Love him or loathe him, Roddy is getting it right

Whether you love him or you loathe him, Roddy Collins remains one of the biggest characters in the League of Ireland.   
 

It’s 13 years now since the first time he sat in a dugout at Bohemians as manager and after being at almost as many clubs as Rory McIlroy carries in his bag, he now looks in a great position to upset even more people by bringing his Monaghan United side up to the top table next season. 
 

Many of his detractors are praying that Monaghan slip up between now and the end of the season and don't get promoted, but whatever your opinion of the Dubliner, it's hard to argue that he has the side getting the results that really matter. 
 

Last Friday's win away to Shelbourne has put them in a brilliant position to go up and travelling to what, I suppose, some of you would call his former club Cork City tomorrow night, another win would put them as definite favourites to go up. 
 

Nobody has ever doubted that Roddy talks the talk, but there are still many doubters that say he doesn't walk the walk, living solely off the back of that double with Bohs that he incessantly brings up.
 

On the other hand, he has struggled at his other clubs - Carlisle United and Shamrock Rovers both went down, before the disaster at Cork City saw him on his bike before the team even played a competitive game (although he will tell you that was out of his hands).
 

But what he has achieved in such a short spell at Monaghan is something even the anti-Roddy brigade must give him a smidgeon of credit for.
 

I remember speaking to him back at the end of March after his harsh criticism of current Cork boss Tommy Dunne and at the time he declared that Monaghan would NOT get promoted this season.
 

“I don’t think we’ll be promoted this year, not with the depleted squad we have. I’ll be looking to rebuild a bit in July and then get ready for next season over the winter,” he said back then.
 

Even then it was clear that those comments were a smokescreen, but he has still done the business by lining out an impressive Mons team that are managing to grind out some very good results. The game that following Friday ended 2-2 and there was little doubt from that moment on that Mons would be contenders.
 

And here we are entering the home straight, and at the very least a play-off against Galway United is in their grasp. At the moment though, it is automatic promotion which looks more likely, regardless of their result on Leeside tomorrow evening – a defeat would see them overtaken by Cork by two points but they’d have a game in hand.

The dream scenario for Collins would be a win at Turner’s Cross, because it would then put Mons in pole position to not only go up automatically, but to do so as champions.
 

In another one of those interviews (in a way he's a bit like the LoI's Charlie Sheen - solely in the way that interviewing  him sometimes can leave you completely perplexed) after the Shels win he came out with this line, which I'll leave open to your own interpretation: "Fellas huddling in the corner and blasting out bleeding disco music. I didn’t know whether to dance or give a team talk before the game, that’s all mental crap."
 

Whatever your opinion of the man, you can’t argue that he brings so much to the league.

From his fashionista nightmare full-length jacket to his flamboyant ties; from his comments that create needless controversy to his ability to motivate his team, this place just wouldn’t be the same without Roddy Collins.