Mathews’ fear for former club
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Alan Mathews return to Cork ended in a 1-0 defeat as his new club Drogheda United remain bottom and still without a victory. However, speaking after the game, he was keen to speak about his fear for the Leesider's future rather than events on the pitch.
”I think when you look at the new regime that’s going on down here, unfortunately it looks like the club post-examinership doesn’t look like it has come through its' difficulties. It appears there are ongoing problems; the club has been in the papers during the season and in pre-season.
“My own situation is obviously taking legs and gone a different direction. I fear for the players here and the people running the club have already made reference to the fact that they’re inexperienced,” he said. “I just hope that the club grow and prosper despite how things have been and manifested over the last couple of months. I hope the players get the respect that they deserve because they’re good professionals who’ve come through a difficult time last year. As I’ve said, post-examinership companies are on a strong financial footing, it remains to be seen whether it goes like that here.”
The Drogheda boss will continue in the direction of courts, though, and his disgust after his dismissal was still clear to see. “Suffice to say, (Tom) Coughlan dismissed me in an inappropriate manner. It was the wrong way to do things in my opinion, as well as legal opinion. I’ll pursue the matter through the courts and that’ll sort itself out. I just fear for the longevity of this club and I hope the supporters, who deserve a good team to support, are treated with the respect and dignity they’ve shown. I’m sure things will earn themselves out.” Incidentally, Tom Coughlan was not at tonight's game.
Mathews won the Setanta Cup before his controversial sacking and still had kind words to say about the club's fanbase. After he emerged from the tunnel prior to the game, the 43-year-old received a rapturous applause from the 2000 plus crowd inside Turner’s Cross. “It has been well documented that I’ve enjoyed my time at Cork. I worked with terrific players and there are some very good people at the club. The supporters here are very knowledgeable, fair and they know their stuff. I left the club with silverware on the table and I was looking forward to coming back at some stage. Obviously after I had been let go, I didn’t realise I was coming back with Drogheda so quickly. It was nice to come back but it’s disappointing to go home with no points."
He then added: “I came down here and gave it my all and I think the supporters respected that. We stuck together during thick and thin. The manager here has inherited a very good bunch of players and they’ll stick together through thick and thin. I knew when I gave everything here and the supporters knew that. I look forward to coming back down here again.
On the game itself, despite taking positives from the defeat, Mathews was naturally disappointed with the loss. “Cork have got extra quality that gave them good possession in key areas. We gave away possession cheaply and they’ve punished us with the goal,” he stated. “They could have had maybe one or two early on. In the second half, I think we dominated possession and Dan Connor was called upon to keep them in the game. With this Cork team there’s a different mindset, perhaps.
“We had opportunities maybe to get a goal but we’ll take some positives from it and the way players rallied around in difficult circumstances to push them for the last 20 minutes or so. Overall, Cork’s quality gave them the edge. Had we got a draw, I’d have been delighted with it. If we got it, it would have been debatable whether it was deserved because Cork are a good side and they’ll go far this year.”
Still without a win, Mathews is just taking it one game at a time, simply stating: “We’ve to try and win on Friday.” The Co. Louth side have only managed to score twice in 540 minutes of football and look quite threadbare up front, but when asked about what he can do to improve it, his answer, with a wry smile was: “Tell me something I don’t know.”
”I think when you look at the new regime that’s going on down here, unfortunately it looks like the club post-examinership doesn’t look like it has come through its' difficulties. It appears there are ongoing problems; the club has been in the papers during the season and in pre-season.
“My own situation is obviously taking legs and gone a different direction. I fear for the players here and the people running the club have already made reference to the fact that they’re inexperienced,” he said. “I just hope that the club grow and prosper despite how things have been and manifested over the last couple of months. I hope the players get the respect that they deserve because they’re good professionals who’ve come through a difficult time last year. As I’ve said, post-examinership companies are on a strong financial footing, it remains to be seen whether it goes like that here.”
The Drogheda boss will continue in the direction of courts, though, and his disgust after his dismissal was still clear to see. “Suffice to say, (Tom) Coughlan dismissed me in an inappropriate manner. It was the wrong way to do things in my opinion, as well as legal opinion. I’ll pursue the matter through the courts and that’ll sort itself out. I just fear for the longevity of this club and I hope the supporters, who deserve a good team to support, are treated with the respect and dignity they’ve shown. I’m sure things will earn themselves out.” Incidentally, Tom Coughlan was not at tonight's game.
Mathews won the Setanta Cup before his controversial sacking and still had kind words to say about the club's fanbase. After he emerged from the tunnel prior to the game, the 43-year-old received a rapturous applause from the 2000 plus crowd inside Turner’s Cross. “It has been well documented that I’ve enjoyed my time at Cork. I worked with terrific players and there are some very good people at the club. The supporters here are very knowledgeable, fair and they know their stuff. I left the club with silverware on the table and I was looking forward to coming back at some stage. Obviously after I had been let go, I didn’t realise I was coming back with Drogheda so quickly. It was nice to come back but it’s disappointing to go home with no points."
He then added: “I came down here and gave it my all and I think the supporters respected that. We stuck together during thick and thin. The manager here has inherited a very good bunch of players and they’ll stick together through thick and thin. I knew when I gave everything here and the supporters knew that. I look forward to coming back down here again.
On the game itself, despite taking positives from the defeat, Mathews was naturally disappointed with the loss. “Cork have got extra quality that gave them good possession in key areas. We gave away possession cheaply and they’ve punished us with the goal,” he stated. “They could have had maybe one or two early on. In the second half, I think we dominated possession and Dan Connor was called upon to keep them in the game. With this Cork team there’s a different mindset, perhaps.
“We had opportunities maybe to get a goal but we’ll take some positives from it and the way players rallied around in difficult circumstances to push them for the last 20 minutes or so. Overall, Cork’s quality gave them the edge. Had we got a draw, I’d have been delighted with it. If we got it, it would have been debatable whether it was deserved because Cork are a good side and they’ll go far this year.”
Still without a win, Mathews is just taking it one game at a time, simply stating: “We’ve to try and win on Friday.” The Co. Louth side have only managed to score twice in 540 minutes of football and look quite threadbare up front, but when asked about what he can do to improve it, his answer, with a wry smile was: “Tell me something I don’t know.”
About Alan Smith
Alan Smith works as a sub-editor for the Guardian newspaper in London. Originally from Cork, he freelances for several other newspapers and websites. Follow him on twitter @alansmith90. View Full Profile