MARTIN Gray began his new job at Oldham Athletic this week by wishing good luck to previous club Darlington.

The former assistant manager was made redundant last week, leaving The Northern Echo Darlington Arena after administrators sought to mothball the club over the summer, and Gray, after ten years with Quakers, has teamed up with Dave Penney at Oldham.

Already the pair have overseen a clear out at Oldham, releasing six players, including former Darlington defender Sean Gregan.

How many current Quakers follow Penney and Gray to Lancashire remains to be seen, but Gray hopes Darlington survive their current financial crisis.

“I want the club to move forward and I hope they come through these difficult times. Hopefully they will be back on track as soon as possible,” said Gray.

“I have a massive passion for Darlington Football Club and that will always stay with me. What’s happening there doesn’t affect as much now, I’ve heard one or two things regarding wage deferrals, but it’s no longer my problem. It is strange how quickly you move on but that’s the nature of the game. I’ve been in the game for 20 years and you get used to it.

“I gave the club ten years and did my best. I owe a lot to the Darlington fans and I would like to thank them for their support over the ten years.

“They have stuck by the club so they deserve credit, especially after what has been going on lately and I want them to know how much I have appreciated their support.”

Having arrived from Oxford as a midfielder in 1999, Gray went on to record a decade of service as player and coach and during July he will hold a sell-out testimonial dinner in the town.

He began working at Boundary Park this week and admitted: “It’s a bit weird going into a building where you don’t know anybody and are having to introduce yourself to everybody. But it’s a clean slate, we’re starting again.

“A few players have gone this week so we’re looking to strengthen in certain areas over the next few weeks.

“It’s only natural people are going to link us with our ex-players at Darlington and rightly so as there are some good players there.

“We set our standards high so are going to try and achieve as much as we can next season.

“We’re not going to say promotion or play-offs, but we’re going to try to finish as high as we can."