Quotehttps://m.independent.ie/sport/socce...-41610031.html
Formal approach made for Bradley….
I’d go for Pat Fenlon as technical director and interim manager to allow stability and a chance to take time in recruiting new manager ….. sounds like perfect succession planning ….. where could it go wrong ( Man U fans only may reply)
https://m.independent.ie/sport/socce...-41610031.html
Formal approach made for Bradley….
Would Fenlon take it? He seems to be enjoying life at Linfield.Originally Posted by Calcio Jack
Can understand Bradley wanting to take the job to an extent, he's done all he can in Tallaght really, and won't be seen as 'progressing' unless he can get out of a European group stage, which is exceedingly difficult.
Conversely, I doubt it would pay all that much more than his current job, and it sounds like it's a tough enough gig, dragging a team up with near the bottom of the table, 31 points off the promotion playoff spot.
Does he have kids at all? Another thing to consider. I know Kenny didn't move his family over when he left Derry for Dunfermline, must have been a difficult call.
Would be a right pain in the arse for Shamrock Rovers if he was to go, but as mentioned, it's likely to be the way with the summer/winter differences. Wouldn't like to hope he wouldn't take a couple of the players with him as well.
He would need to get to a group stage first !!!! That would be a huge achievement in itself, only happened 3 times in Irish football.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
No brainer for Bradley. Better money, and probably a long term deal. There is also 48 teams in his division and below. Plenty of other oportunites for him once he is there, and plus would be the front runner for any job here once there is an opening and he wants to come back to Ireland. For loyalty, dont think for one second Rovers would show him any loyalty if the results went arseways. They have proven that before with banners.
As for who would replace him ... who knows. The manager situation at Rovers was a super big mess before Bradley (After O'Neill). My guess is Rovers would appoint from inside (good luck with that says both Dundalk and Cork). If I was them, probably David Healy would have the same experience needed.
If they go with a 'rookie' manager, I'm not sure it would work. Patience is needed for someone to learn the job (like what Bradley got), it would be hard for the expectant champions to give that. Switching from a succesful manager is hard, like what Rovers experienced in 2012, or United in England (or Dundalk or Cork here). I wonder if ex-Internationals would be interested like Keith Andrews or John O'Shea (but personnally wouldnt go down that route).
Final point, the league has a lot to offer for upcoming managers. Paul Cook, Ian Baraclough, Micheal O'Neill, and Stephan Kenny have all forged decent careers thanks to LOI.
is he not on some kind of permanent number at rovers? was that not the talk before?
Assistant could often be in line for it (worked for years and years at UCD in terms of succession). So that's Glenn Cronin - would he be an option? (If he didn't move with Bradley of course)
If UCD had to have been anyway competitive this year, I would have put my money on Andrew Myler if Rovers were to look for an Irish manager outside of their club.
You’d imagine it’s a win win for Bradley. If he goes and is successful then he’ll further his career in an even higher league either through promotion or getting plucked by a bigger team. If he fails well he’d still be in demand here or in a lower league in England as he now has a proven league winning pedigree.
I’m not fully in tune with Rovers set up but I’d imagine if McPhail went with him then that would be a real kicker. Maybe the rovers fans here can give a better opinion on his potential loss?
Don't confuse a section (albeit a very vocal section!) of the support with the board or the entire support base. Plenty of us supported him all the way through and that includes the board. But it wasn't about loyalty. It was about believing in what he and the team were building even when results were going arseways. It was also about not wanting to cut and run early as we had multiple times previous with Fenlon, Crolly and Kenny to be fair! Either way he's been here plenty long to have repaid the patience he rightly got.
Yeah I'd imagine all 3 will go and all 3 will be huge losses. I don't know all the details obviously but if you look at what we've done with transfers I think a lot of that is down to McPhail. He's well connected for a start so that helped in bringing in players but I get the sense he really wanted to make a mark on how irish players are viewed when clubs come calling for them. There was a good interview with Bradley and McPahil (I think it was LoI central) back in 2019 after the cup final. McPhail spoke a lot about how they showed Man City around the training ground, went into detail about Bazunu's schedule etc and were able to get the valuation they wanted.
I see wesso has left Cambridge, wonder does he fancy a swansong at Damien duffs shelbourne
Thats what Game on was saying earlier on! I am surprised he left Cambridge as he had a crackin two yrs with Cambridge!
Gary Cronin is he the right man to manage Longford Town?
In fairness hes 40 and didnt play as much this season.
Lincoln City, to my knowledge have never been above L1 / Div 3 in England, apart from when they first joined the league & there were only two divisions at that time, (talking 1800s here). They have fallen out of the league plenty, and were non league again as recently as 2017.
So Championship promotion isn't the job description here IMO & if it is, Bradley is a strange appointment, the overperforming underdog tight budget provincial club skillset required wouldn't be comparable to his Rovers number.
They are clever in the loan market recently, which can be contacts led, so he won't have that in England to offer them.
It does give rise to the question though, what would success at Lincoln City be ? Because keeping them comfortably in L1 wasn't enough to keep their most recent manager. So what are they expecting of Bradley ?
Stephen Kenny Saviour, Leader, Winner, An Autobiography - In All Good Bookstores Now
Its will be a step down in relative terms imo, certainly initially. Rovers are well down the road of implementing a long term plan and are more developed as a club. Its makes sense that Lincoln are looking at a team of key people that implemented the so far so good strategy at Rovers, rather than just a manager. There are examples above where clubs have changed managers multiple times with endless resources but failed, didnt see that often success is due to a group of people at a club, a coherent plan and not all about an individual.
It doesnt make it unattractive for Bradley and co, just that they would be starting over again and does Lincoln have the patience to stick with it - I dont think Bradley's stock as a manager is high enough yet to ride out a storm if very possible relegation battles happen.
I think the key to this for Lincoln is who Bradley can take with them and its a lot harder to turn the heads of others than it is for an ambitious young manager. If Bradley has real self belief then he wont be thinking that if he doesnt take this job he may not get another chance. Having said that, he doesnt seem to be a risk taker, plays the percentages rather than force things, so he could stick safely where he is. He is replaceable, other may not be easily and the real worry for Rovers is whether he goes after players he knows and trusts. They can be under contract but if they want to follow him they can force a move - player being made stay at a club can really derail things. Whether Lincoln have the money to target Rover's top players is another thing. They could pivot away from loan deals and toward cheaper (wages) imports which gets over the lack of contacts in England.
Bradley has charisma akin to Steve Staunton minus the accents so may not convince regardless of CV, which is daft in football terms, but the car salesman type with no CV worth talking about do get jobs.
The trouble for Bradley is that English football fans wont give him an ounce of credit for his achievements here. The moment anything goes slightly pear shaped the board of Lincoln will be accused of hiring an Irish no-mark. The average English person has no idea or interest to what goes on in the shores. That's from years of experience going to the UK watching a club in the lower leagues ranging from national league to League 1.
Will it?
Bigger average crowds than Rovers. More money (wage bill about £5m a year, which is way more than anything here). A better league. No Europe, but the FA Cup always offers the chance of a big game (like Arsenal in the quarters a few years back - and they'd beaten Ipswich, Burnley and Brighton to get that far). He mayn't be going for the title, but I don't think that makes it a step down. And I'm sure he'll be thinking if he does a good job as a young manager, then he could have clubs from a higher league interested.
It's hard to see it as anything other than a perfectly logical career step to be honest. Maybe it won't work, and English football management is a notoriously basket-case career option, but he's earned the right to give it a go.
league 1 is miles ahead of loi , can we stop pretending its a step down even from rovers.
Totally agree, and 100 percent do not understand people who hold this few. League of Ireland has definitly imporved in the last 20 years, but so has argubly the English leagues have imporved the most in the world in the same time.
The money in English football in phenomenal. Villareal, a champions league semi-finalist, have a smaller budget than Burnley. The amount of foreign talent that brings into the leagues, pushes English talent down, meaning a player who has the same relative talent in 2002 might be a playing at a top-level champioship team, would be now a League 1 player.
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