Time to reverse the trend
Credit:
I don’t know where my Waterford United team are placed in the league mainly because I am too embarrassed to look at the league table at this particular moment in time. A run of three 1-0 defeats has left us off the pace but we have plenty of time to reverse that trend and will work hard to do just that.
So, what is it like being the manager of a team who are under achieving? You learn a lot about yourself, it makes you more determined to succeed. You develop a thick skin quickly. It makes you more protective of your players and staff and even though the board of directors at WUFC are my bosses I feel protective of them because at this moment in time I am not producing results that makes running WUFC easy for them.
I accept full responsibility for our current league position and I accept all the criticism that comes with that responsibility as every manager should. I make myself available to anybody who wants to discuss issues that they have, but I do this in the hope these people back off the other members of the club.
The hardest part of my job at this moment in time is to stop the players from listening to the negative comments that come with us underperforming. We need to develop a siege mentality ignore the negatives and embrace the positives.
Young players have to understand it is part and parcel of modern day football to be criticised and have their parentage questioned by supporters, It is how they handle these criticisms that will ultimately determine how far they will go in the game.
I am not unique in saying that I hate losing, I am a competitive person by nature and I try to surround myself with likeminded people. There are reasons why we have not started as well as we would have liked but it seems football is the only sport in the world where plausible reasons are deemed excuses, it goes without saying we are close to fixing what we think is wrong.
Have I made mistakes to date? Of course I have. A mistake made is a lesson learned, some mistakes can be rectified quicker than others and I have genuinely learned a lot about myself and others over the last few weeks which I believe has made me a better manager and a better person. I am more determined than ever to be successful with WUFC and the lessons I have learned over the last month will help me achieve that success.
Last year I was doing my A licence and I got to know James Gallagher very well. He is great bloke who was enjoying his work at Finn Harps. I like many others was shocked to see him been released from his job last week. I am sure Harps had their reasons and it is none of my business why they let James go, so it would be disrespectful of me to comment on the club but James is a friend of mine and is someone I can comment on.
Is it a plausible reason that the matches Harps lost was when James best players were injured or suspended? Is it a plausible reason James changed formation to suit the players available to him? Is it a plausible reason the Harps squad is small because of financial restraints and their location? Is it a plausible reason that because the squad is so small they would always struggle when four or five of their senior players were missing?
When James had his best 11 playing they got two great draws against promotion hopefuls Limerick and Monaghan, and were unlucky not to win both games. Are these plausible reasons or excuses for indifferent form? James was doing great and he won’t be out of football for long be south or north of the border and I wish him all the best.
So, what is it like being the manager of a team who are under achieving? You learn a lot about yourself, it makes you more determined to succeed. You develop a thick skin quickly. It makes you more protective of your players and staff and even though the board of directors at WUFC are my bosses I feel protective of them because at this moment in time I am not producing results that makes running WUFC easy for them.
I accept full responsibility for our current league position and I accept all the criticism that comes with that responsibility as every manager should. I make myself available to anybody who wants to discuss issues that they have, but I do this in the hope these people back off the other members of the club.
The hardest part of my job at this moment in time is to stop the players from listening to the negative comments that come with us underperforming. We need to develop a siege mentality ignore the negatives and embrace the positives.
Young players have to understand it is part and parcel of modern day football to be criticised and have their parentage questioned by supporters, It is how they handle these criticisms that will ultimately determine how far they will go in the game.
I am not unique in saying that I hate losing, I am a competitive person by nature and I try to surround myself with likeminded people. There are reasons why we have not started as well as we would have liked but it seems football is the only sport in the world where plausible reasons are deemed excuses, it goes without saying we are close to fixing what we think is wrong.
Have I made mistakes to date? Of course I have. A mistake made is a lesson learned, some mistakes can be rectified quicker than others and I have genuinely learned a lot about myself and others over the last few weeks which I believe has made me a better manager and a better person. I am more determined than ever to be successful with WUFC and the lessons I have learned over the last month will help me achieve that success.
Last year I was doing my A licence and I got to know James Gallagher very well. He is great bloke who was enjoying his work at Finn Harps. I like many others was shocked to see him been released from his job last week. I am sure Harps had their reasons and it is none of my business why they let James go, so it would be disrespectful of me to comment on the club but James is a friend of mine and is someone I can comment on.
Is it a plausible reason that the matches Harps lost was when James best players were injured or suspended? Is it a plausible reason James changed formation to suit the players available to him? Is it a plausible reason the Harps squad is small because of financial restraints and their location? Is it a plausible reason that because the squad is so small they would always struggle when four or five of their senior players were missing?
When James had his best 11 playing they got two great draws against promotion hopefuls Limerick and Monaghan, and were unlucky not to win both games. Are these plausible reasons or excuses for indifferent form? James was doing great and he won’t be out of football for long be south or north of the border and I wish him all the best.
