DINO Maamria insists he is relishing the pressure that comes with taking the Oldham job.

Laurent Banide departing after just 11 games in charge saw the revolving door under owner Abdallah Lemsagam continue with Maamria the Moroccan’s fifth permanent boss since taking over in January 2018.

The 48-year-old left Stevenage after a winless start to the new season having taken them to within a whisker of the League Two play-offs in May.

Now he knows he will be under the microscope straight away but insists he can work with Lemsagam, who former Latics boss Paul Scholes criticised for interfering in team affairs on his departure in March after just 31 days at the helm.

“I’ve been in football management for probably 11 years and not many managers are in total control,” said Maamria.

“The era of Sir Alex Ferguson where it’s total control at Manchester United that’s gone.

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“Managers now, they are there to win football matches. If they don’t win football matches very quickly they will be out, that’s the business we’re in.

“How much can I control? I can control my players, win football matches on a Saturday, the rest of it is influence I call it.

“I’ve managed five clubs I think, every chairman I’ve been with, I wouldn’t say they try and control but they try to influence.

“It’s their business. I think the chairman here has been harshly treated.

“I don’t really know Paul Scholes personally but every manager’s job is difficult and different in certain ways.

“I think it’s up to you as a manager to work through that, to get the best out of your chairman and to give your chairman what he needs as well.

“My conversation here with the chairman was ‘What do you want to do? Do you want to see a successful football team? I can bring that but we’ve got to do certain things the right way’.

“We’re both on the same page. He invests a lot of money in the football club. He’s got no other agenda but to win football matches.”

Part of that pressure is self-inflicted, Maamria not ruling out Championship football in the near future, a level Latics haven’t played at since the 1996/97 campaign.

“I love working under pressure,” he said.

“I think the minute you take the pressure off yourself you start declining. That’s how I’ve got to think.

“There have been many other managers, look at the Cowleys at Lincoln City. Can we do that here? Of course we can.

“It’s a big club in League Two. Can you take Oldham to the Championship in two or three years? Yes you can.

“Can you win promotion? Yes you can. Has it got the big beautiful stadium? Yes. Has it got the fanbase? Yes. The infrastructure? Yes. The history and tradition? Yes.

“It ticks a lot of boxes and I know what needs to be done.

“I need to bring the fans back together with the club and the easiest way to do that is to win football matches.”

While aiming high after winning his opening game against fellow League Two strugglers Morecambe, Maamria knows full well there will be no quick fixes, his side 20th in the table ahead of the trip to Carlisle on Saturday.

“It’s not going to be easy, it’s a process but I’m taking it one step at a time,” the Tunisian-born former striker said.

“The first step is to bring some stability to the football club.

“Of course people talk about the changes in managers but every club when they get relegated from League One, in that transition period you’re going to find a lot of changes.

“If I look at the changes the chairman made here, they probably are justified.

“It’s been a difficult period for the last two years, a transition period where a lot of players have gone out, the budget’s been slashed, a lot of work has been done there.

“Now I’m in a position where I need to stabilise the club, bring things together and then kick on together.”