Originally Posted by
WoodquayBoy
Most think he is doing a good job with the resources at his disposal, but the usual few are getting worked up about how fixed he seems to be in his team selection, and his refusal to give some of the younger lads a go. I can see both points - young lads might not be good enough, but on the other hand, the performances of the shower who are playing now are not exactly up to scratch either. On balance, though, those giving off now forget how close we came in January to not actually having a team to moan about.
The poor start is down to decisions taken by the board around four years ago when they threw a whole pile of cash at Tony Cousins. We are paying for that folly ever since with massive debts and creditors all over the place, meaning a lot of our money has to go towards clearing up that mess. As a result, there is no meaningful budget there to bring in any quality, while we regularly lose our best players to other clubs and, this season, a couple of promising young local lads turned down approaches from United, with Daryl Horgan going to Sligo and Rory Gaffney staying with Mervue. At least now, with the fans running the club, we are tackling that debt and trying to rebuild bridges locally, which to be honest has to be the priority. When that is under control, we can look at bolstering the squad, but I imagine that this year we'll at least finish above Drogheda, and as long as we avoid relegaiton, this will have been the most successful season in the club's history - going from no licence and being booted out of the league to retaining top flight status.