Morning is plotting a major rebuild at Padiham

The Storks’ future in the Hallmark Security League Premier Division had been threatened when a run of 13 games without a win pushed them in to troubled waters.

Victory over Hanley Town at the start of the month brought them some much welcome breathing space while three points against bottom side Abbey Hey at the Arbories on Saturday would enhance their position.

“We got given a job to see the season out,” said Morning. “This game at the weekend is just as big. If we win this then it’s another step closer to achieving our target.

“It was a massive win for us against Hanley Town and they beat Abbey Hey 4-0. Is it a case of them knowing that their time is up? Possibly. Will they roll over and die? Definitely not. Should we have enough to win the game? Yes.

“We’ve got to beat Abbey Hey and West Didsbury to stay up. I think that would be enough for us. That would give us some breathing space.”

“If we get beat against Abbey Hey then it opens up another can of worms. But planning has got to start soon.

“We want to assure safety then we can start building towards next season. We can’t do that at the moment because we don’t know for definite where we’re going to be.”

Morning, who is working alongside Michael Morrison, has big hopes and aspirations for Padiham and is determined to begin the renovation process as soon as possible.

The 32-year-old has already penned a list of targets to recruit in order to bridge the gap to their rivals at the opposite end of the table next season.

“I’ve spoken to players, we’ve got a long list of people who we hope to bring in, but it’s really tricky,” he said.

“We’ve got targets in mind but we don’t want to talk about it too much because we’re not safe yet. We’ve still got a job to do.

“It’s going to be a complete rebuild to get us to where we want to go. I’m not sure how many of the current squad will be keeping at the minute.

“I don’t think we’re a bottom five team now, I think we’ve got the players to be around mid-table, but results against Bootle and Northwich Victoria showed how far we are from that level.”

Morning added: “About five years ago, just hours after Northwich Victoria had been beaten in a play-off semi-final at Bamber Bridge, I had Jim Gannon on the phone trying to sign me.

“He’d just been beaten in a big game but he was already planning for the following season. I’ll never forget that.

“He’d obviously had his targets in his head and worked on them straight away. I’d just been released by Salford City so they do have to work that fast. I ended up signing for them.”