New midfielder Joel Byrom says the impression made by manager Steve Evans was the catalyst in his decision to sign for the club.
The former Northampton Town midfielder signed a deal at One Call Stadium after our match at home to Doncaster Rovers last week following his departure from Sixfields.
And Byrom, 30, says he wanted to move to One Call Stadium as soon as he heard of the interest from manager Steve Evans.
“As soon as I heard of the interest I was interested to come and see [the club]. So I spoke to the manager and then it happened quite quickly from there," Byrom said.
“Before I knew it, I was in here and training and ready to play in the game on Monday.
“Obviously when I wasn’t playing at Northampton, I was looking to get a move and the interest the manager showed in me, it was just one of those things that just felt right and I go with my gut.
“I’d spoken to a few lads at Northampton – Alex Revell who’d played under him (Steve Evans) at Rotherham and he couldn’t speak highly enough of him. So I came and met him myself and then my mind was made up.”
The Blackburn Rovers’ academy product says he has enjoyed life since joining the Stags last week and was pleased with how his debut went against Blackpool.
“I’ve enjoyed it since I’ve been here, I’ve loved it. The training’s been good. It was great to get a win on my debut and all the lads have been brilliant helping me settle in.
“It was one of those typical League Two performances away from home. It’s not pretty but you get chances and obviously Greeny (Matt Green) took his chance really well and I think we deserved it in the end.
“The away support, you could heard them all the way through the game. They were brilliant from the first minute to the last.”
Byrom was part of the Northampton side which won League Two last season and he is now looking forward to the challenge of helping the Stags close in on the play-off positions in the second half of the season.
“We’re on a bit of a run now. We got a draw against Doncaster, I was here at the game, and I thought we dominated for the majority of it. [Then we got] a win against Blackpool and hopefully we can take it in to Saturday and get another win.
“The aim’s just to push on and climb the table. You’ve got to take one game at a time but I think there’s teams who have been in worse positions than we have at Christmas who’ve managed to make a real run for the play-offs and push themselves up the league.
“Once you get on that winning run, it becomes natural. You just go in to games and you’ve got the confidence building and you just end up winning games.”
Supporters can view Joel Byrom’s first interview as a Mansfield Town player on Stags PlayerHD.
