Incoming Sligo Rovers boss Liam Buckley says he wants Bit O’Red supporters to start enjoying their visits to the Showgrounds again. Buckley signed a one year deal with an option of a second and third year before Friday’s win over Shamrock Rovers. T
Incoming Sligo Rovers boss Liam Buckley says he wants Bit O’Red supporters to start enjoying their visits to the Showgrounds again.
Buckley signed a one year deal with an option of a second and third year before Friday’s win over Shamrock Rovers. The Dubliner will officially take up the reigns on Thursday.
Speaking after watching his new side, Buckley, who played five times for the club towards the end of the 1996/97 season, says he wants to tap in to the potential of what is a football mad area.
“I have loads of memories up here”, he said. “I played up here at the tail end of my career. It’s a real football town.
“Rovers have had success in recent years. I remember coming up here in 2012 with St Pat’s and if Sligo had won it, they’d win the league and if we’d won it then it would have gone down to the final two games. It was a great occasion and we want to re-generate that if we can.
“I know things have slipped off a little in the past few seasons but we’re looking to get that bounce back here and have people enjoying games again.”
Buckley’s deal is essentially a three year rolling contract which will be reviewed and updated at the end of each season, should things go to plan.
Explaining the reasoning behind the arrangement, he says: “It’s nothing more than trying to make sure from both my own and the club’s point of view that we work things through.
“It’s also a way of making sure the club are happy with me when the time comes. I’m not looking at this as a one year deal. I’m looking at it as a first step of many and if we bring some success, then maybe it’ll go on a lot longer over the coming years.”
The former St Patrick’s Athletic manager’s teams have often been lauded for their attractive style. Buckley says he won’t change in relation to how he will set Sligo Rovers up in 2019 and wants the club’s younger squad members to be part of that.
“We’ll be trying to play a brand of football not unlike you would have seen at Pat’s. We will put emphasis on that and winning games.
“We will try and bring one or two of the younger players through. You can see how well they did this evening and I’m sure they’ll make some sort of impact next year.”
Buckley is yet to finalise his backroom staff and says he hasn’t yet made contact with his former player John Russell, who is believed to be targeted as a potential assistant.
“I worked with him at Pat’s the year we won the league, but no I haven’t spoken to John in relation to that”, he confirmed.
“I’ll be speaking with the staff and players on Saturday. But it’s going to take another week or so before I talk to others and can tidy everything up.”
Rovers have in all, ten players signed up for the 2019 campaign with question marks hanging over several others. Including Rhys McCabe, Lee Lynch and Mikey Drennan who are yet to confirm their intentions.
Giving away little, Buckley said: “You will have some players who want to move on. Some players will be released. But there are one or two targets we’ll try to get in with a view to improving us. The budget will also dictate what we can do and we have to stick to that.
“I hope the ones we want to stay will stay and we’ll try and improve the squad as much as we can for next season.”
