Barrow's caretaker manager Neil Hornby has spoken passionately following the sacking of Micky Moore, revealing he was “shocked, disappointed and sad” when he heard the news.
Moore was relieved of his duties at Barrow on Tuesday, following a run of form that saw his side claim just one point from his four games in charge and crash out of the FA Cup to Shaw Lane on Saturday.
The Bluebirds are languishing just one place above the National League relegation zone, but many people were surprised to see Moore leave the club so soon after his appointment – including his assistant, Hornby.
The caretaker boss told The Mail: “I was very shocked, disappointed, sad. Micky's a very good guy, I've known him for years and he's a very good man.
“I know he has worked tirelessly to get Barrow moved up the table, and it's just purely – in my opinion – been down to the spate of bad injuries we've had.
“We've got several key players who would be in the starting 11 missing through injury – you get those back in and it makes one hell of a difference.
“I'm just really disappointed for Micky, and I'm disappointed for myself because I moved to the football club to work with him.”
Hornby only joined Barrow on October 13, after a period away from the game, and was on the touchline during Saturday's disastrous FA Cup exit.
ICYMI, Barrow hunting for their third manager of the season ????
Micky Moore has left the struggling Bluebirds
??https://t.co/7TizuJlCYg pic.twitter.com/eMKK3Eee72— The Non-League Paper (@NonLeaguePaper) October 17, 2017
He has certainly been thrown in at the deep end, and ahead of being in charge of Barrow game against Ebbsfleet on Saturday, the former Burton Albion man said: “I spoke to Micky at length before making the decision to come here.
“It was an opportunity to get back into the game.”I've met up with Micky [since the sacking], and I know if we had been given the chance, we would have been successful.
“I've made it clear that the performance [against Shaw Lane] was totally unacceptable.
“We move forward – we can't do anything about what has happened. It's hugely disappointing, it's hugely embarrassing and it's hugely unacceptable.
“But, as I've said to the players, we can't do anything about the history and what has happened, but what we can do is move forward, and we can affect what happened from now. That's starts on Saturday at Ebbsfleet.”
Despite taking over as caretaker manager, Hornby insisted he had given no thought to the prospect of being the club's permanent manager.
Asked if he was interested in the job, Hornby said: “I don't know, is the honest answer. I don't really know – it's too early to think about those sort of things.
“All I'm looking at doing, it's not about me, it's about the players and the club at the moment. All I will do is work as many hours as I have got to get everybody prepared and ready for the games over the weekend and on Tuesday.”
