Mansfield Town

New signing Ricky Ravenhill is determined to help our team climb the table in the coming weeks and repay the faith that has been shown in him by manager Adam Murray.

The 33-year-old, who was previously with Northampton Town, is a tenacious midfielder who boasts plenty of key ingredients to be successful, having achieved no fewer than four promotions during his career.

Discussing his move to One Call Stadium, he said: “I’d say [I’ve known] for a few weeks now which is when I first touched base with the manager here.

“It’s something that’s always appealed to me. It’s a great club and one that I’ve always admired and thought that it would be good to play at. 

“I’ve always enjoyed playing here. I’ve seen what the support is like and I know what the potential is like.

“When the opportunity sort of came to light, there was no hesitation from me. Obviously with the gaffer, I’ve spoken to him and he fills me full of confidence with what he wants to do and I’m looking forward to playing for him.”

He continued: “Without going fully into detail, he’s basically told me the way that he wants to run things, the way he wants us to play and what he wants to implement into the team.

“It’s all things that I agree with and how I see the club going forward as well, so it was all positive.”

Describing his playing style, the combative midfielder added: “I’d like to think that I can use my experience and guide other people on the pitch. You’ll get full-hearted displays from me as I’ll give everything that I’ve got.”

“I like a tackle, I like to win the ball and on the other side I’d like to think that I can play a little bit as well, but I’ll push people around and organise things on the pitch.”

Ravenhill has racked up almost 500 career appearances and played for a string of lower league clubs.

He was a back-to-back promotion winner with hometown club Doncaster Rovers, then helped Notts County to the League Two title in 2009/10, before enjoying further success with Bradford City in 2012/13, where he was also a League Cup finalist.

Asked what it takes to be successful, the Yorkshireman said: “I think first and foremost you’ve got to have the right people on board. You need a good team and a squad all together and pulling in the same direction, which I know the gaffer is doing at the moment.

“Obviously, other than that, you need consistency. The lower leagues are all about consistency, because we know that on their day anybody can beat anybody, but it’s the ones that really go the extra mile, put back-to-back wins together and go on little runs – that’s when you see the difference.”

Our side currently languish in the lower reaches of Sky Bet League Two heading into Saturday’s trip to local rivals Burton Albion, but Ravenhill believes that our fortunes will improve.

“[Gaining consistency] is all about what happens on and off the pitch and when we’re on the training pitch, so we all know that we’re on the same page and pulling in the same direction,” said the midfielder.

“The gaffer knows exactly what he wants and he’ll get that across to the players. It’s then just a matter of us working hard and putting that out onto the pitch and putting in the performances that he wants.”

On his personal targets and ambitions, Ravenhill added: “I’ve got targets. I want to do as well as I possibly can and get this club as high up the league as fast as I can.

“Who knows where it will take us. Can we still make the play-offs? There’s still half-a-season to play, but first and foremost, we need wins under our belts to get into the top half of the table.”