BRADLEY: ROVERS LOVE THE BIG STAGE
ASKED for his career European highlight yesterday, Stephen Bradley could have opted for the time he played against Juventus in a Modena monsoon 10 years ago. Only he no longer thinks like a player, but as a manager, or head coach as he is titled at Shamrock Rovers. And his thoughts tumbled back to his four Euro experiences at the Hoops. ‘We’ve had some fantastic highlights, especially night games in Tallaght in front of big crowds,’ he said. ‘Beating Limassol given their pedigree, that was a fantastic result; coming from behind in Brann and at home. AIK away was really, really good in terms of our performance.’ And what of Juve, who included Del Piero, Chiellini, Bonucci and Co, in their starstudded XI? ‘When you’re playing, you’re selfish, you’re thinking of your performance. That’s all you think about. It’s totally different as a manager as you’re setting up the team.’ For Bradley, Europe is not a distraction, rather it’s the point where one journey ends and another starts. Rovers qualified for the Europa League 10 months ago; they don’t want to let to drop the ball in their outing, at home to Ilves Tampere of Finland tonight (8.0). ‘It’s massive, it’s definitely not a distraction. In contrast, it’s a positive for everyone involved in the club. Playing in Europe is big for every club, it’s massive financially.’ Bradley revealed Rovers had requested the postponement of their Extra.ie FAI Cup game against Cork and a league game against Bohemians on Saturday week as they had five players on international duty, two with the U21s, Neil Farrugia and Liam Scales, and three others on standby, including Jack Byrne. ‘We weren’t aware that Bohs had an agreement to release their (U21) players back, we got a phone call on Tuesday to say that could be the case for us as well.’