7:00pm Thursday 2nd July 2009
By Craig Manning
TRANMERE Rovers striker Ian Moore has signed a new two-year contract at Prenton Park today.
Ian, who joined Rovers in January last year, is the son of former manager Ronnie Moore, who was controversially sacked by the club in June.
He went on to make 50 appearances last season for the club, scoring 11 times – three of which were in the top five entries in the club's Goal of the Season award.
Ian's career began at Tranmere and he went on to play for Nottingham Forest, West Ham United, Stockport County, Burnley, Leeds United and Hartlepool United before returning to Prenton Park last year.
He has made more than 130 appearances for Tranmere, scoring 27 goals. In total he has made more than 570 career appearances.
During a press conference at Prenton Park this afternoon, Ian said he's enjoyed his time at Tranmere and the decision to sign a new contract, which will see him working for new manager John Barnes and assistant manager Jason McAteer, was an easy one.
Ian said: "I was offered a two-year deal when my father was here as manager.
"But the thing for me was to come in and speak to the new manager and see what the feel was and see if I was part of his plans. If I wasn't then I would have gone elsewhere.
"I was told that I'm part of his plans, so it was quite an easy decision to make."
Asked how it felt to come back to the club following his father's shock departure, Ian said:
"When I came to the club I thought I was going to end my career here and the hope was that my father would still be here.
"But it's not an ideal world, Dad appreciates that now and, obviously, he's out looking for work at the moment. Life goes on.
"For me, it's just a case of start playing football and see where we go from here.
"I speak to my dad all the time and picked his brains about this. He's been supportive of me signing this new deal.
"I'm 32 years of age and can make my own decisions. Dad can only be there to give me guidance, but there was really only one decision for me.
"I'm impressed with the new management team. They've been as good as gold. It's our second day of training and we've been doing some ball work, which is nice because normally we're running everywhere.
"We did the longest Wirral Way run I've ever done, yesterday, about 10 miles, and we've been running up mountains in Wales today, so it's been good.
You're running with lads who are about 17 and 18 and trying to impress everyone. It's all refreshing and can only be good for us.
"It's been good and we've managed to get the balls out everywhere.
"I always wanted to come back to Tranmere at some point and end my career here. Hopefully I can plug in with a few goals during my time here and just keep on going.
"From what I've seen so far, John and Jason are very optimistic that things will go well."
John Barnes, who took over as manager days after Ronnie Moore's sacking on June 5, said: "I think it's very important to have Ian signed up - not just from the quality he brings.
"I have seen him play about four or five times last season and he's got good attitude.
"He is an experienced player, which is what we need because we have lost a lot of good players and have a lot of young players. So it's good that we can retain a player of Ian's quality.
"I've been working with him for two days and his attitude is spot-on. He is a team player, which is what I like."
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