Martin Russell

[Lim till i die]

Is your new king.

Allow me to be the first to say smashing appointment.

[bluewhitearmy]

Oh super Taylor part 2. A man that has managed such fine players as Mick Leahy.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Source?

[kingpin4]

Is this confirmed? How long of a contract?
To be fair to him, he did a solid but unspectacular job at UCD. Should keep us up.

Was Fenlon just a pipe dream? Could we not match his wage/ player demands? or was he even interested?

[bluewhitearmy]

Is this confirmed? How long of a contract?
To be fair to him, he did a solid but unspectacular job at UCD. Should keep us up.

Was Fenlon just a pipe dream? Could we not match his wage/ player demands? or was he even interested?

Not confirmed but looking like it will be happening. He did a nothing job with UCD tbh its in no way at all a step up from Taylor.

[kingpin4]

Not confirmed but looking like it will be happening. He did a nothing job with UCD tbh its in no way at all a step up from Taylor.

He did ok with no budget and relying on young players. (Are we turning in to UCD?)
Id agree with you, it is very much a side ways step... Did we ever have a realistic chance for Fenlon? This isn't really a "get the fans back" type of idea.

[bluewhitearmy]

He did ok with no budget and relying on young players. (Are we turning in to UCD?)
Id agree with you, it is very much a side ways step... Did we ever have a realistic chance for Fenlon? This isn't really a "get the fans back" type of idea.

His young players included Paul Corry ( Sheff Wednesday) and Ronan Finn brought in by the college our young players consist of people nowhere near good enough.

Fenlon wanted the job 100% ill find out tomorrow what the story is with that.

[kingpin4]

His young players included Paul Corry ( Sheff Wednesday) and Ronan Finn brought in by the college our young players consist of people nowhere near good enough.

Fenlon wanted the job 100% ill find out tomorrow what the story is with that.


We should link up with UL and try to do something similar.
throw it up on here when you find out? Or DM it... I would love to know exactly how close we were to him.

[bluewhitearmy]

We should link up with UL and try to do something similar.
throw it up on here when you find out? Or DM it... I would love to know exactly how close we were to him.

Yep ill let ya know one way or another.

[gael353]

Stop saying he had no budget, did well with limited resources at ucd etc. Its a state sponsored football club with the safest coaching job in ireland.

[pineapple stu]

Club's not state sponsored.

And he did do well with limited resources and bugger all of a budget. Winning the First Division first time out was an amazing achievement given Shels and Fingal were in it too. Setanta Cup qualification first year back in the Premier. Then a big budget cut and never really hit those heights again. And then sued the club, which was a stupid way to end his time.

There's probably someone better that ye could have gotten, but Russell will do a job.

A job being safe isn't really relevant to anything.

[Jofspring]

Thing is we didn't/don't really need a manager that "will do a job". I always felt Taylor would have kept us safe. It's someone to drive us on is what we needed. There will be a lot more pressure on him to do well and bring us forward.

There is a few things I really don't want to hear from the manager or club:

1. Four Year Plan
2. Limited Budget
3. Stick with the young lads
4. Walk before we run

[pineapple stu]

Yeah, that's fair enough. Russell had his ups and downs with us. Ups - first two seasons. Downs - last season in particular, and our horrific defensive record. He was putting himself out to a fair few clubs in the league towards the end of last season, but got no bites, which I found a bit surprising, but...

The phrase "A big club" is usually partisan pompous nonsense, but Limerick have to have the potential to drive on from where they are now and become a bigger club, maybe even a big club. I don't know is Russell the one for that. I think he'd be better than Taylor though. From my fairly limited exposure to Limerick, Taylor always struck me as a bit of a whinebag, too often looking to blame referees for his own team's shortcomings. I think Russell will be an improvement. How much by, I don't know.

[bluewhitearmy]

Club's not state sponsored.

And he did do well with limited resources and bugger all of a budget. Winning the First Division first time out was an amazing achievement given Shels and Fingal were in it too. Setanta Cup qualification first year back in the Premier. Then a big budget cut and never really hit those heights again. And then sued the club, which was a stupid way to end his time.

There's probably someone better that ye could have gotten, but Russell will do a job.

A job being safe isn't really relevant to anything.

That is kinda counteracted by hoovering up young talent on scholarships though. And he had a team with Finn and Corry in the first division didn't he?

[ped_ped]

We needed a manager who knows the league. Say what you will about Russell, he has that at least.

[bluewhitearmy]

We needed a manager who knows the league. Say what you will about Russell, he has that at least.

Roddy Collins, Pat Scully, Sean Connor and many many more know the league.

[ped_ped]

True, but I would think that's where the comparisons stop with any of those three, no?

[pineapple stu]

That is kinda counteracted by hoovering up young talent on scholarships though.
True. Limerick can sign players too though.

And he had a team with Finn and Corry in the first division didn't he?
Corry only played the last third of the season or so.

Still a hell of an achievement to pip Fingal and Shels to the title given I think one player (Brian Shortall) started the season with more senior appearances than the rest of the squad put together.

[bluewhitearmy]

True. Limerick can sign players too though.

Corry only played the last third of the season or so.

Still a hell of an achievement to pip Fingal and Shels to the title given I think one player (Brian Shortall) started the season with more senior appearances than the rest of the squad put together.


We can but we couldn't get people of Finns standard.

Shels made a thing of throwing away promotion back then though. A good achievement to get ye up yes but not that much of a surprise really didnt ye still have McMillan too.

You would know more about Russell than most im guessing and your description of him is really just meh.

[pineapple stu]

Maybe Finn was an exception, but there's no particular reason ye couldn't find someone of his standard (especially with Sullivan's money, which we don't have). Ye signed our captain last season for example. Our main problem is that our players are talented but inexperienced. Your experience is a big advantage compared to us. It's hard to directly compare the two.

That was McMillan's first season (well, he played about five minutes the previous year). We had a good team, but they needed to be coached well. We played ye in the first game of the season and to be honest we didn't look any great shakes. We improved over the course of the season, and that was down to Russell's coaching. But against that, while we tried to play passing football under Russell, our defence was porous, shall we say. If he can improve on that at Limerick and still coach well, he'll do ok with ye. If ye start defending like ye did, ye could be in trouble.

I think he's an improvement over Taylor. If that comes across as meh, then I guess it's still an improvement.

[bluewhitearmy]

Maybe Finn was an exception, but there's no particular reason ye couldn't find someone of his standard (especially with Sullivan's money, which we don't have). Ye signed our captain last season for example. Our main problem is that our players are talented but inexperienced. Your experience is a big advantage compared to us. It's hard to directly compare the two.

That was McMillan's first season (well, he played about five minutes the previous year). We had a good team, but they needed to be coached well. We played ye in the first game of the season and to be honest we didn't look any great shakes. We improved over the course of the season, and that was down to Russell's coaching. But against that, while we tried to play passing football under Russell, our defence was porous, shall we say. If he can improve on that at Limerick and still coach well, he'll do ok with ye. If ye start defending like ye did, ye could be in trouble.

I think he's an improvement over Taylor. If that comes across as meh, then I guess it's still an improvement.


I dont think Taylor was terrible tbh.

[pineapple stu]

You'd know more than me on that obviously.

As I said before, I just think he was a whinebag from my limited listening to him. More interested in having a go at the ref than encouraging his players from the sideline. I may well be wrong on that.

[bluewhitearmy]

You'd know more than me on that obviously.

As I said before, I just think he was a whinebag from my limited listening to him. More interested in having a go at the ref than encouraging his players from the sideline. I may well be wrong on that.

No the whole ref thing got fairly frustrating alright.

[Bunny Kelly]

Having gone to plenty of UCD games over the last few years I think Russell would be a fantastic appointment, he kept losing players every season & managed to rebuild, improving the players he had along the way & unlike someone like Fenlon he won't drive away crowds with his style of football

[da bishop]

its great to see some rather infrequent posters of late truely back firmly in the mix with their contributions...then again a manager had to be axed so no surprise there.so its back to the well again,i was,n a fan of scully but believed having won the ist div[despite the obvious] he should have had at least a season in the prem with us,taylor gets a 3yr deal and is now gone at halftime,now no doubt he created problems for himself ,but imo he should have been left there who ever comes in now will hardly make a huge difference and if it is indeed russell his ..deal.. should be interesting.we just might see leahy in action now given his ucd connection.whether the new man has the b---s to sort out our under performers on AND off the pitch remains to be seen.he needs to first deal with the chosen few who helped taylor on his way ,that in turn may help matters on the field of play.

[kingpin4]

its great to see some rather infrequent posters of late truely back firmly in the mix with their contributions...then again a manager had to be axed so no surprise there.so its back to the well again,i was,n a fan of scully but believed having won the ist div[despite the obvious] he should have had at least a season in the prem with us,taylor gets a 3yr deal and is now gone at halftime,now no doubt he created problems for himself ,but imo he should have been left there who ever comes in now will hardly make a huge difference and if it is indeed russell his ..deal.. should be interesting.we just might see leahy in action now given his ucd connection.whether the new man has the b---s to sort out our under performers on AND off the pitch remains to be seen.he needs to first deal with the chosen few who helped taylor on his way ,that in turn may help matters on the field of play.

most of the "chosen few" who have under performed were either brought to the club or kept at the club by Taylor. I do think the board have gotten off very lightly in all this as well though. No one seems to have questioned why we gave a manager with such little experience, such a long contract on such good terms. To me it seems like he was recommended by someone and hadn't even applied in the first place, so we had to "tempt" him with an offer. Fingers should definitely be pointed at some of the higher ups in the club who left Taylor in a very unfortunate situation and you'd imagine if Pat O'Sullivan is as shrewd a business man as he is supposed to be, there will probably be some reshuffling behind the scenes. (I don't think it's had anything to do with the CEO leaving either, just coincidental timing)
next match isn't until Sat 26th July now, so should give the new manager plenty of time to work out what he needs and put some structure to it. The breaks fallen nicely, so let's hope the teams below us have a bit of a stinker in the next couple of weeks.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Russell hasn't actually been appointed though, right?

[Jofspring]

Certainly not been announced anyway.

[Dodge]

Having gone to plenty of UCD games over the last few years I think Russell would be a fantastic appointment, he kept losing players every season & managed to rebuild, improving the players he had along the way & unlike someone like Fenlon he won't drive away crowds with his style of football
He developed some players, and others players float away into nothingness. No different from any UCD manager that I can remember.

Got them promoted in 2009 and kept them up since. His defences were always atrocious though.

Great player and is apparently a great coach. Really can't see how anyone can think he's a great manager though based on UCD's results/performances

[Jofspring]

6pm announcement according to John O Sullivan on twitter.

[kingpin4]

All signs pointing to Russell. He deserves the fans support while he tries to put his stamp on things, no doubt there will be a lot of pressure on him too so lets see what happens in the transfer window now.

[Jofspring]

Ya if it is as expected Russell then I'll give him my full support. Has a few weeks yet to bring in a few players at least.

[Bunny Kelly]

He developed some players, and others players float away into nothingness. No different from any UCD manager that I can remember.

Got them promoted in 2009 and kept them up since. His defences were always atrocious though.

Great player and is apparently a great coach. Really can't see how anyone can think he's a great manager though based on UCD's results/performances



What is your base expectation for UCD? Given the average age of their side & consistently losing their better players I think lower Prem is a good return.

Compare him with Callaghan this year & this is one of the worst UCD sides I remember, bar 3 or 4 players they are terrible, I know they just beat Sligo but I was there & it didn't change my opinion they are the worst side in the league & will probably get relegated

I will agree defensively his sides aren't the best but that is a by-product of trying to play good open football with one of the weaker sides in the league. This was something that labelled at Roberto Martinez at Wigan, but then some people would have asked a yr ago how could he be a good manager if he got his side relegated..........

I go to these games as neutral so maybe my viewpoint is different but I'd much rather watch a Martin Russell side over one managed by Paul Doolin, Pete Mahon or Aaron Callaghan

[sadloserkid]

I go to these games as neutral so maybe my viewpoint is different but I'd much rather watch a Martin Russell side over one managed by Paul Doolin, Pete Mahon or Aaron Callaghan

You make plenty of fair points but as a non neutral at Limerick games I can promise you that I would rather win 1-0 (or draw 0-0) than lose 4-3 every time.

[da bishop]

Russell it is then and best of luck to him and of course he will have everyones support.he has quite a job to do given the squad has,n his stamp on it and Taylors backroom team awaiting him,he seems a decent..nice... fella and by all accounts a good coach one hopes though thats masking a managerial steelness thats going to be needed to sort out the lot of them.

[sweeper]

Best of luck to Martin,a change of voice will help a lot.

[delboyderis]

martin russell wasnt a bad manager with ucd.he hadnt much too play with at ucd and now its a great opportunity for him to make a name for himself at a bigger club.he needs to get rid of some deadwood and if possible get a few new faces in before the window closes.if we could only start getting more people to go to the matches it would be a big lift to the team and club.i wish him well in his new job and hope it works out for him and the team.

[bluewhitearmy]

Anyone any idea whos decision it was for Russell to keep the backroom staff that are at the club? Unusual for a manger to not at least bring in his own assistant was wondering was he made to keep them considering the assistant that is there was put in place with no input from the manager at the time.

[kingpin4]

Anyone any idea whos decision it was for Russell to keep the backroom staff that are at the club? Unusual for a manger to not at least bring in his own assistant was wondering was he made to keep them considering the assistant that is there was put in place with no input from the manager at the time.

Possible there were no other options? Crazy that we have employed someone without the qualifications as an assistant manager as well though...

I wish the season could just end tomorrow. The longer it goes on, the more disheartening it's becoming.

[bluewhitearmy]

Possible there were no other options? Crazy that we have employed someone without the qualifications as an assistant manager as well though... I wish the season could just end tomorrow. The longer it goes on, the more disheartening it's becoming.Has to be people that Russell would know surely, he had someone with him at the side of the pitch at the Carew Park game. Fennelly has just gotten the badges I think. Its just more replacing quality with garbage going from Malky to this fella that Taylor never even wanted.