Kenny patient in building squad

It has been three weeks since Stephen Kenny was announced as Dundalk manager and in the past ten days, he has been exceptionally busy confirming a flurry of signings as he begins the rebuilding process following season 2012. On Friday, he spoke to extratime.ie about how he has found the opening weeks of the job and also spoke on the patient approach he is taking to add to what he has.

“It’s been an interesting couple of weeks, getting settled in. I’ve been impressed by the level of good will towards Dundalk Football Club by everyone in the town. It’s very encouraging for me seeing that. On the squad building, I’m not going to put a squad together over two weeks. I am happy with the signings we’ve managed so far and I’m confident that we’ll be able to add some good players to compliment the players we’ve brought in.”

He admitted that Dundalk are not in a position to attract the top, top players but Kenny gave a description of the players he is looking to bring in and also made the point he has to ‘unearth’ new players.

“That’s where we are at the moment. We aren’t going to attract all the top players in at the moment. We have to understand where we are in relation to the clubs like Shamrock Rovers, Sligo and clubs like that. What we can do is bring in players who are hungry, have potential and want to make their mark. We have to unearth players. There’s a common theme in relation to all the players that we’re signing. They’re good footballers.”

One of the Lilywhites hottest prospects is Mark Griffin, who is in talks with Derry City and the former Candystripe gaffer concedes that it’s almost certain that the Dundalk native will leave.

“Mark Griffin, when I took the job, he was already in advanced negotiations with Derry City and he’s agreed certain things. He’s out of contract with us but there is a fee to be paid. I think it’s quite modest. Ideally, I would have liked him to stay but I don’t know. He’s a obviously a talent and I think he would flourish here but if he has his heart set on going then he needs to move on but we’ll see how that goes.”

Having re-signed Eoghan Osbourne and John Mountney from last year’s squad, Kenny confirmed that he has offered contracts to captain Chris Shields and also fan favourite Peter Cherrie. He did however confess he wasn’t sure if either would be remaining at the club.

“We’ll see how things go with Chris. I had spoken to him. There was some interest from England and we are just seeing how things go. We’ve offered terms to Peter so like everything else, as a manager your duty is to maximise the budget you’ve been given and you have to get the best players you can get for that. We’ve offered Peter a contract and we’re speaking to him again and we’ll see how that goes.”

The 41 year-old confirmed that he hasn’t appointed an assistant manager and will look at that in the New Year before going onto praise the players he has brought in and spoke of the need to balance things out.

“We’re building a squad here. I think players like Andy Boyle, John Dillon, Keith Ward, Patrick Hoban and then we’ve obviously John Mountney and Eoghan Osbourne signed  from last year, Dane Massey as well and we have to add to that. We’ll do that gradually and get the right type of people in. We’ll make sure that we’re run in a professional way and make sure we’re competitive because I think people demand that and the type of player we’ve brought in at the moment they’re very creative. We need to balance that now.”

On the squad itself and the budget that he’s been given, Kenny has widened the net and is looking to the UK in terms of signings and is not going to rush into signings for the sake of it.

“I know the amount of money we have and the players that are out there. We aren’t going to find everyone in two weeks. Some players I am looking at are in England, Irish players in England. I am monitoring that situation and it’s better to wait until January to find players rather than taking players that aren’t going to enhance us that much. I’d rather wait until January to see if we can strengthen in that regard.”

The Irish League is something that would interest the manager but conceded that potential transfer fees is a major stumbling block before confirming he hopes to add to the squad before Christmas.

There are some good players in the Irish League but the problem in looking up North is that the windows are out of sync and you can find players in January but generally they’re under contract, it’s in the middle of their season and you’d have to pay transfer fees which realistically we aren’t in a position to do so maybe there’d be better value in the summer there but definitely we’ll be looking up North. Hopefully, I would be thinking that way (in getting a few players in before Christmas).

Overall on assembling a squad, the boss who had a short spell with Dunfermline in Scotland, is looking for versatility and flexibility within the squad.

"You have to have flexibility in the systems as well. You can’t just say I’m going to play one way. You have to be able to modify the way you’re going to play so I couldn’t say we’re going to play 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. I think you’ve got to look at even modifications within them systems and we have to be able to be tactically flexible.

"With the way that Pat’s and Rovers set up their 4-3-3’s and Sligo with the 4-2-3-1 with the diamond in midfield and the way they played two up. So we have to be tactically astute as well and we need players who can adapt in that regard."