DEAN HOYLE wants manager Lee Clark to commit his long-term future to Town.
The club chairman will sit down with Clark after the play-offs to discuss a new contract at the Galpharm.
Hoyle – who watched Danny Ward (2), Lee Novak and Benik Afobe extend Town’s unbeaten run to 25 matches in Saturday’s 4-4 home draw with Brentford – believes Clark has proved he’s the ideal man to guide Town beyond this season and at the higher level.
Town face Bournemouth in the two-legged League I play-off semi-finals bidding to reach the Sunday, May 29, promotion final at Old Trafford against either Peterborough or MK Dons, and Hoyle (pictured) doesn’t want any distractions for Clark and his squad until the campaign is complete.
“I spoke to Lee about a new contract because he’s two-and-a-half years into a three-year deal – we want Lee to stay at this club and Lee wants to stay at this club,” confirmed Hoyle.
“What we said was we wouldn’t discuss anything else until we know where we are.
“The main thing is Lee wants to stop here, we want him to remain with the club and to have that continuity for another few seasons would be fantastic.”
Clark took over from Stan Ternent in December 2008 and achieved successive play-off appearances on the back of a record unbeaten run.
“When we brought Lee in we wanted continuity, because we had had too many chops and changes,” explained the owner.
“It hasn’t all been plain sailing and we’ve had our ups and downs, of course we have, but we haven’t got too excited about the downs and we haven’t got too excited about the ups – we have tried to keep it consistent.
“Lee has made big strides, not just for the football club but in his personal development as well and we want to keep that continuity.”
Town skipper Peter Clarke collected the two major awards as the club held their annual presentation night at the Galpharm Stadium.
The central defender collected both the Player of the Year award and the Players’ Player of the Year prize.
Striker Jordan Rhodes won the Golden Boot with his tally of 20 for the season and he added the Young Player of the Year Award.
The Goal of the Season award went to Anthony Pilkington for his stunning effort in the Yorkshire derby against Sheffield Wednesday at the Galpharm on January 3 which secured a 1-0 win for Town.
