Russell expects to register as a player for 2020 season

HE admits he played more than he expected to in 2019, but Sligo Rovers Assistant-Manager John Russell says he expects he will once against register as a player in case his services are required throughout the season.

He said: “I think it will be similar this year because we had a small, tight squad. Liam is looking at me at 34 and saying ‘you’d be mad to hang up your boots’. He’d rather have me as an option in case he needs to throw me in. I probably didn’t expect to play ten games last year. I’ll just keep fit.

“It’s hard to juggle the two and train at maximum with the lads when you’re planning and delivering the session and setting them up. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes so it is difficult doing the two. My main focus is on the coaching but I would imagine I’ll register as a player just to have the option.”

Russell says both he and manager Liam Buckley were delighted to get the signatures of two proven players, in Darragh Noone and Garry Buckley, over the line, to bring to 15 the number of players signed ahead of the new season.

He said: “Liam has worked really hard in the off-season finding players we want to bring to the club, obviously good players who are going to add to the group that we have. There was 13 signed before so it’s about bringing in quality players to improve us and for players already at the club that they can see quality coming in the door and it will raise their game as well. We’re delighted to get the two lads in.”

Rovers are not far off a full squad, and getting lads in as early as possible is always ideal. The fact that both Noone and Buckley know the league and will not need time to adjust to playing in the league, is also a welcome boost for the Rovers management team.

Russell added: “Ideally you want to be starting back in the first week of January with your squad in place and everyone starting to gel as quickly as possible and getting our playing style across to the players, everyone feeling good and getting lads settled in Sligo. We’re in a good spot at the minute having 13 signed from last year, that we’re not recruiting a huge turnover of players.

“You identify the best players in the league and try and recruit them. It is difficult in Sligo, budgets dictate that and sometimes you have to pay a premium to get these top players to come to Sligo and that’s why over the years Sligo have been known to recruit foreign players because you probably;y get value for money but within that there’s probably unknown factor of how they will settle into the area, how they will settle in to the league, so with the likes of Garry and Darragh you know what you’re getting. They’re proven players.”

He explained why Buckley and Noone were targets of the club’s during the off-season.

“Garry is a proven player in the league, won leagues, won cups, played in Europe. He’s ready-made. He’s a player that can jump straight into your team. That was an area we looked at in the off-season, we need to strengthen our midfield in the middle of the park so Garry adds goals, gets into the box, creates chances and he’s a real box-to-box player so excited to have him on board.

“Darragh Noone is a real high prospect. We would have identified him as well early on. He will excite the fans, he’s another play who goes box-to-box, gets himself in good scoring positions and he has real high potential.”

The experience and the potential leafership qualities in a player like Buckley will be of huge benefit to the squad, particularly younger players, according to Russell.

“That’s one of the things we speak about when we’re looking at players, their character . You want talented players coming in your door but you also want good people and people coming into the dressing room who buy into the demands of full-time football. Whether it requires living your life right, wanting to bring success to Sligo, trying to break into those European spots, trying to get to the business end of the season challenging for trophies. The likes of Garry being there, he’s done it, they’re the type of lads we want. We’ve got a young squad and anyone who has watched us last year, there was a lot of home grown players who have come through the youth system. To see those guys day in day out, see how they operate, it has a huge influence on the younger lads seeing how they train and how they apply themselves.”

Daryl Fordyce is the only player from 2019 whose future is uncertain as of yet. Russell confirmed that Liam Buckley has been in talks with the Belfast man, with negotiations ongoing: “Daryl was a great player for us and a really good lad, again talking about characters in the dressing room. A top guy. Liam is in negotiations with him.”

Outside his Rovers duties, Russell has also been key to the setting up of a PFAI training camp for out-of-contract players that is taking place in Mayo later this week.

“I spoke to the PFAI during the year. I just felt that over the years there’s always stuff being done in Dublin over in the East Coast so I poached Stephen during the year and asked if there was anyway we could get funding and run an out-of-contract camp in the west of Ireland. He said he would look into it and they were able to secure some funding so we’re looking to start that this week. I said I’d help out just to get it off the ground so that’s going to be a big plus for any of the guys who are unsure whether they’re being let go or going from Finn Harps, Athlone, Galway, Sligo, Longford, Limerick, it’s an option for guys coming back from England. They’ll be able to join up with the guys in Dublin and there’s a couple of games planned, they’re going to Rochdale . It’s not just for players who might have played this year but also guys who might have played two or three years ago that want to come back into the league.”