Stockport managing director Mark Maguire has heaped lavish praise on manager Jim Gannon following the club's promotion to League One.County defeated north-west rivals Rochdale 3-2 at Wembley in the League Two play-off final under the guidance of a man who served the club for a decade as a player.

Maguire told the Stockport Express: "There can't be any team better prepared than us under Jim and nobody will ever know the detail he goes into and the hours he puts in. I'm thrilled to bits for him.

"To be honest it would be very difficult to imagine a more challenging season than we've just had, pretty much everything has been thrown at us.

"We've had to make tough decisions and there have been times when Jim has been challenged by circumstances or individuals, but each and every step of the way we've looked each other in the eye, we've picked ourselves up and learnt where necessary."

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