Mooney fires parting shot (From Bucks Free Press)

Mooney fires parting shot

8:37am Friday 6th July 2007

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BLUES skipper Tommy Mooney left Wanderers this week and slammed the club on his way out.

The 35-year-old striker turned down a new one-year deal with the club and is now predicting a very tough season' for his old team after all the confusion of the summer.

He has criticised the decision to sack four of the club's coaches in a cost-cutting exercise and questioned the calibre of some of the players Wanderers have brought in.

He also slammed the club for the way they handled his departure saying he was insulted by their statement which he claimed intimated that he wanted his place in the team guaranteed.

Mooney, who blasted 32 goals in the last two seasons for Wanderers, is now hunting his 12th professional club after his two-year love affair with Wanderers ended in fruitless discussions between his agent and Adams Park managing director Steve Hayes.

He said: "You move on and it is exciting for me to see what's out there. I had a good working relationship with everybody there, particularly the gaffer and it's a shame its come to an end so early."

"I don't think there will be an awful lot left of the club I joined. Cost-cutting is the big thing there at the moment and it's a slippery slope.

"Four coaches have gone and that's going to have an effect on the squad."

Wanderers have signed eight players this summer - Martin Bullock, Scott Shearer, Craig Woodman, John Sutton, Derek Duncan, David McCracken, Leon Johnson and Jack Obersteller - but Mooney says only two, Shearer and Bullock, were on the club's original summer wish list and says the club's bean counters have forced manager Paul Lambert to lower his sights.

He said: "We can all see the club is cutting costs and that's why they have got young lads instead of experienced pros coming in.

"When you are signing young lads you are taking a bigger risk."

He also says the decision to keep the Carling Cup cash in their pocket cost Wanderers promotion last season and accused them of directing their resources in the wrong areas.

He said: "If they had spent the cup cash they would have won promotion to League One and been looking forward to playing Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Millwall."

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