WHERE NOW FOR ROVERS?
Bradley must consider if he’s right man to lead ailing club
LOSING to Bohemians can seriously Kenny. damage your health as former managers of Shamrock Rovers know from painful experience. Just ask Stephen
And while Stephen Bradley insists ‘we’ll be fine’, the 1-0 home defeat on Friday to their arch rivals left many Rovers fans feeling anything but dandy.
The vitriol directed at the head coach and his players at the final whistle in Tallaght by a knot of fans wasn’t a reflex action, rather it reflected a growing malaise at where Ireland’s most famous club stands right now.
Once again, this season has been a virtual write-off. Rovers are out of the League Cup, the FAI Cup and European competition as well as out of the running in the League before half-way.
If those let-downs weren’t grim enough, their inability to stand firm against Bohemians — a team of part-timers who operate off a far smaller budget — has left some supporters exasperated, others enraged.
Four games have yielded one draw and on Friday, Rovers never turned up.
They kept giving the ball away in their own half and mustered one creative passage of play over 90 minutes, at a time when Bohs were briefly down to 10 men.
Had Shane Supple, the visiting goalkeeper, taken his place in the stands, it probably wouldn’t have affected the outcome.
Bradley felt the game was heading for a stalemate, which he said he would have taken.
Yet, the Phibsboro side had a clear penalty appeal turned down and hit the post before Eoghan Stokes scored the winner in the 68th minute.
Had the Gypsies won by two or more goals, it would not have been an unjust scoreline.
Bradley knows the buck stops with him, and he was man enough to accept that afterwards.
What he declined to do was acknowledge the significance of the defeat.
To declare in advance that playing Bohs is just another game is bluffing because this fixture means as much to the club’s supporters as any.
The Rovers boss could have blamed himself for the team he picked and prepared on Friday, for the way they played, and the outcome. Alternatively, he could have lashed the players for their levels of performance.
You can bet your bottom dollar that managers like Dermot Keely, Pat Fenlon, Paul Doolin, Damien Richardson or John Caulfield, would have let rip.
But they are different to Bradley, they are guys who know what it’s like to be solely in charge at the League of Ireland coalface.
In contrast, Bradley is a new type of manager. Officially, he’s a head coach, which seems a fancy title. And he seems to work as part of a collegial hierarchy, which involves Glen Cronin (coach), Stephen McPhail (director of football) and Shane Robinson (academy director), who all hold senior posts at Rovers. While in the background, there is the highly respected Damien Duff, who manages the club’s Under 15s. All five men are in their 30s and seem matey. McPhail was on the pitch on Friday before kick-off as Rovers went through their warm-up, while Cronin spent as much time during the game barking out orders from the technical area, as Bradley did. From the remove of the press box, there is a sense of too many chiefs and not enough Indians about Rovers.
Perhaps Rovers would be better off having a senior figure in charge. Then again, perhaps the club — owned by supporters — know exactly what they are doing. Maybe, after a series of blunt dismissals of managers, including Kenny, Tevor Croly — now first team coach at Bohs — and Fenlon, they are committed to giving the man in charge time to turn things around.
From a neutral’s perspective, let’s hope they are right.
For Irish football needs Rovers to be successful, as they were under Michael O’Neill (20082011), when they won successive Leagues and became the first Irish club to reach the group stages of the Europa League.
Bradley, two years into what he refers to as a ‘project’, is adamant the club is on the right path.
After two shocking Fridays in Cup and League, he needs to look to himself, and his players, to fashion a strong response over the final two months of the season.
At a plus, they don’t have to face Bohemians again.