Bradley Kenn go to top in Ireland
LEAGUE OF IRELAND
BY PAUL O’HEHIR STEPHEN BRADLEY wants to manage Ireland one day after revealing his career ambitions go all the way to the top.
The 37-year-old this week turned down an offer to take charge of Lincoln City in England’s League One.
Imps officials travelled to Dublin for crunch talks with the Shamrock Rovers boss (above) and his right-hand men Stephen Mcphail and Glenn Cronin.
Yet Bradley was convinced to stay after talks with Rovers board members, part-owner Dermot Desmond and senior players on Thursday night.
But although he is staying with the champions, Bradley is determined to manage in other leagues in the future. And he would eventually like to follow in Stephen Kenny’s footsteps by leading the senior international team.
Quizzed on Ireland, Bradley said: “Yeah. Why not? It’s the pinnacle of any manager’s career.
“It’s fantastic to see Stephen (below) doing it now, coming from the league. If anyone was offered an Ireland job, you would run there.
“I’ve a real hunger and ambitions to manage at different levels and in different countries.
“I’ve a timeline in my head and it remains in my head but it’s definitely something I want to do without a shadow of a doubt.
“Please God, and all going well, that will happen in the future. It might not, but you make decisions and you live with them.”
Bradley knows that outsiders will question why he didn’t take a leap of faith with Lincoln.
But he won’t lose sleep over it and said: “I don’t live my life or make decisions based on people’s opinions.
“They’re allowed to have an opinion because of the job I’m in, it’s out there in the public eye.
“But I don’t make decisions or have to justify what I do or think to anyone. If I did, I would never have taken this job so young. I would have never retired so young.”
Bradley is determined to crack the group stages in Europe this summer but insists winning a third league title in-a-row is the ultimate aim in 2022.
And he feels everyone at Rovers is rowing in the right direction following Thursday’s late night talks. The Hoops boss added: “The board had a big part to play in it here. They were really, really good. They were understanding of the position I was in when Lincoln came in.
“They were really respectful and allowed me to speak to Lincoln. The club always stated that under no circumstance did they want to lose me.
“When I sat down and spoke to them it was a really good conversation and really reaffirmed that I feel we can go and keep improving and striving to be better.
“That was part of the conversation with the board and it was really good with Dermot (Desmond), with Ciaran (Medlar, chairman)
and with Ray (Wilson, part owner).
“It was good to see that the thinking was aligned.
“I just think we have more to do here.”