RONNIE MOORE has long held an admiration for Sam Collins, with the pair often crossing path in their careers.

And Moore the manager had words for his charges about Collins the player.

“I used to tell my teams to keep the ball away from the lad with the big head Big Sam, every time we played here we used to hit him!’’ he laughed.

“That is what we need now - someone with heart, desire, commitment and leadership.

“Hopefully he will do well for me.

“The lads know him and it is nice for him to be involved, rather than just bring somebody else in straight away or whatever.’’

Collins, with two caretaker stints in charge of Pools this season, revealed: “First thing he said to me was 'I used to hate it when we played against you'.

“Ronnie said he'd go mad with his players that they would kick the ball my way and I'd head it clear!

“I've played against Ronnie's teams many times over the years. Ronnie's a proper football man and his teams have always given everything they've got.

“We've had a good few long chats and spoke about different things.

“I understand what he wants and I know what he expects so we've got to make sure we get all these messages over to the players. They are the one who have got to go out and do what we want them to do.

“Different managers have different ideas but football doesn't really change, it's all about winning games.

“You can talk about playing this way or that way all you want but if you are winning, everything takes care of itself - winning, that's what it's all about.’’

Moore, appointed Pools third permanent manager of a tumultuous campaign, watched as Pools, under Collins’ caretaker command, rolled over at Burton last weekend.

Moore feared a mauling that afternoon, but is confident of an instant upturn in fortunes this afternoon.

Pools take on Oxford at Victoria Park with new owners TMH taking control at the same time as Moore. One of their first moves was to reduced admission prices for this game and the meeting with Morecambe on December 28 to £10 each or £15 for both.

“It is a great idea, slashing the prices,’’ said Moore. “The more people in here, will it frighten the lads? Hopefully not.

“The crowd last year and this, there hasn’t been that much difference - can we reward them? Hopefully, and if we can do our part on the pitch then the future can be very rosy.

“There is a massive future, I think. These lads (TMH) really want to have a go at it.

“Survive this year and then next season it will be a matter of who do you want? Go and get them?

“Fingers crossed and let’s go and get these 26 games done and dusted.”

Collins first stood in when Colin Cooper left, then after Paul Murray’s exit two weeks ago today.

He started the season as reserve team coach under Cooper, played nine times, was first-team coach under Murray, and is now assistant manager.

Collins has been involved in football for 20 years. Nothing could prepare him for what’s happened this season.

“I've been doing stuff on the coaching side the last two years and combining it with playing,’’ he said. “This season I've done more and more and when the two managers have left I've been in charge as well.

“I have a good feel for it and I love it. Obviously it's not been great but from an experience point of view and doing the amount of jobs I've done I've really enjoyed it.

“Now I have the opportunity to work with Ronnie who comes with all this experience and years in the game.

“He's had 900 games and if I can't learn from someone like him then there is something wrong - that's what I intend to do, I'm looking forward to it.’’

Pools were embarrassed last weekend, but Collins admitted confidence has been washed away at Victoria Park. The arrival of new owners and manager will, he hopes, change all that.

He said: “It's been really hard, probably one of the toughest things is trying to lift the players because confidence is quite low.

“Last week we did a helluva lot of work and I was really confident going into Saturday. That's gone now and we're in a new era, new owners and new manager in Ronnie with me as his assistant - it's now time we kicked on.

“We have more than enough games to turn it around and I'll be doing everything I can to get us out of this situation.

“It is only six points and we have to be confident if we can string some results together then things can change very quickly.

“The players have a point to prove to everyone, what's happened has gone but it's now up to them to show us they want to be in the team and hopefully that will get us good results.’’