Clancy wants to give fans something to smile about
WITH the razzmatazz of their new kit launch now complete, Drogheda United are counting down to Friday’s First Division kick-off when they welcome Cobh Ramblers to United Park (7.45pm).
With the exception of captain Jake Hyland, who is well on the road to recovery from a broken leg sustained last autumn, the Boynesiders will be at full strength and manager Tim Clancy feels that his team should make a winning start if they play to their potential.
Like 12 months ago, the Trim native put his squad through a tough pre-season that included games against Premier Division trio Dundalk, Derry City and Finn Harps, going down 5-1, 2-0 and 1-0 respectively.
However, the Drogs also held the Republic of Ireland Under-19s to a 1-1 draw before completing their pre-season programme with a 6-3 victory over Drogheda Town at DIFE last Wednesday night.
Asked yesterday (Monday) if he was confident of picking up all three points, Clancy responded: ‘We have to be. We’ve had a good pre-season with no injuries, except Kevin Farragher breaking a knuckle in one of the games.
‘There’s no muscle problems, so we’ll be in good shape come Friday and we’re hoping we can kick on and start off with a win.
‘I watched Cobh a couple of weeks back and we’ve done a bit of homework on them, but we have to think about ourselves first and foremost and we’ll come up with a game plan that will hopefully get us three points.
‘They had a clear-out from last year and Hendo [Stephen Henderson] has had to recruit from local football, whether it be the Under-19s or Munster Senior League, but it’s going to be difficult because all the teams have been preparing for the last six or seven weeks and everyone’s going to be up for it.
‘You saw from the Premier Division last weekend that all the teams were right at it from the start, apart maybe from UCD who are right in the middle of the busiest period of their season because of the Collingwood Cup. There might have been fatigue there when they went up to play Derry.’
Clancy expressed the hope that the increased profile of the club in its centenary year would boost attendances and sales of the new red and black first-team kit.
‘With the drive that’s coming from the club and more social media activity, hopefully we can attract more people through the gate,’ he said.
‘The new kit is really nice and it’s something different to kick off the centenary celebrations. It’s going back to the original colours, I believe, and hopefully the fans will like it and get out and buy loads of them.
‘It’s good that there’s more of a spotlight on Drogheda United. The more exposure the club gets and the players get, the better for everyone. There’s a lot of good people at the club looking to bring it forward and I’m sure the players and myself and Kev [Doherty] will be doing everything to get results on the field.’
Clancy refuted the suggestion that the increased profile of the club would put extra pressure on him and the squad.
‘Not at all,’ he responded. ‘The pressure will come externally and from within ourselves to win as many games as we can. There’s no pressure from the board, but we have our own ambitions for the season - to be the same as last year and try and improve.
‘We had a great season last year, in fairness, and didn’t get the credit we deserved. A lot of the players were new to the team and other teams in the league were in a better position than ourselves.
‘It wasn’t scary starting out as a manager. I’ve been involved in football since the day I left school nearly 17 years ago, I’d been working towards going into coaching and management because that’s the direction I wanted to go in. It came a bit earlier than I expected and it was good to get a successful season under our belts.
‘We came up a bit short in the end, but with a year’s experience I know the league a lot better and hopefully we can go a step further.’
In his debut season as manager Clancy led the Drogs to fourth place and then a victory over Shelbourne in the first tie of the play-off series, before Finn Harps proved too strong over two legs.
However, Shelbourne have made a number of eye-catching signings since then, boosted by fresh investment, and they are rightly starting the 2019 campaign as firm favourites for the First Division title,
By comparison Clancy has a similar budget to last year, certainly less than Shels, and there is no talk of Drogheda challenging for the title, but a place in the play-offs is certainly within their grasp.
Getting off to a winning start, though, will be important to create some momentum going into the tricky second-round fixture away to Longford Town on Saturday week.
It’s good that there’s more of a spotlight on Drogheda United. The more exposure the club gets and the players get, the better for everyone. There’s a lot of good people at the club looking to bring it forward