AGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

BY

IT’S NOT just the players that are getting younger.

Liam Buckley, at the age of 61, is the oldest manager in the Premier Division by a distance.

The average age of the 10 top-flight bosses when the new campaign kicks off later this month will be almost 44 - with four bosses still well shy of their 40th birthday.

So, as the Sligo Rovers chief approaches 25 years in management, how has he kept pace with the new kids on the block?

Buckley said: “These young fresh coaches, they do make me question myself about what they are doing, how they try to play, how I counter what they are doing.

“For me, it is a challenge having some of these younger coaches coming through, because the

Pro Licence has evolved as well over the years. There are new ideas and concepts.

“When I played here at Shamrock Rovers, it was 4-4-2, Alan Campbell and myself up front.

“When I went to Belgium, it was my second move abroad [after a spell in the NASL with Vancouver Whitecaps], we had a 3-5-2 and I couldn’t believe how well it worked.

“It was just fantastic. It was the best footballing team that I’d ever been involved in throughout my career.

“We got a spot in Europe for the first time in the club’s history and we got to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.”

Buckley’s longevity also stems from the fact he was ahead of his time in League of Ireland coaching circles.

His teams have always played an attractive style of passing football.

He said: “I came back to Pat’s and I tried it [3-5-2] in the year 2000, and we went on to win the league.

“We just pipped Cork, who were brilliant that year – they had a great team. We just got ahead of them.

“We had a very good passing game with some fantastic players.

“I know coaching has evolved, but your style, your team, it’s a vision in your head.

“But I’m sure all the younger coaches here, they are learning on the job and you have to learn quickly, because it’s such a stupid fickle business.

“You lose a few games and you are in trouble, that’s the nature of the business.”

As well as Athlone Town and St Pat’s, where he had two spells as manager and won two Premier Division titles, Buckley has also managed Shamrock Rovers, Sporting Fingal and now Sligo Rovers.

His appetite for the job remains as strong as eve – and his secret is simple.

He admitted: “It’s all fine reading it from a book and putting on a training session, but it has to work on the pitch.”