Sean Connor

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Originally Posted by brianw82

I think it was actually 6th place that we finished in '06. Definitely wasn't 4th.

That seems to be a pretty good summary of him, though. It's a pity that he seems to bring so much baggage with him, as in terms of results alone his CV would appear to be quite impressive.

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I stand corrected. According to Wikipedia it was actually 5th place (out of 12). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Ireland_2006


I suspect he will always create new baggage, even if he could leave the old ones behind - "you can take the man out of the mountain, but can't take the mountain out of the man" stuff.

He definately has very keen skill spotting talent - while like any manager he has had his fair share of duds, and in particular a few "jobs for the lads", his record in relation to player signings is excellent.

Connor leaves and we are getting toward having as many managers in recent times as red cards this season...but he achieved what was needed and kept us up. The opinions in general of both Sligo and Bohs fans are at the extreme end of the dislike of the guy, in Dundalk there is mixed opinion! He is certainly not deserving of the total disregard that he is given by Rovers and Bohs! If he decided to move on well so be it! as long as we retain core members of the squad assembled this season...he is some 'character' though:p

Thanks for all your replies. Looks like we could be in for some interesting times if he gets the job.

Sean Connors attributes IMO are that he does an acceptable job with the budget hes given.
He gained promotion with us with a massive budget in comparison to the rest of the division.
He done admirabley with Bohs with an exceptional budget.
And he has done well at Dundalk with a large budget also.
He hasnt exactly set the league allight with the budgets hes given, he does enough but that is a talent in itself.
He is alos a master manipulator, not only of the media but most of all with his own club fans.
I personally fell hook line and sinker for his spoofing forked tongue, the Bohs fans at the start seemed to welcome his spoofing and now I see the Dundalk lads buying into the siege mentality he creates around himself, the team and the clubs identity.
It means he deflects internal criticism and increases his own prestige "in the face of adversity".

As for his negatives, hes a terrible terrible character to have around a club.
Hes confrontational, egotistic and down right ignorant.
I know lads who played under him and staff who worked udner him and I honestly dont know one of them to have a good word to say about him, hes just a cu'nt to put it simply.
He ran staff from our club that had been with us for years because of his inability to operate with people.
He also insitigates antagonisms outside of the club so as to create the whole "siege mentality" which as pointed out increases the chasm between himself and criticism and must of all looks after number one.
Thats all Sean Connor is about, number one, self preservation and increasing his own lot.
Any doubt about that and look at how he left us.
Dont buy into how much he professes to love your club on arrival either, just his master manipulation at work again.

As for him finding talent?
As stated before the talent that continously comes into our club has got sweet fukc all to do with Sean Connor, its generally speaking from the work and loyalty of Cassidy, it really irritates me that Connor gets credit for all our signings. He even had the audacity to try and poach Cassidy for his future job at Bohs.
Overall he is an extremely divisive figure who will bring you mixed fortune, just as long as you have a tidy budget, if you dont your experience is only going to be one way.

Knows Mick McCarthy too lads.

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Originally Posted by Da Real Rover

He is alos a master manipulator, not only of the media but most of all with his own club fans.
I personally fell hook line and sinker for his spoofing forked tongue, the Bohs fans at the start seemed to welcome his spoofing and now I see the Dundalk lads buying into the siege mentality he creates around himself, the team and the clubs identity.

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A master manipulator of the media? I think he is diabolical in this area! Just check out Neil Ahern of the Indo (who is actually from Dundalk) as an example of the negative and biased reporting, which I have no doubt is directly related to his views on Sean Connor.

I agree with you about the siege mentality stuff (he is certainly not unique with that tactic), but check out Oriel Web and you will find very mixed views on him in this area from Dundalk fans

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Originally Posted by Da Real Rover

I know lads who played under him and staff who worked udner him and I honestly dont know one of them to have a good word to say about him, hes just a cu'nt to put it simply.

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You don't seem to include Chris Turner, Liam Burns, Darren Mansaram or Harpal Singh who followed him from Sligo to Rovers to Dundalk; Michael McGinlay and Thomas Heary played for him at Bohs too before signing for him at Dundalk

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Originally Posted by Da Real Rover

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As for him finding talent?
As stated before the talent that continously comes into our club has got sweet fukc all to do with Sean Connor, its generally speaking from the work and loyalty of Cassidy, it really irritates me that Connor gets credit for all our signings. He even had the audacity to try and poach Cassidy for his future job at Bohs.

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Maybe Gerry Cassidy is an excellent scout, but in most clubs it's the manager he signs and releases players, and I understand from your previous posts on this subject that Sean Connor was ultimately responsible for this at Sligo too.

Sean Connor record in identifying and signing players at Sligo, Bohemians and Dundalk is excellent.

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Originally Posted by Ezeikial

Gerry Cassidy's record in identifying players is excellent. Sean Connor's proficiency of dragging those same players to Bohemians and Dundalk is also excellent.

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Fixed your post.

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

Connor leaves and we are getting toward having as many managers in recent times as red cards this season...but he achieved what was needed and kept us up. The opinions in general of both Sligo and Bohs fans are at the extreme end of the dislike of the guy, in Dundalk there is mixed opinion! He is certainly not deserving of the total disregard that he is given by Rovers and Bohs! If he decided to move on well so be it! as long as we retain core members of the squad assembled this season...he is some 'character' though:p

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The fact that there is mixed opinions about him in Dundalk says it all really , Even when things are going well on the pitch people still have cause to dislike him

Just don't let anyone you knew rent a house to him ;)

Decent wee manager, but his attitude stinks IMO.

I was undecided when Sean Connor joined Dundalk though publicly I would of approved of his appointment and adopted a wait and see approach. We had a topsy turvy season to say the least with many highs of beating Drogheda, Cork, Derry and what is looking like a 5th place finish too in our first season back in the premier league after a 7 year absence. Only 3 players where kept from the previous years squad so Sean Connor deserves 99.9% of the credit for keeping us up. Under him we signed great players like Chris Turner, Michael Daly, Sean Kelly and Michale mcGowan to a certain extent (more joe miller than SC)
On the flipside which i feel is just as important is that the discipline in the club stinks (which is instilled by the manager), the signing of lose cannons like O'Callaghan, Rogers and Collins and not getting anything worthwhile out of them and signing players like McGinley and Creaney and they never seeing 20 mins over the course of the season. The promise of a Barcalona friendly which originally was prompted by the manager,brought the board to allow connor to sign more players and when the Barca friendly feel like a damp squid they had to ask players who had just signed to take a pay cut. Also as well I have heard Steve Bruce being mentioned and another one was his buddy Martin O'Neill.

Some of the managers antics this season have made me wish for another club to come in for his services. Hopefully he will go to Grennock and we can get a manager with a bit of humility.

BTW I think seanie is bluffing with this to get a better budget for next season. I hope the board call his bluff.

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Originally Posted by SligoBrewer

Knows Mick McCarthy too lads.

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Don't forget Chris Coleman lads, another good buddy of his.

Very hard one to call.I think he probably deserves another year as he has under promised and over delivered this year.But i am sort of nervous as to where things might end up if he is given another contract.From all that i have been told he is by all means a poor coach and man manager,Joe Miller getting hugged by Tiernan Mulvenna after his 1st premier goal summed up who the players seemed to respect.
Then there is the constant bad press our club is recieving week in week out due to lack of discipline,and the fact he seems to be more "one of the lads" ,than a figure of authority in the dressing room.

Overall i think i am with Jinxy in that i sort of hope he gets the Morton job and we get a more level headed manager in to keep us in the right direction both on and off the pitch.

Sean Connor had some very good players at the Showgrounds, but I feel it wasn’t until he or they moved on that they started showing their talents.

Gavin Peers
Played right back under Sean, now one of the best Centre Halves in the league

Chris Turner
Never got a settled centre midfield role with Rovers until Cook took over. In fact the last time we were in a semi final, Sean played him at left back. At least now Sean realises that Chris is a fine centre midfielder.

Faz
Sean had him in the middle of the park, he only really shone for us when Leo Tierney played him up front.

Adam Hughes – Sean saw him as a right winger, when moved into middle of the park by Cook, he became a threat and scored more goals

Raf Cretaro
We lost Raf to Galway thanks to Seanie boy - this season he has 20+ goals

Gerry Carr
Gerry couldn’t tolerate Sean, ended up leaving but thankfully returned to create a great partnership with Cook

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Originally Posted by showgies

Sean Connor had some very good players at the Showgrounds, but I feel it wasn’t until he or they moved on that they started showing their talents.

Gavin Peers

Chris Turner

Faz

Adam Hughes

Raf Cretaro

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So First Division champions followed by 5th place in the premier league - I suppose Champions League was the realistic 2 year target for Sligo when Sean Connor was appointed to this first division club? If only he could have got more from the players he was "given"!

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Originally Posted by Ezeikial

So First Division champions followed by 5th place in the premier league - I suppose Champions League was the realistic 2 year target for Sligo when Sean Connor was appointed to this first division club? If only he could have got more from the players he was "given"!

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Sean didn't make his two year target cos he buggered off just after we lost the semi final of the FAI Cup

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Originally Posted by Ezeikial

So First Division champions followed by 5th place in the premier league - I suppose Champions League was the realistic 2 year target for Sligo when Sean Connor was appointed to this first division club? If only he could have got more from the players he was "given"!

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That's not at all what showgies was getting at. He was stating how those players came into their own after Connor left and started to show their real abilities.

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Originally Posted by brianw82

That's not at all what showgies was getting at. He was stating how those players came into their own after Connor left and started to show their real abilities.

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I understood what he was saying and it's possible that he has a point - but when there is an absense of any semblance of credit for the results Connor clearly achieved at Sligo, it is difficult to treat the opinion as balanced or objective.

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Originally Posted by Ezeikial

I understood what he was saying and it's possible that he has a point - but when there is an absense of any semblance of credit for the results Connor clearly achieved at Sligo, it is difficult to treat the opinion as balanced or objective.

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In fairness a couple of the Rovers fans points about him on this thread have been objective bout the guy. For what its worth i think the guy did a decent job and credit goes to any fella who talked himself into a budget to get us out of the rut that was the graveyard and that we would probably not in a Cup Final or had a european adventure this year if it wasnt for him.

I think most of the hatred for him in Sligo tends to come from the manner in which he left the club. I remember on the Tuesday night in Derry after we got thumped in the semi-final replay and youd think by the fellas actions he was here for years to come but by the Thursday he was gone. Also the way he acted in actively promoting himself for the Bohs job in the weeks up until he left was disgusting. I remember having breakfeast in Sligo on the Saturday morning of a cup quarter-final against Killester in 06 and seeing two Rovers players eating their breakfest over the papers with quizzical looks on their faces and the main story bout the game was Sean Connor questioning why he hadnt beem approached bout the Bohs job, he had the best credentials etc.....Now what sort of message is that supposed to send to your players, the fans, the whole town in fact on the morning of what at the time was one of our biggest games in years. That was about 2 months before he left and needless to say we drew 0-0 that night and scraped thru the replay against a non-league team. I think that story jus about sums the guy up.
Glad he was here but glad hes gone if that makes any sense!!Out of interest what do Dundalk fans reckon the majority would be for him to stay or go??

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Originally Posted by 1st time post

Out of interest what do Dundalk fans reckon the majority would be for him to stay or go??

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I wouldn`t say there would be a huge outcry if he did get the job in Morton. He has done exactly (and to be fair to him) what he was hired to do with us, to keep us in the division.

Personally speaking, I think he has done ok, but I also think we as a team/club, can do a lot better performance wise next season, I`m unsure if he is the man to take us to this level.

Maybe I`m a bit harsh after one season, so we`ll see how this develops.