Sligo Rovers manager Dave Robertson reflects on the season gone by.
AS ONE SEASON DRAWS TO A CLOSE, PREPARATIONS ARE IN FULL SWING FOR THE NEXT ONE AS THE CLUB LOOK TO GO FURTHER NEXT YEAR. SLIGO ROVERS MANAGER DAVE ROBERTSON SPEAKS TO JESSICA FARRY.
WHEN Dave Robertson first landed on our shores a year ago, few could honestly tell you that they were aware of his career prior to making the move to Sligo Rovers. A former marine, he was the first of his kind to take up a job in the League of Ireland and a man who would be very much of interest to pundits, fans and players alike. Few knew what to expect from the ex- Peterborough boss, but a first meeting with Robertson at his unveiling told us that he had a clear vision for the club, and his research had been pretty good. He spoke well, he knew what to say.
As the season got underway, it took Rovers a while to get going. From the first eight games, Rovers had not won a single game, and had suffered four defeats, most notably a 4- 0 defeat to Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds.
Robertson was dismissed after a handful of games as manager of Peterborough United, so one would have forgiven him for showing concern at Rovers’ poor start.
But he never panicked, at least not publicly. And he maintained throughout that he was confident in his players, despite results going against the Bit o’Red.
“Believe it or not there wasn’t a point where I thought it wasn’t going to work. At no point did I think that. I saw enough to believe,” he told The Sligo Champion.
“And what we did have to do very quickly was learn whilst we were in the job. There was certain adaptations and a few tweaks to what we were doing, and as it materialised it did come good. It was only a tinkering job. It wasn’t a massive overhaul. There was never a point where we were overly worried about it. The positive way of working is important.
“When you do lay in a new structure of working and going about your business, sometimes that takes time for everybody, not only for myself, the players but the club, the supporters and everybody. Everybody can see the direction in which we’re looking to take things.”
But to remain positive and upbeat, despite undergoing constant scrutiny and criticism from both fans and pundits, takes strength.
“It was a tough start to the season. The one thing that, although results weren’t going our way, performances were good and we could see that. If I’m honest I probably underestimated a little bit what we needed to do and probably things that people didn’t see was that there was still an air of, not so much negativity, but there was still almost a cloud of doom over the football club from what had gone on previously. It took me a little bit longer than expected to get over that but once we got through that initial bit and stayed positive, we stuck with our philosophy on what we wanted
to do, we knew that results would come good.
“Although looking back, with hindsight which everyone does on reflection, we’re probably kicking ourselves a little bit because had we had a better opening eight games of the season then it could have ended very differently.”
As Robertson pointed out, performances earlier indicated that this squad had enough to recover from the bad start, but there was one particular low point before Rovers saw their fortunes turn around.
“The low point was obviously the Bray 4- 0, the first one. That was the low point, and that was the turning point, the catalyst for the turning point of the season. After that we went on a really strong run in terms of results and performances. We managed to maintain that. There was a few speed bumps that we hit along the way. We’d go on a run of six or seven good results and then one not so good and then we’d go on another run and it would spur the lads on,” said the 42- year- old.
Rovers turned things around following that horrendous defeat by the blustery seaside in Bray. A run, which saw them lose just one game in six, allowed them to move back up the table.
There was the odd blip, here and there, but a mid- table finish was starting to look realistic as players and management properly settled into the season.
There’s no doubt that Rovers surprised people, particularly after that horrible start to the season. A sentiment which Robertson agrees with.
“I think we did surprise people. Because when you look at what the expectations were of the football club, what people externally were saying where we would finish up. I think a lot of that was based on previous years. I think we have surprised people. We’ve definitely surprised people since the first run of games, 100%. From my own point of view, I would have expected a top half of the table finish. I want more. My players want more. That has to be our ultimate aim and our ultimate target come this time next season.”
Robertson came to Sligo looking to put smiles on peoples faces again, hoping to give fans some results that they will remember for years to come.
There were some unforgettable victories this year. The 5- 0 away to Wexford Youths during the first ever meeting of the two sides, the 3- 2 win over Shamrock Rovers at The Showgrounds, the 2- 1 victory over Cork City at Turner’s Cross, the 3- 0 win over champions Dundalk at Oriel Park, and the 2- 0 victory over third place Derry City in April, were certainly results that got tongues wagging.
And while most would say the Dundalk victory was most impressive, Robertson’s personal highlight of the year was that thoroughly enjoyable night against The Hoops.
“Shamrock Rovers at home, the 3- 2 win has got to be the highlight for me. It was brilliant, especially when John Russell put us 3- 1 up the roof nearly came off the place. It was brilliant and then they got a scrappy goal and that made it a nervy few minutes at the end. That for me and the reason behind it was that I knew how much that meant to the supporters that night. It was probably one of the best atmospheres that I’ve experienced at The Showgrounds,” he claimed.
Robertson has had his critics. But even the most critical could not deny the fact that he has done what he came to do. Mission accomplished.
To use a favourite word of the Sligo Rovers manager, ‘ consolidation’ was the main aim. Anything after that was a bonus, although a European place looked so likely at one stage, it was a huge disappointment not to secure it. But not a disaster. Would Robertson do anything differently looking back? “There’s a couple of things that you would naturally adapt and change, in my own first year and a lot of the players’ first year in the League of Ireland. There will be bits that we will adapt and change next year but coming in as I did, I don’t think there would be too much ( that I would change).
“There’s things as a manager, I would love to sit here and say ‘ I should’ve asked the committee for another four players for when we had a run of games’ but the bottom line is the resources weren’t there at the time. Sometimes you have to accept that and get through that. The way I’m doing things now, if you look at the whiteboard behind us it’s looking a lot more fruitful than it was last year. I’ve got some really talented players coming back into the group. For me, the future’s bright and if you look back at last season.
“The most important thing is that we get off to a strong start. Our pre- season preparation, not that it wasn’t good last year but it was very sporadic because of the small squad we had at the time, but we can now put together a much stronger set of games and a much stronger schedule of fixtures and we’ll play for a longer period with a settled squad. I’ll have a much greater understanding of them. That for me is going to be important to get to where we want in 2017.”
He is right. Things have changed at The Showgrounds in comparison with this time last year. Having had time, Robertson can now plan well in advance for next season.
His pre- season schedule hangs on the wall above his desk, with dates marked on which he would like to play friendlies.
His whiteboard has players’ names and numbers marked, with gaps left for positions he needs to fill.
The desk is filled with extensive and specific off- season programmes for players to work on while they are at home.
He knows exactly what he wants for next year, but more importantly he knows exactly what it is going to take to achieve their goals for 2017. A lot of that comes down to hard work.
Robertson would be the first to tell you that this has been as much a learning curve for him as it has been for players.
But he is confident that things he has learned this year will stand to him next year. That includes officiating, of which he has been critical at times, especially considering the fact that Rovers finished top of the disciplinary table this year having received the most yellow and red cards.
Craig Roddan, with two red cards and 12 yellow cards topped that table by some distance.
“Match scheduling, the officiating, I’m not knocking that, in our opening game I’ll be brutally honest there was an element of naivety from our players. All that naivety was their enthusiasm to do well for the team and for the club.
“Those will be small things that can ultimately add up to making a
HAVING MY FAMILY HERE AND HAVING THEIR SUPPORT HAS BEEN CRITICAL FOR ME. OFF THE FIELD, BECAUSE THERE’S NOTHING BETTER THAN SPEND TIME WITH THEM. IT ALLOWS ME TO DISCONNECT FROM FOOTBALL.
big difference. Fixture scheduling, how it works, I’ll have a much better understanding in terms of the management periods around when the EA Sports competition comes up, when in the season the FAI Cup games come in.
“There’s a number of things that I would’ve experienced this season that will hold us in good stead and having travelled to all the grounds so far this year. I will have a look at how we prepare when we travel away to certain stadiums. One of the things you can do in football and I don’t think people realise it is you can manage football stadiums too. I think it’s important that I use a bit of my experience from this year to give the players that bit of additional support that maybe I didn’t have the experience for this year.”
As the season was drawing to a close, Dundalk had already lifted the trophy, and the only thing left to play for was fifth place, a position which Rovers sealed on the last day.
But St. Patrick’s Athletic’s defeat of a depleted, and probably severely hungover, Dundalk side meant that St. Patrick’s Athletic could still catch Rovers with one game left to play.
That lead to an outburst on Twitter from Dave Robertson, who is usually quiet on the social networking site.
“Looks like Stephen Kenny and Dundalk have chucked the towel in on the league # nointegrity” he wrote. He wasn’t going to be let forget that tweet, but he insists that he was just hoping the league would be competitive until the very end, even if some of the abuse was slightly over the top.
“You get that. I was surprised at the reaction. The only point I was trying to make was that I would be hopeful that teams would field the strongest teams that they have available throughout because the League of Ireland was still ongoing for us. It meant a lot to me, it meant a lot to the players. I think the supporters can see that in their performance levels in the last game, which is a fantastic way to end the season. It shows that we will continue to work right the way through to the end of the season.”
Robertson has always maintained he will not do a job half- heartedly. Perhaps proof of that is the fact he has moved his wife and kids over to Ireland to start a new life. His wife Fiona hails from Navan, so the move was not so daunting. The Robertson family, Dave says, have settled well. And without them here, his job would have been extremely difficult.
“The kids have settled well in school. The wife’s extremely happy, she’s an hour and a half away from home. That’s really pleasing. As a manager that makes a big difference. I have to say, any season as manager it is a roller- coaster ride. There are ups and downs, there are highs and lows there are really good times, there are tough times. If I’m being brutally honest, me as a person, would’ve probably found that very very difficult if I was commuting.
“What it did allow me to do was obviously have that time away where I can disconnect from football and go and do the school run with the kids on my day off and do that rather than having to make a mad dash to England and trying to spend two or three hours with the family, then hightailing it back to the airport. It wouldn’t have been something that I would’ve been comfortable with. Having them here and having their support has been critical for me. Off the field, because there’s nothing better than spending time with them. Then being able to disconnect from that and come back into the club.”
Upon moving to Ireland, Robertson made a conscious decision to live away from Sligo. It gives him a chance to have a life outside of football, while also allowing his family to have a life that is not consumed by Dave’s job.
“It does ( allow me to live a life outside of football). That was a lesson that I learned from my tenure at Peterborough I was the academy manager. Then took over as first team manager. Then all of a sudden from being the average bloke on the street coming home on a Saturday night there would be four or five people knocking on your door on a Saturday night wanting to know what’s going on.
“I didn’t realise it at the time but that became very consuming for the family and for the boys. I made a conscious decision not to put them in that position again. It’s been an excellent move. We love living here in Ireland.”
His two sons have immersed themselves in sport, with his eldest even dabbling in a small bit of GAA, although Robertson is hopeful that he will return to playing football soon.
“The youngest is playing for Carrick Town and he goes once a week. He’s absolutely loving it. The eldest has been playing gaelic football bizarrely enough. They’re in their off season but it’ll be interesting to see because I’m hoping he’ll return to playing football. He loved it when we were in England and he spend four years as a player at Peterborough United. I would hope that he wouldn’t pass that up now.”
Almost twelve months down the line since Robertson was appointed manager, the club is in a better place. Many will say Europe and a top four finish will be the aim for next season, Robertson wants an improvement on this year, although Europe is probably in his mind.
“For me, we’re nearly 12 months down the line and we’re already in a stronger place as a football club now than we were this time last year. For me the signs have been really positive. Sligo as a town is a fantastic football place, the support here is fantastic and everyone’s pulling together to try and bring the success that we all feel this football club deserves.
“Our target is to improve on the number of points we got this year. The sooner we can get to 50 points the sooner we will be competing at the right end of the table. As a manager you have to be realistic. That’s how we will be working. Those are the processes we’re going to be going through. We know it’s going to be a tough season, we’re expecting a good few clubs to look to invest to try and compete in the top half of the table. What we need to do is, not ignore what’s going on with our competitors, but I know people will say it’s a cliché I use a lot but we will really need to focus on ourselves. I’ve said it openly, the start of the season will be key to that.”
The signs have been good this year, and the clouds of doom seem to have been lifted. And now with time to prepare for next year, Robertson is buckling his seatbelt full of hope for the journey he wants to take the club on.
“I feel really good. I feel really excited about next season. I feel really excited about wanting to take the football club on the journey it deserves. The supporters, who are behind it, they remind me of certain sets of fans. They’re not glory hunters, through thick and thin they’ve supported Sligo Rovers. In return for that we’d love to bring them the success they deserve. I would hope they can see the level of commitment from this group of players and we want to show the fans how much the football club means to us as well as then. Together we can take the club on a real positive journey, hopefully a European tour somewhere.”