Dundalk Board astonishingly call time on Gill's reign

This season’s League of Ireland circus astonishingly continues apace this evening with the news that John Gill will almost certainly, and incredibly, be sacked as manager of First Division champions, Dundalk. The mind-boggling move comes just three days after the Lilywhites ended a seven season exile from top flight football by claiming promotion last Saturday night.

Relations between the Board and Gill had deteriorated in recent weeks following back-to-back defeats to Longford Town and Wexford Youths at the beginning of last month. Key to the breakdown in communications was the fact that the Board met the players on their own prior to the Sporting Fingal match four weeks ago, where it is reported that the players were given the opportunity to voice any displeasure they had with the management team. No complaints were forthcoming, however, with his position undermined, Gill and the Board’s good relationship crumbled quickly.

Showing a united front, the Dundalk squad sent a clear sign to the Board that they were fully behind Gill by beating two of their title rivals, Sporting Fingal and Waterford United, in the space of just eight days, with a full squad and management huddle ensuing after the final whistle of both matches. A defeat at home to Limerick 37 soon after appeared fatal, however, despite battling back to win the title last weekend, scoring 13 goals in their final two games in the process, Dundalk are now left without a manager and have no players under contract.

Such talents as David Cassidy are now freely available for other clubs to talk to, with a new boss not set to be appointed for at least ten days. Tomorrow (Wednesday), the manager’s position will incredibly, just three days after an amazing league triumph, be advertised in Dundalk’s two local papers, the Dundalk Democrat and the Argus.

To add to this incredulous breaking news, Gill has been informed that he is more than welcome to re-apply for his position and to go through the same interview process as any other candidates who show an interest in the job.

During Gill’s three-year reign at Dundalk, the Dubliner led the club to two promotions. In his first season, the Lilywhites were robbed of their rightful place in the Premier Division as they failed to meet new criteria set down by the FAI. Last year, after leading the table for 22 weeks, an injury-ravaged squad eventually finished third, losing a playoff to Finn Harps at the end of the season. However, Gill assembled a third squad this term and has led Dundalk back to the top tier of Irish football for the first time since 2002. However, such a feat has, unbelievably, been deemed a failure in the eyes of the Oriel Park Board.

Reports this evening have also confirmed that the club have refused to give any of the players a bonus for winning the league. Whether or not this was discussed prior to Saturday’s match or earlier in the season is unknown, however, a bonus was surely the least the players could expect having led the club out of the doldrums. Despite a cheque of €60,000 winging its way to the border club, however, the players will be left without a penny of it, which is expected to leave a sour taste in the mouth amongst the squad, the majority of whom are now not expected to return for the club’s Premier Division campaign in 2009.

This weekend's planned celebrations in Dundalk are also set to be badly hit by the absence of Gill and his league winning squad, with the players expected to boycott Friday's Player of the Year awards night in protest at the treatment by the club of both Gill and the players.

extratime.ie will bring you any further developments on this breaking news.