So has the club said anything officially or is this just another rumour?
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So has the club said anything officially or is this just another rumour?
I presume now that the manager is sorted though we will see plenty of movement in the next week or so with last seasons players. Players are probably annoyed they haven't been sorted sooner but there is nothing to say O'Leary and Tracey can't be sorted before they head off to Norway. Wasn't it already said O'Leary had an offer but was waiting to hear who the manager was before signing.
Gamble, Kelly and Bradley are a good place to start. If in the next week or so Purcell, Shane Tracey, David O'Leary and Gaffney are signed and confirmed we will have the back bone of a very strong team. Add a few more new faces and a couple more from last year like Corie and Brosnan and we are looking good.
I believe O'Leary's offer was poor, might be something to do with his age and that, make him a poor offer and show your intent to sign him kind of thing.
I heard a strong rumour from a mate of mine that Longford signed Corie. Was expecting it to be announced by now, but still nothing, so maybe not so true.
If Gaffneys deal is agreed and not signed yet, I'll personally bring it to Galway for him to sign it. :-)
And, I don't think anyone would begrudge Shane Tracy if he looked for mad money and got it, he should have been high priority to sign.
If the manager is announced this week it will have been eight weeks, one of which was Christmas week.
Which is roughly the same amount of time it took the club to appoint Pat Scully.
Here's what Pat O'Sullivan said on November 15th:
Quote:
We will take our time to find the best candidate for Limerick and that’s what we’ll be doing.
We won’t be doing something hasty as we might find ourselves in the position whereby we don’t have the right guy. If we take our time, we’ll give ourselves the best chance of getting the right person to fill Pat’s shoes.
I hope this isnt true as last year i felt corie had a very good second half of the season. He and paddy were very solid when we needed them to be and also his versatility throughout the season was very important to us getting promoted. Hope he stays.
What I was told was that "he got sick of waiting. If the club offered him a contract then he'd have signed, but he had no contact from them, got annoyed waiting, so signed with Longford after interest from a couple of others"
Same situation as the majority of the squad I suppose.
Take out any bias you have for Limerick, and ask yourself, would you sign? I know if I was Dublin based, and had offers from Sligo, Shamrock Rovers, Limerick and St.pats, Limerick would be my 4th choice. Even if they were offering me €200 more per week, I don't think I'd fancy travelling that distance 3 or 4 times a week. Then add in all the instability there seems looking in from the outside, he'd be mad to sign.
There would obviously be clubs a head of us in the pecking order, thats why down the years teams from outside of Dublin have always had to offer more to get certain players. It's just something the club will have to live with for the moment anyway. If somehow we were offering for example €200 more then it would be a very big reason for a lot of players to come to us instead, we may also offer better bonuses or a longer deal. Stability goes a long way too. If players hear from current Limerick players that the wages are always paid on time every week it stands to the club too that and the possibility of longer contracts. Bradley is a perfect example, good pay and a two year deal convinced him down here a head of other clubs.
Na, sure travelling to limerick 3 or 4 times a week, you'd easily spend that on petrol. You'd have a point if they got petrol money as well, but I know a lot of them don't. Then factor in travelling a 4 hour round trip 3 - 4 times a week and its less attractive.
A lot of players might like the stability, over someone like Dundalk who went close to the wall last year, but lets be honest, if Pats, Rovers and Sligo (3 relatively stable) were in for you, you'd more than likely take that.
Plus, I think with the general atmosphere among the players, I think the players would be telling potential new recruits that they've had problems negotiating contracts, or that the club treated them in such a way and that. Doesn't paint the most positive picture for them.