point in just going through the motions.

“Winning and getting results is what it’s all about, that’s why I’ve been involved in football for 20 years.

“It’s going to be tough, we were 15th or 16th when the season was halted, but we’re hoping the players we’ve brought in can perform and get us a little bit further up the league. We’ll aim as high as we can and we’ll see where we can get to.”

Kirkland has been encouraged by the changes implemented by new boss Nathan Rooney since the ex-Crawley Town assistant signed a two-year deal at Holt House.

Cunningham’s successor, who has also held coaching roles at Fleetwood Town and Carlisle United, has been working hard to integrate the old with the new.

And the fruits of their labour are already starting to show. Kirkland said: “The gaffer has put a good squad together, there’s been a massive overhaul with staff and players, there’s a lot of new people at the club.

“We’ve signed some good players who have played in leagues above and they’ve got good reputations in non-league football.

“The gaffer has done his work to get these players in so the plans are in place and now we’ll have to see what we can do.

“The chairman [Ryan Haigh] is very ambitious, but he’s also reasonable with the way he wants to do things. He doesn’t just want to go gung-ho, we’ve put plans in place gradually.”

Preparation has been intense, with Kirkland helping to oversee SAS inspired training regimes, and now they’ll put those methods into practice when the club gets its pre-season schedule underway.

They kick things off with a behind-closed-doors friendly against local rivals Barnoldswick Town at the Silentnight Stadium tomorrow.

“I think we’ll be one of the most professionally run teams, not just in our league, but in leagues above as well,” Kirkland said.

“We want to run it professionally because, whether you’re non-league or not, you’ve got to do things right.

“The gaffer was adamant with that, it’s the way he works as well. Everything just seems right so I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be good.”