Henderson clarifies club's position

Waterford United manager Stephen Henderson has moved to clarify his position and that of his club after recent inaccurate details published after his club were awarded a First Division licence for the coming season.

“I would have had no hesitation in standing down as my goal is to get WUFC into the Premier Division, not keep them out of it”, Henderson has said.

Media reports had suggested that the Blues could have been invited to the Premier Division with the demise of Sporting Fingal and the licensing problems encountered by Galway United, but Henderson was quick to set the record straight. Henderson stressed that his club were never invited into the Premier Division and were behind Monaghan United in the reckoning for a Premier Division place.

“Clubs were informed at the start of the season that the losing team contesting the play-offs would be invited to play in the Premier Division should any club in the division fail licensing criteria. This obviously meant Monaghan United were invited to replace Galway. We were never invited as Mons received their Premier Licence and the rest is history.”

Dublin-born Henderson also admitted that he would have stepped down in the event of the club being invited to the Premier Division, as an A Licence coach would have been required under licensing criteria.

“In the event that Monaghan United failed in their licence application, I personally informed our board and the FAI that I would stand down with immediate effect”, Henderson said. “WUFC have two A Licence coaches employed at the club. This would have allowed the club to promote from within or hire an alternative person leaving the club in a position to take their rightful place in Ireland’s top tier.”

“The FAI licensing department refused WUFC a Premier Division licence on the basis I had not completed the UEFA A Licence last year, hence indicating I was not qualified to coach in the Premier Division. Due to illness I was unable to attend certain modules being run by the coaching department while also missing a match for Waterford United at the same time, for the same reasons.”

“With the help of the FAI’s coaching department it is my intention to sit these modules as soon as possible and prevent this type scenario repeating its self again.”

Henderson also confirmed that he had not received any dispensation over his last two seasons with the club. “It was reported in a local paper that I had received special dispensation to manage in the league for the last 2 seasons. I have never received any such dispensations”, he said.

With the club set to field an ‘A’ Championship side this season, along with ladies teams to go with the newly formed underage academy, Henderson was full of praise for the work being done at the club, and particularly Chairman John O’Sullivan and the management committee, while also stressing that the club will always come first to him.

“I work very closely with our Chairman John O’Sullivan and the board of directors in terms of how we run the club. We have a budget we can afford and stick to it rigidly, our bills are always paid. We have top class training facilities and we have started our young blues academy. We have started visiting schools in the region as part of us becoming a more community based Football Club.”

“These are only some of the improvements our board have made. Irish football needs people like John O’Sullivan and these kind of decisions will make him and others like him run a mile from LoI and then where will these clubs be.”