Guthrie ready to get going with St Pat's
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St Patricks Athletic defender Shane Guthrie spoke to Extratime about his excitement of embarking on his first season with the Inchicore club.
The 25-year-old joined from Galway United during the off-season and insists that he had no hesitation in choosing St Pat's once he heard from manager Pete Mahon, despite receiving interest from other Premier Division clubs.
"Pete [Mahon] is well known in the game, great ambition, brilliant trainer and brilliant one-to-one and having talked to Pete and John [Gill, assistant manager] about their ambitions for the club this year, the players they were bringing in and the players obviously that they kept, St Pats are a massive club and that really made my mind up," Guthrie told Extratime.
Guthrie is among a raft of new players to join the club, including Ian Bermingham, Dave Mulcahy and Conor Sinnott, and knows that they collectively need to get off to a good start to the season.
"If everyone pitches together and try to get off to a good start in the league, that’ll build confidence and hopefully we can build on that and move on from there," he said.
St Pat's narrowly escaped relegation last season, and Guthrie, who has experienced relegation with Cobh Ramblers, is hoping to steer clear from the drop zone this year around.
"No-one likes a relegation battle, we relegated when I was at Cobh, it was hard to take and I’m sure the lads from last year won’t want to be down there again," he stated.
With all the new faces, Guthrie knows how difficult it will be to remain in the side week after week and he certainly will not be taking his place for granted.
"First of all, you have to try get into the team, it’s very competitive, everyone wants to play for St Pats," said the former Ireland U-23 international.
"No-one is going to sit in the stands or be a sub every week so that makes training more competitive. The first thing is to try nail down a place and if I get that then trying to win a cup and try finish in the top 4 or top 5 this season would be great."
Guthrie doesn’t believe, however, that the drop in wages that certain clubs have offered this season will result in a lack of quality in the league this season.
"Money isn’t what it used to be, but people still want to play football. They are going to go out every week and give 100% to progress in their careers," he said.
The 25-year-old joined from Galway United during the off-season and insists that he had no hesitation in choosing St Pat's once he heard from manager Pete Mahon, despite receiving interest from other Premier Division clubs.
"Pete [Mahon] is well known in the game, great ambition, brilliant trainer and brilliant one-to-one and having talked to Pete and John [Gill, assistant manager] about their ambitions for the club this year, the players they were bringing in and the players obviously that they kept, St Pats are a massive club and that really made my mind up," Guthrie told Extratime.
Guthrie is among a raft of new players to join the club, including Ian Bermingham, Dave Mulcahy and Conor Sinnott, and knows that they collectively need to get off to a good start to the season.
"If everyone pitches together and try to get off to a good start in the league, that’ll build confidence and hopefully we can build on that and move on from there," he said.
St Pat's narrowly escaped relegation last season, and Guthrie, who has experienced relegation with Cobh Ramblers, is hoping to steer clear from the drop zone this year around.
"No-one likes a relegation battle, we relegated when I was at Cobh, it was hard to take and I’m sure the lads from last year won’t want to be down there again," he stated.
With all the new faces, Guthrie knows how difficult it will be to remain in the side week after week and he certainly will not be taking his place for granted.
"First of all, you have to try get into the team, it’s very competitive, everyone wants to play for St Pats," said the former Ireland U-23 international.
"No-one is going to sit in the stands or be a sub every week so that makes training more competitive. The first thing is to try nail down a place and if I get that then trying to win a cup and try finish in the top 4 or top 5 this season would be great."
Guthrie doesn’t believe, however, that the drop in wages that certain clubs have offered this season will result in a lack of quality in the league this season.
"Money isn’t what it used to be, but people still want to play football. They are going to go out every week and give 100% to progress in their careers," he said.
About Brendan White
Brendan White is Extratime News Editor and is responsible for the news section of Extratime.ie. Brendan also covers matches in Dublin and Waterford. You can contact Brendan on twitter @whitebrendan. View Full Profile