‘Contract in the computer’ as boss stays calm
FILIPPO Giovagnoli remains calm about his future at Dundalk FC and says he has a contract ‘in the computer’ to extend his stay at Oriel Park.
The Italian was an interim appointment to replace Vinny Perth when he arrived in Ireland in August but chairman Bill Hulsizer later indicated that he would be offered the job on a full-time basis having guided the Lilywhites to the group stages of the Europa League.
With domestic form dipping of late, a number of fans have expressed the view that Giovagnoli should not be the club’s manager next season and until a deal is signed that remains a possibility.
However, speaking after Monday’s 2-0 defeat to Sligo Rovers said he expected to be here next year but admitted there were bigger things to discuss right now.
‘My own situation is really clear. I have my contract in the computer,’ he said.
‘That’s not a problem. My situation was never the problem.
‘There are other things that we are discussing with the club and we’ll see what’s going to happen. I want to help the club to be better and I have an idea of what it could be. There is a lot to do and a lot to discuss but of course I am a manager, I am a coach, I can’t make decisions on strategy and stuff. This is not my duty.’
While he said the decision would ultimately rest with the board, Giovagnoli hinted he
would like to work alongside a CEO or Director f Football so that he could concentrate primarily on coaching.
‘These are decisions that the club are going to make to see what is going to be the next structure of the club. Let’s see but I think that’s something that could help in a football structure but let’s see.
‘It’s about what the club is going to decide to do in their strategy. The work starts this week.’
When pressed on whether there was a possibility of him moving to a technical director role rather than being the coach next season, Filippo said: ‘I didn’t discuss my role being different to this.’
Giovagnoli hinted that talks will commence on tying down a number of out of contract players at Oriel Park in the coming days.
Following the release of Joshua Gatt last week, there remains 17 players out of contract at the club at the end of the season.
With the league now over and a 12 day period before the next game away to Bohemians in the FAI Cup, it was put to the manager that now could be a good time to begin talks with players he wanted to keep hold of.
‘Of course. It’s a process that we are talking about,’ he said.
‘The input comes from the club. I give technical input but the input is coming from the club and probably we’re going to start to discuss.
‘It’s going to be more complicated now because now the focus is again on the pitch and on performing but it’s something that we will need to start to talk.’
With at least one new player already understood to have been signed for next season, Giovagnoli also said he had been looking to identify new recruits for next season.
‘Of course. This is work that I’ve not just started now. I started one month ago to look at players, to understand what can improve this team.
‘It’s not easy to improve this team but it is possible and first of all we will need to discuss with our players but we need now to rest for a couple of days and clean our mind.
The discussion now can be a little bit... You’ve got to be careful with the frustrations because the discussion can be not in the right way because this last result didn’t give us enough of a comfortable mindset to go and talk about contracts.’