New Oldham boss Dino Maamria outlines his plans and hopes

The former Stevenage manager has replaced Laurent Banide, the Frenchman having just 11 games in charge before departing with the club 21st in League Two.

Maamria went close to the play-offs with Boro last season, missing out by just one point, and believes he has landed at a big club who find themselves in the wrong position in the footballing food chain.

“The football club has been in a difficult position in the last two years and it’s my job now to try and get it back to its glory days,” the 48-year-old told the club website.

“It’s not going to be easy. The first thing we’ve got to do is to get everyone together and then let’s hopefully have a brilliant journey going forwards.

Maamria took training for the first time on Friday morning

“We can’t do that without the town behind us, that’s my biggest challenge, to make sure we do that.

“To do that I’ve got to produce good football and winning football.

“Winning is in my DNA – as a player, as a coach and as a manager. That’s what I’m here for.”

Maamria is the fifth permanent head coach of owner Abdallah Lemsagam’s 20 months in charge at Boundary Park, Banide having been dispensed of on Thursday evening.

The former Monaco boss saw his side ship two-goal leads in his final two games in charge in draws against Grimsby and Scunthorpe, that ultimately costing him his job.

Maamria believes however that there are plenty of signs that Oldham are not far away from moving towards the right end of the table.

“I was up until three o’clock last night watching their games and they’ve been playing very good football,” said the Tunisian, a striker during his playing career.  

“They could easily have won the last three games.

Maamria hands out instructions during his first training session

“It’s just that knowhow and defensive organisation and probably that belief that you can win a football match.

“It looked like we got to 2-0 and tried to sit on a lead rather than going for a third or fourth.

“I’m not someone who will sit on a lead, I’m all for attack and sometimes that cost me last season.

“I won a lot of games and I lost a fair few as well, so I’ve got to get the balance right, but looking at this squad, we just need to tweak that a little bit, and make sure that when we’re in a winning position we’re not sitting back and inviting pressure.

“If a game is there to win we’ve got to go and do that.”

The new Oldham boss went close to the play-offs with Stevenage last season

While changes will need to made in the days and weeks to come Maamria is wary of trying to do too much, too soon.

“What I don’t want to do is come here and change everything on the first day,” he said.

“We need to change things, we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing the past two years because that’s not producing anything and that’s not good for anybody.

“We have to change but it can’t happen overnight. It’s a process, we’ve got to change things bit by bit.

“My job is to look at every corner of the football club and try and improve that.

“Whenever I do eventually leave this football club I’ve got to leave it in a better state than when I first came in and I will do that.”

The new boss is straight into action on Saturday when 21st host 22nd in the table as Jim Bentley’s Morecambe visit Boundary Park.

“Morecambe are having a difficult moment but I’m sure Jim will turn it around like he always does,” said Maamria.

“But the focus is all about us and getting the group back together.

“We’ve got 40 games left this season with cups and everyone will play their part.

“It’s about giving them confidence, galvanising them and giving them confidence to win football matches and that’s my focus.”