Rovers get ready for new season
IT’S just three days until the 2019 League of Ireland season begins. For Sligo Rovers, it is once again another step into the unknown.
Under manager Liam Buckley, the Bit O’Red have compiled a new squad. New signings include Bermuda’s Dante Leverock, Jamaica’s Romeo Parkes, Nigeria’s Brendan Ogbu (who is yet to arrive on these shores), former Cork City man Johnny Dunleavy, Ronan Murray, Lewis Banks and Daryl Fordyce who join up with the largely youthful contingent of players who played with Rovers last year.
“There’s a mix and match, there is. That said, the foreign lads we’ve brought in are good, the senior lads are good, the younger players that have come through the underage group, there’s about seven of them, they’re all good players. They’re all good footballers. The likes of Jack Keaney, this is his second year. Step up. And I’ve no doubt they will. Their training is telling me ‘I want to be in the team’. We’re still looking to get another one in if we can, or two. I’m pleased with the ones we have got,” Buckley said of the squad he has compiled so far, as he hopes to add at least one more.
Rovers’ start to the season couldn’t get much tougher. They travel to the home of the champions Dundalk on Friday night, before host Buckley’s former side St. Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City in consecutive games.
He will, however, more than likely have to plan without both Ronan Murray and David Cawley who are suffering with injury. It is unlikely that Ogbu will have arrived in Ireland in time, as he awaits a work permit.
“It’s a difficult game, it is what it is. We’re going to play them four times anyway, whether it’s the first game or the tenth game. Bring it on. The lads have trained well, they’ve got a lot of ability. We’ve got to look at playing to our strengths and go up there and see what we can do.
“We’ve got to go up there and try and get something out of the game. To do that, we need to play to our strengths. I’m still picking up on all the strengths we have individually, collectively we’ll try and work our style around all the individual talents that we have. We’re not just going to Dundalk to try and make up the numbers. The lads have been training particularly well, they’ve been doing double sessions.”
“It is a tough start. That said, if we could get something out of the first game, the second game, the third game and see where it takes us. I find that if you perform well in games you normally pick up points somewhere along the way. Obviously the top four make Europe and the bottom two you don’t want to be involved so the rest are playing in between.
“The top four is the place to be, granted we haven’t been there the last few years. I’m sure it’s a target of seven or eight teams. Bare in mind the resources of Cork and Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers have and St. Pats throwing money at it. It’s tricky, but someone has to be there so we’ll see.”
Few know what to expect from Sligo Rovers this year, and while Buckley is coy when it comes to targets, he knows that he is one of many managers who thinks they may just be able to sneak top four this year.
“It will be a dog rough league this year. Everyone will think they have a chance of being up the table, nobody will see themselves in the bottom two. You’ve got about seven or eight teams thinking they could crack the top four. There’s a lot of teams in transition.”
From the new signings, to some of the players that he has inherited, Buckley has been hugely impressed by what he has seen so far.
“From a business perspective they’re (Sligo Rovers) very stable, they run a very tidy ship here, baring in mind the AGM the other night. From our end we’ve just got to get our players, we’ve got to be competitive, organised and driven, all those boxes we’ve got to tick.
“I’m pleasantly surprised with some of the players we’ve got here. From an opposition point of view you don’t really rake in all their qualities, but now that I’m working with these guys the last few weeks, from a fitness level, finishing and tackling and heading, there’s a lot that we can work with here.
“The two lads we have in, Romeo and Dante, I think they’ll have an impact on the league. They’re fit lads, they’re big lads. They’re not here for the weather, they’re here to try and win a few games and play as well as they can. They won’t do it on their own. We’ll all have to dig in. We’ll all have to be at it. If we are, hopefully we’ll all enjoy the season.”
He has, in particular, been impressed with Kris Twardek who arrived mid-way through last season. Buckley feels that Rovers fans didn’t see the best of the Canadian during his first few months here.
“Kris’ fitness levels, in the league there wouldn’t be a fella fitter than him. I can guarantee you. His play has been much different to what you would have seen last year, particularly at the back end of last season. He’d been playing with an ankle injury for months. I know myself, you get no thanks for it. Your performance can dip. It is a distraction. I remember speaking to him at the end of the season and he said ‘gaffer I’ll have all of this tidied up, I’ll come back here and you won’t believe how fit I’ll be’. And he’s true to his word. He’s training brilliantly, he’s been playing fantastically well in the few friendlies we’ve had. I’m chuffed with him.”
Assistant manager John Russell has been putting the players through their paces during pre-season, but Buckley is not ruling him out of the squad. He knows that he has more to offer.
“John Russell is doing a great job. In 2013 John was in my team every week and he played a big part in that league win. Just because he’s 30 something doesn’t mean he’s finished. I won a league myself at 35. I’m looking at John and he’s fitter than I was at that stage, but he’s not 35! He has a lot to offer.”
Buckley is also very appreciative of the talented youth players within his squad who have been developed by the club’s underage system.
“It’s fantastic. They’re great lads. There’s seven or eight that will be involved in our group. They’re going to have to earn their place in the team. They are good footballers. I’ll enjoy working with them. The qualities that they have, I have no doubt that the crowd will buy into that. We all need to get that buzz going.”
So far he is enjoying his time in Sligo. But he hasn’t come here because it’s a nice place.
“This is a great place, now that I’ve come up here. The town itself, the scenery. But we’re here to win matches, the lads are here to win matches. Budget wise, we wouldn’t be at the same level as St. Pats, or Cork, or Shamrock Rovers or Dundalk, so that is an incentive for guys to go to those clubs instead of us. It’s not that we’re the outposts or a million miles away. I’m enjoying Sligo. The key in all of this is winning games and getting fans behind the team.
“When Sligo are going well, and I do remember back, they had 3,000 people coming to games and they were filling this place. Especially when Pats came up because we were going well at the time as well. I hope that we can somehow muscle our way back into that. That can afford me a budget to go after bigger players from a monetary point of view and we’ll have more money to play around with. In fairness, we’re all doing our best.”
He is confident that if he gets the best out of his squad, they will surprise a few people.
“I’m still working with our lads here. I’m not saying we’ll be this style or that style, we will have a style about us. If they’re all at their best, they wouldn’t be at Sligo Rovers if they weren’t good players, we’ll have a chance of winning every game.
“It’s incumbent on every player in every club to be absolutely bursting their proverbials to do well for the club. This is your job.
“And it’s a privileged job, having done it for a number of years. You get a fantastic kick out of playing well and winning matches and the community out here, it would be great for them. We have to go into this together and the players, staff and all of us have to understand more people, more sponsorship, more coverage, there’s a knock on effect. We want to get into that cycle.
“If they’re at their best the rest will look after itself. The crowd will appreciate that. If we’re winning games and we’re in the mix here, I want them to come back out, this is their team, this is their club, I’m privileged to be managing it. There would be nothing better for me at the end of this season than to be able to say ‘Jesus we did a good job’.”
He wants the crowd to turn up in their numbers to help drive them towards picking up more points at home than last year when they only won four games.
“We need to get them playing with confidence, energy. There won’t a team fitter. We need a crowd to make sure that instead of the way it was last year, when we didn’t pick up too many in points in Sligo, that we pick up points in Sligo.
“It’s been fantastic. Everyone has wished me well. We’ve got a fantastic reception, me and my wife. We’ll enjoy our kids coming up here with their girlfriends and watching us play. We’re really enjoying it.
“I’d like us all to have a bit of fun with it. I’d like our supporters to understand we are working really hard to get this team moving forward. Ultimately, if you don’t make the top four, you’re behind. The revenue that you can accrue through that can help develop the club.”
He wants to be able to plan ahead in order to build the club back to its former glory of seven or eight years ago.
“Ultimately, whether it’s this year, next year or the year after, that has to be our ambition to get into the top four and stay there. That’s where the likes of Shamrock Rovers, Cork and Dundalk have stayed. You have to plan ahead. That’s what we’ll try and do. I’d like them to be thinking ahead and we can plan ahead with them in relation to contracts and renewing contracts.
“I’d be excited for the players. There’s a lot of good players here. It’s not so much telling them what to do, we’ll guide them. I can’t have asked for more in pre-season training with some of the running they’ve done, and some of the on-field stuff, the gym stuff.
“We took them up to Slish Wood and they were pulling a serious shift there. We took them to IT Sligo, they’re doing 1k runs on the pitch and football stuff. Liam Kerrigan, Twardek, Romeo, Jack Keaney, they all have ability. The reason they are here playing for Sligo Rovers is because of that ability.”