New Athlone manager

[town73]

Stephen Kelly is set to be appointed manager of Athlone Town.

[parnell ranger]

best of luck to Stephen

[Longfordian]

Yeah good luck to him. Very decent fella..

[max power]

good luckand at least your penos ahve a chance of going in :rolleyes:

[Enda M]

could be an excellent choice i know that he is a soundskin too

[observer]

Stephen Kelly's appointment is I feel the best option for Athlone and it is a good move by him to retain Dutchy as Asst. Mgr. Hopefully they will get a result in Cobh to get off on a good note.
The committee and supporters need to get behind the squad and give them the backing they need. Currently the squad train at the rugby grounds where there are no goals and a dodgy surface. There appears to be restrictions on their use of Mel's Park yet youth matches are played there. They should train on their home pitch weather permitting, otherwise home advantage is non existent. Hopefully Stephen Kelly will insist on decent facilities for training and that the committee delivers on his requests.
As regards Aaron the best of luck to him. He is a top class coach but the pressures of being the manager were obviously too much for him. Admittedly the **** up which cost the 3 points was a hammer blow to him and the players and resulted in the reversal of fortunes which we have witnessed.

[Martinho II]

Best of luck Kellier, I thought he would have got the job last summer. He will give a lot to the club I am pretty sure of that. Going back to the previous comment,Aaron is better suited as a no 2 than no 1 and personally it was a mistake that he got the job. Will Adrian Murphy follow Aaron back to Longford or will he stay?

[observer]

Adrian Murphy went to Athlone to get first team football. Alan Matthews does not believe in taking a chance with young footballers so there is no way that Adrian would go back at present.

[eddieohalloran]

Based on what I and others saw tonight, with the exception of the first twenty minutes your team has a lot of hard work to do to impress you. While the sending off may be considered harsh in some quarters, the fact is Ramblers would still have won the game comfortably, most likely by the same score. Ramblers totally out played you tonight and some of your playes could not wait for the game to end. Very alarming if you are Athlone fans who were there in numbers. I hope you guys sort this mess out soon as you were both great pros. Perhaps the wise head of Jimmy Greene should be consulted. Best of luck for the rest of the season. Always enjoyed playing there but rarely won in my time. :)

[nesovic]

best of luck to kelllier

[Donall]

I agree, best of luck to stephen but in the recent 2:2 away draw with longford (good result) i was suprised to see him play himself over John McNicholas.
He hasn't played much recently and it showed towards the end of the match.
Young John is one of the finds of the season, a really great young player and really should of played more than only the last a5mins. Stephen also picked himself over john again 2nite for the replay. I know its against his old club, and its where he lives but he's doing what he wants over whats best for the team in my opinion. What do you think?

[yablazer]

Listen here Donall, if that is ur real name..
Ive got two words for you... Alan Talc.
Eh?

[observer]

I imagine Stephen played himself because of the physical strength of Vinnie Perth and Dean Fitzgerald in Longfords midfield. Also a bit of experience in big match situations was needed. I did think though that he should have taken himself off at half time. No doubt he will now keep himself on the sideline as I do not believe the manager playing works in the majority of situations. In any case Athlone have just got an excellent midfielder on loan from Longford in Gary Murphy. :ball:

[Donall]

ye your right, maybe i was a bit harsh. But that aside, how do you fell about our new young john mcnicholas?