UCD manager Maciej Tarnogrodzki says he wants to be in charge for next season's SSE Airtricity League First Division campaign. The Students' relegation was confirmed on Friday night after a 3-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers at the Bowl. Coupled with Fi
UCD manager Maciej Tarnogrodzki says he wants to be in charge for next season's SSE Airtricity League First Division campaign.
The Students' relegation was confirmed on Friday night after a 3-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers at the Bowl.
Coupled with Finn Harps' victory over Waterford FC it means UCD can't catch up with the Ballybofey club.
It would have taken a minor miracle for College to perform the great escape, even before the defeat to the Extra.ie FAI Cup finalists.
"When we lost in Cork, we knew more or less what was going to happen," Tarnogrodzki admits to our reporter Peter Branigan.
"It's disappointment, but you've got to move on and try to take positives and build for the future."
It was a tough season at Belfield, with a host of top players leaving for other clubs.
Gary O'Neill and Neil Farrugia, who showed just how dangerous he could be for his new club at the Bowl on Friday, went to Shamrock Rovers, striker Conor Davis went to Derry City, while an apparent move to the UK left Liam Scales out of the team during a crucial summer period; the move would subsequently fall through.
On top of that former manager Collie O'Neill departed the club. The Drogheda native had been involved with UCD in various capacities since 2011, but rumoured disagreements over team selection led to tension between the manager and the board, and it all seemed to come to a head after a disastrous 10-1 defeat to Bohemians.
It was not the sort of thing that you associated with UCD. All that left Tarnogrodzki with an unenviable task, and he says he wants a proper run at a full season in 2020.
"I hope so," he says when I asked when he'll be at the helm for next season.
"We'll see what's going to happen after the Waterford game."
"I've been ready for the first team for a while, it's just getting this opportunity (is tough). I want to move on and develop myself.
"In the majority of European leagues, if you do well as a youth coach you are promoted to the first team.
"It doesn't happen that often in Ireland."
The former Bray Wanderers supremo, reflecting on the season as a whole, says it was a new challenge for him.
"It's a completely different dynamic when a team is at the bottom of the league, it's a psychological thing.
"For me it was a new experience. My teams are usually towards the top of the table, and playing quite offensive football, and scoring a lot of goals and being creative.
"When I came here, the team had just lost 10-1, so you need to change the approach a little bit, and have a balance.
"There were good performances, if you look at the way we played, but we were just missing the cutting edge in the final third. We also gave away some very soft goals."
