DYCHE’S PLANS STILL ON HOLD
remember walking out of the Shelbourne Hotel thinking ‘this fella is going places’.
“You got that feeling from Bradley, too. You just knew he had a gift for the job. And look at what he has done. Four titles before his 40th birthday. That’s incredible. He deserves what he has got from the game because he has worked so hard for it.”
Open
He’s an open book, Bradley. Up and coming coaches, who have a thirst for knowledge, are allowed to observe a session.
“Respect, an atmosphere of mutual respect, that was the big thing I noticed,” said one coach, after visiting Roadstone.
For Dolan, the selection of his coaching staff, Graham Lawlor and Stephen Mcphail, is vital.
“They aren’t looking for any credit,” says Dolan, who built title winning teams at St Pat’s and later Cork City.
“They don’t want any of the limelight yet there is clearly a bond between the three. Every manager needs that.”
While Rovers’ form, just six wins out of 15 games so far in 2024, is way below their average, they have more scope to improve than any of their rivals as their injury situation eases.
At 39, Bradley has another two decades in the coaching game if he wants them.
The only person who will stop Stephen Bradley winning may end up being Stephen Bradley.
Because those who appear to be in a different league always end up getting tempted away to work in a different League.
EVERTON manager Sean Dyche admits he is having to remain exible in terms of his planning for next season while the club’s ongoing takeover saga drags on.
Owner Farhad Moshiri has had an agreement in place since September, but seven months on there are increasing signs the deal may be close to collapse as US investment rm 777 Partners have problems over unpaid debts with some of their other acquisitions.
It is understood Moshiri has held face-to-face talks with 777 this week as he considers whether to pull the plug, while a report by Bloomberg suggests MSP Capital, another American investment group, is weighing up whether to re-enter the bidding.
The uncertainty is not helping Dyche as he tries to start planning for next season to get back to, in his words, “a level playing eld” and admits this is not a “crack-on moment”.
“I didn’t know at the time but ever since I got here I’ve been trying to manage the situation with the goalposts moving signi cantly at any given time so I don’t think I’m in new waters for that side of things,” said the boss, who has spoken to Moshiri about matters on the pitch but not over the takeover.
“And that is the challenge at the moment, it is the current shifting sands of this football club.
Base
“I’ve said many times you want to put a base into the club to build from but it’s not quite there yet so we are all open-minded on the recruitment and player contract side, the staff, on what comes next.
“People get this impression that when we made sure we had secured ourselves (in the Premier League) there was that underlying feeling of, ‘crack on now’.
“It’s not as easy as that. We’re not in a ‘crack-on’ moment at the moment. There is lots to do to get back to the base and level playing eld in order to move forwards.
“There are situations out of my control but they are in people’s control, certainly at the level of the club that know about more of the details and minutiae and important side of the getting the deal done.
“I just have to stay exible-minded as to what comes next. Every week is like that here.”
777 Partners have declined to comment on recent developments regarding the takeover and the situation with its other investments.