BILL Holden today insisted that Great Harwood manager Martin Eatough is staying at The Showground.

Speculation intensified throughout the week that the former Lancaster City captain was about to return to Giant Axe as the new boss.

Alan Tinsley resigned from the hot seat last week for "health reasons" and suggested Eatough as his replacement.

An approach is believed to have been made by the Lancaster board although the job was advertised openly last weekend.

The continued speculation has forced Great Harwood chairman Bill Holden to intervene and state emphatically that Eatough is not about to leave the club.

"I can state categorically that Martin is staying at Great Harwood," said Holden.

"I've spoken to him and he assured me that he hasn't applied for the job.

"If Martin had to have left he'd have gone with the best wishes of the club.

"But he's an honest lad and he spoke to me as soon as all this talk started.

"He didn't hide anything and I know he wouldn't do anything behind our back. "He'll always be linked to clubs because he's got so much to offer.

"But there is no foundation to the rumours linking him with Lancaster City and I hope that is the end of it."

Lancaster City's general manager, Nick Hoyle, was also keen to dispel the rumours linking Eatough to the post.

"There's absolutely no truth in the speculation whatsoever," he said.

"Martin Eatough has no links with Lancaster City.

"We have received some applications for the post but Martin Eatough's is not among them.

"I don't know how this speculation started or where it came from but none of it is true."

Hoyle was surprisingly anxious about such a routine inquiry, perhaps unwilling to acknowledge Lancaster's keenness to entice Eatough to Giant Axe.

For three years he was club captain and led the team to promotion to the UniBond League Premier Division last season.

So his ties to the club are strong. So much so that outgoing manager Alan Tinsley recommended Eatough for the job.

"Martin would be ideal - he's a leader," said Tinsley.

"He enjoyed his time at Lancaster and fellow players and fans liked him very much.

"He had their respect."

Eatough's quality was also underlined by Holden.

"We all know what he's done at this club (Great Harwood)," he said.

"I think he's the best young manager in the league.

"He's a winner, he doesn't suffer fools easily and he's breathed new life into this club.

"His attitude is very professional and it rubs off on people involved in the club both on and off the pitch.

"The atmosphere among the players is bang on - they'd run through a brick wall for him.

"He's instilled in them a pride and a will to win.

"It must be frustrating for him to see all the money being bandied about by other clubs.

"We're simply not in a position to buy players. "But success on the park has a knock-on effect.

"In 12 months' time, things might be different in that regard."

There is no question that Eatough believes so.

"We've got a good thing going at Great Harwood and I'm looking forward to exciting times ahead with the club," he said.

Meanwhile, Eatough confirmed that he has not applied for the vacant Lancaster City job.

The Great Harwood Town boss is concentrating on tomorrow's game at Whitley Bay when he will be without suspended Paul Ainscough and is waiting for fitness tests on Mick Crabbe (ankle) and Neil Otley (knee).

"There's no doubt that it's a good job (Lancaster) but I've only been here at Harwood a few months. I haven't achieved anything here yet," he said.

"Besides, I'm always preaching loyalty to my players, so it would hardly be right for me to leave after such a short time would it."

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