Cobh Ramblers and Dave Hill part company...

[avvenalaf]

....this is like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Time to bring Seanie Connor in to give us a right laugh.

[Comic Book Guy]

Why? It's the end of his second spell as manager, hardly Burton/Taylor territory. As for Sean Connor? Things aren't that bad

[NeverFeltBetter]

That's crazy timing right? What was the issue?

[Charlie Darwin]

That's crazy timing right? What was the issue?
You'd assume it relates to player recruitment issues at this stage of the season. Have Cobh signed anyone yet?

[Trainee]

You'd assume it relates to player recruitment issues at this stage of the season. Have Cobh signed anyone yet?

posted on LOI blog a few weeks ago:

Cobh Ramblers today announced their first signings of the season as they prepare for their second year back in the First Division. Goalkeepers Shane Hallahan and Robert Birdsall , defenders Brendán Frahill, Anthony O’Donnell, Eoin Hastings and Adam Thompson have all re-signed for the 2014 season along with midfielders Roy Kenny and Bobbi Donoghue.
The signing of netminder, Robert Birdsall is the most notable capture. The Kerryman started off his career with Tralee Dynamos before moving cross channel to Blyth Spartans and Bradford amongst others. He is capped at u21 level for Ireland. Despite interest from Premier Division clubs, he signed with the Rams last year and is continuing his spell at St Colman’s Park.
Anthony O’Donnell is also a shrewd signing by manager Dave Hill. A promising young defender, Anthony played with Limerick FC at A and u19 level and also captained the Munster Schools team in 2012. He featured against Ramblers for Limerick in a friendly last year. He joined the club midway through last season and impressed in his time at the club. He was recently called up to the Irish Colleges team
Young centre back Brendán Frahill is another player with a big future ahead of him. A player who came through the ranks at Ramblers, Brendán was a member of the u16 National Cup and u19 Southern Division winning teams. He was awarded the Young Player of the Year for his efforts last year and is set for another big season.
Under 19 midfielder Christopher McCarthy has also been promoted from the u19 squad to the senior team after his performances for the underage team this season. These nine signings are the first players to have officially signed for the Rams this year. The club hope to announce more in the coming days.
After the departure of striker Kynan Rocks to Waterford United in the off season, these signings should bring some comfort to the Cobh fans. Despite their lack of experience, a lot of these players performed very well last year especially Frahill, Kenny and Hallahan.
As clubs continue to improve their squads for the upcoming season, we’ll bring you all the latest transfer news here on the LOI Blog!

[Comic Book Guy]

I believe Dave Hill has taken a job as a regional coach on the Fas/FAI training. I believe that excludes him from a club role? Conflict of interest and all that. From what I know his departure was on good terms.

[Audacity]

That makes sense!!

I'd like to wish Dave all the best in his new role & also Martin Cambridge who takes over as interim manager.

[ramblers]

Even if Hilly took a job at the FAI, would there not have been a transition period? keep the consistancy for a few weeks and then Martin Takes over?

All seems to be very rushed.

Was Stuart Ashton not working with the FAI last season when he took the City job, dual jobing for a while? I may be wrong on this so open to corection.

Wish Martin all the best with what has to be the toughest job in Soccer at the moment!!

[adamd164]

Was Stuart Ashton not working with the FAI last season when he took the City job, dual jobing for a while? I may be wrong on this so open to corection.

He was, there was talk that it's why he didn't take the job. But that might have been because he would have had to go full time as manager.

Personally I'm delighted we have Caulfield as I think he's exactly what we needed. But that's another matter.

[marty]

This was known and is not an issue,applied for job last year and it was always going to be starting before L.O.I season kicked off....

[wonder88]

A study has shown that the significance of a manager to a football club is over-estimated by fans and media. It is really the quality of the players that matter. In fact for a league of Ireland team I would suggest that the guy who runs the club lotto or those who manage the bar/social club have greater influence on results on the field than the actual person who selects the team. These people can raise funds so good/better players are likely to sign for the club and clubs with better paid players usually win more matches. Sometimes you can have an outlier, like Stephen Kenny at Dundalk last year but teams finish close to where there wage level suggest at the end of the season.

[gufcfan]

Anyone who has had the misfortune to cross paths with Seanie Connor would rightly disagree with this "study".

[Ezeikial]

A study has shown that the significance of a manager to a football club is over-estimated by fans and media. It is really the quality of the players that matter. In fact for a league of Ireland team I would suggest that the guy who runs the club lotto or those who manage the bar/social club have greater influence on results on the field than the actual person who selects the team. These people can raise funds so good/better players are likely to sign for the club and clubs with better paid players usually win more matches. Sometimes you can have an outlier, like Stephen Kenny at Dundalk last year but teams finish close to where there wage level suggest at the end of the season.

Tell us more....what study? By whom? Where is it published? Have you a link?

The point about fans and media over-estimating the significance of a manager may be true, but this does not mean that the manager is not extremely significant.

Signing the right players, blending them into an effective team / squad, tactics, fitness, motivation, back-room team etc etc are the ultimate responsibility of the manager.

To suggest that the club lotto organiser might have more influence on results then the manager is nonsensical.

If that was the case all the lotto sellers at Shamrock Rovers would be sacked by now

[outspoken]

So that means David Moyes isnt the reason united are 21 points worse off? What a load of bull crap

[sadloserkid]

A study has shown that the significance of a manager to a football club is over-estimated by fans and media. It is really the quality of the players that matter. In fact for a league of Ireland team I would suggest that the guy who runs the club lotto or those who manage the bar/social club have greater influence on results on the field than the actual person who selects the team.

I've recollections of reading that too (in "Why England Lose" possibly?) and think that the same correlation between player salaries and performance could most likely be drawn between manager salary and performance in most cases too.

Anyway, I will miss Dave Hill.

[wonder88]

I also remember a question being put to Brian Clough; something along the lines of what is the secret of being a good manager and the answer he gave was "buy good players". People need to remember that there will always be outliers in any walk of life, Alex Ferguson was one, but people sometime forget that the wages paid by Aberdeen was close enough to those paid by the Old-Firm clubs back then (North sea oil) when he made his break-through. Gary Johnson with Yeovil last season in England was another exception, as I think he got them promoted with a playing budget of one million pounds, but sadly they are at the bottom of the Championship table now as they have the smallest wage bill in that division.
I do not know if you can get the exact wage bill of League of Ireland clubs, but I would think that of the clubs who finish in the top five positions at the end of the coming season four of them will be also in the group of top five paying clubs. Sean Connor's results at Bohs would also support this study.

[Ezeikial]

Sean Connor's results at Bohs would also support this study.

Once more I ask...


Tell us more....what study? By whom? Where is it published? Have you a link?

[sadloserkid]

I gave a possible source above Ezekial but, upon further recollection, I think the authors in that may have just been using a framework from 'Moneyball' too.

[wonder88]

So that means David Moyes isnt the reason united are 21 points worse off? What a load of bull crap Would (the absence of)Van Persie not account for the point difference? I remember when he signed at Old Trafford that he said that did so in order to win trophies but it is also true that Utd outbid City in relation to his wages. Take a look at todays sports pages about a certain player's new contract.

But the real point I want to make is that fans, and especially members of league of Ireland clubs should not get too upset when a manager leaves. Athlone and Drogheda should be fine as long as those involved in fundraising still do a good job. Bohs members must really regret not letting Fenlon go to Dundee Utd when they could have got compensation and someone else in for much cheaper to do job.

[wonder88]

The auther of the study was Simon Kaupor of the FT and someone else that I can't spell his name. I will try and find a link.

[sadloserkid]

It's Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski.

[bennocelt]

A study has shown that the significance of a manager to a football club is over-estimated by fans and media. It is really the quality of the players that matter. In fact for a league of Ireland team I would suggest that the guy who runs the club lotto or those who manage the bar/social club have greater influence on results on the field than the actual person who selects the team. These people can raise funds so good/better players are likely to sign for the club and clubs with better paid players usually win more matches. Sometimes you can have an outlier, like Stephen Kenny at Dundalk last year but teams finish close to where there wage level suggest at the end of the season.

That is a load of complete bull, only have to look at Manure united to see that:think:

[NeverFeltBetter]

Yup, "Soccernomics" is how the book is being called now. Quite a good read. I think they're quite right in their assertion about managers generally, (outdone in importance by the right people being in control of buying players was the main point as I recall) though they never claim they're meaningless to the process, just a convenient scapegoat when things go wrong. In United's case its absolutely a confluence of factors (manager struggling to adapt to new surroundings, transfer issues, ageing squad, new coaching regime etc), not least the sudden absence of the Ferguson presence, which was an aberration to the football cycle of managers.

But in this case, it's Cobh. They were hardly expecting a rocket to the top tier were they, no offence?