Roddy Collins leaves Waterford United

Waterford United have parted company with manager Roddy Collins after 18 months at the helm of the Blues, with the club lying in sixth position and with nothing left to play for as the season draws to a close.

The club announced his departure in an official statement both on their Facebook page and on their twitter account.

“Waterford United can confirm the departure of Roddy Collins as First team Manager with immediate effect.”

The club would like to thank Roddy for his efforts over the last 18 months and wish him the best of luck in the future.”

In his time at the club, Collins oversaw 44 league matches, in which Waterford United won 12, drew 6 and lost 26 games. He took over the reins of the club midway in May 2015 at a difficult time, with the club rooted to the bottom of the First Division. His first game in charge resulted in a 3-1 victory over newcomers Cabinteely. However, it would take another three months before Waterford registered their next win under Collins, and although the club would finish the season a point above Cabinteely in seventh, the Blues had only picked up four wins in his 18 league games in charge in 2015.

The 2016 season brought a lot of promise, as Collins brought in big name players such as David O'Leary, James O'Brien, Sean Byrne and veteran striker Philly Gorman. Back-to-back wins against UCD and Cabinteely, followed by a draw away to ex-club Athlone saw Collins' predictions of a promotion run suddenly looking possible, but an April period of four straight defeats in the league and a 7-0 League Cup humiliation against Munster rivals Cork City washed some reality back into the Waterford faithful.

Waterford again produced back-to-back victories against UCD and Cabinteely again in May, before ending the first half of the season with a 3-0 victory over sorry Athlone Town. The players returned from the mid-season break with a good 2-0 away win against Shelbourne. However, another run of four straight defeats, meant Waterford United's chances of reaching the playoffs were all but dead by the end of July.

Waterford picked up two more victories at the beginning of August, beating Athlone Town and Shelbourne at home, but since then they've lost four games and drawn the other, with the club perched safely in sixth place and very likely to remain there.

Collins leaves the club at a difficult junction. In the past few weeks the club released numerous senior players, while most recently they've only been able to field a match-day squad of 13 players.

Roddy Collins, 55, has previously managed Bohemians, Carlisle United, Dublin City, Shamrock Rovers, Floriana, Cork City, Monaghan United, Athlone Town and Derry City.

In 2001, Collins led Bohs to a league title and followed that up with winning the FAI Cup. He also guided Athlone Town to the 2013 First Division title, before moving to Derry City, only for his spell at the Brandywell to come to an abrupt end a few months later. His colourful spell at Carlisle United was the subject of a TV documentary called “The Rod Squad”.