Caulfield - Cork City need to be in Europe

Speaking to extratime.ie at Friday’s SSE Airtricity League launch Cork City boss John Caulfield was cautiously optimistic ahead of the start of this season’s Premier Division.

“Hopefully we’ll be at the top and it would be fantastic for us and the club if we could win a trophy but everybody knows it’s very difficult to win trophies in this league at the same time I’m confident we can remain competitive and that we’ll remain in the top three”

Cork City’s all time record goal scorer was also quick to admit that their preparations for the new season hadn’t been ideal, for example the cancellation of their friendly against Wexford Youths, but they were making the best of their situation.

“Things have been going ok, I’m like all managers really we’re waiting for the season to get started, the weather hasn’t been great, the pitches have been very heavy and we haven’t had a lot of quality games but the seasons only a week away and that won’t matter once it all gets started.”

Speaking about his transfer business in the off-season, it seems that Caulfield felt his best business was keeping a hold of the core of players that he led to second place last season while remaining coy about the high profile signings of former Manchester United midfielder Liam Miller and hometown favourite Alan Bennett as well as the arrival of Kieran Djillai and Karl Sheppard.

“I kept most of the guys I wanted which is very important and I brought in a few more lads that can make us better, we have a bit more strength in depth and thats really what we wanted to do.

“Time will tell if they will bring their experience with them, we definitely have a better squad than last year but it’s crucial that the lads gel together as some times you bring in players and they just don’t gel, they are settling in well at the moment and our aim is that they make us better but that remains to be seen and time will tell when the games start again.”

When asked about the full-time set up and wage control that has been talked about and admired by the media in recent times (including a recent edition of the extratime.ie sportscast) Caufield admitted that this is the way he demanded things to be.

“It’s brilliant we’ve been training every morning, every day, doing it properly with proper professional training. It means the standard of our league is high when you have the likes of Dundalk, ourselves, St Pats, Sligo and Shamrock Rovers all training full time.”

“We’re working off the same budget as last season that won’t change, we haven’t gone over budget that’s the way it is, we have to it’s the ethos of the club to stick to the budget and try and bring our own players through.”

After finishing second the Rebels have won a place in the Europa League and although Caulfield is excited for European nights in Turners Cross that will surely remind him of his own playing days, he is also trying to put it to the back of his mind and not let it distract his squad from important league assignments.

“The whole aim is to get into Europe and we did it, Cork City need to be in Europe and we’re excited for the tie but that’s half way into the season and there’s a lot of soccer to be played between now and then.”