Exclusive:'It was devastating' - David Eyres on Preston North End exit and Oldham Athletic managerial stint

Preston North End cult hero David Eyres has opened up about leaving the club in an exclusive interview with the Lancashire Post.

Months after playing a key role in North End’s Second Division title win in 2000, then-boss David Moyes informed Eyres that there was an opportunity to leave the club and play for Oldham Athletic of the division below.

“It was devastating,” Eyres told the Lancashire Post, “we'd just won the league and I was 36. At that age, people will talk but I had confidence in my own ability in terms of fitness, I'd always done the right thing. I trained as hard as I possibly could. Did I slow down? Yeah, I did but I never lost my fitness and my stamina, I just felt I could have played a big part.”

On his final few months at PNE, he added: “I found myself on the bench and coming on, but most of the time the fans were singing my name to get me on, which was nice. But David Moyes would put me on if he felt that I should go on.

“I did get on every now and again, but there was a time when I was playing in another team to keep myself fit, not for the reserves or the under-21s but it was like a bounce team just to keep my fitness ticking over.

“I had an honest conversation with David and he said ‘Oldham have come in and you've got an opportunity to go there, but I don't want you to go on loan. They can just take your contract over.’

“I said, ‘I don't want to leave but I honestly do need to continue playing if I want to play as long as I feel I can’. We shook hands and there were no sour grapes.”

Eyres says he feels like he developed more physically after leaving PNE, partly owing to a radical training programme at his new club.

“After leaving North End, I actually felt that I'd become a better player as well. I probably was fitter in my whole career around the 37, 38, 39 mark. When Iain Dowie was manager of Oldham, he brought a fitness conditioner in from rugby league called John Harbin, it totally changed the dynamics of training.

“We were actually doing rugby league training, and you have to be physically tough to obviously play that sport. John Harbin brought that training schedule regime into the football side.

For me personally, and I know a lot of lads at Oldham at the time, I would say it made me physically stronger and fitter than I'd ever been in my career.”

After playing under the likes of Dowie and Boundary Park legend Andy Ritchie, Eyres was handed the joint responsibility of coaching the Latics on a caretaker basis in 2003, alongside John Sheridan.

“Oldham at the time was going through difficult times, a change of ownership, and there was a time where the players didn’t get paid for about nearly two months and it wasn't going particularly well.

“I had offers to leave but I thought, no, I wanted to stay there. Again, and it sounds a cliché, but it's such a special club with a great fan base. I stayed and then Iain Dowie left. The club asked me whether I'd be able to help and I said of course, until you get somebody in.

“John, who’s a class act, became the manager and I just did part of the training and the fitness. Some of the lads didn't like it but I thought, if I can do it, you can do it, so I just stuck to my guns and did what I needed to do to help as much as possible.

“John called the shots, he picked the team and he did pick my brains now and again, but it was basically on him. He went on to become a manager, which I always thought he would do.

“In terms of doing the management side and the coaching side, I didn't really do a lot. I put the cones out and I kept the lads fit, but John Sheridan should take the credit because he was there for the two months and just stabilised the club until Brian (Talbot) came in.

“He asked me, did I want to stay on the coaching staff? And I just said to him, look, if you don't mind, I want to get myself completely fit again. I was still fit, I was still training.

“I asked him would it be OK if I continued training and to try and get back in his team, which, judging by his first look, I felt like he thought, well, you're past it now, mate.

“I remember coming on against Peterborough and walking down the steps, as you do at Oldham, to come on to the pitch and Barry Fry was their manager. Barry shouted to somebody on the pitch as I was coming on ‘watch this lad, he can play’.

“I think that shocked Brian Talbot at the time. I came on, I think we drew the game, but I got an assist straight away and never looked back. Brian Talbot just began putting me in the team, started me and gave me another year.

“The following season, I probably played more games than anybody in the team and I was 39 at the time. So I think I convinced him I was good enough and fit enough to play.”

The final part of our interview with Eyresy will be released later this week.