Dolan called before league to explain newspaper articles

CORK CITY manager Pat Dolan will today appear before the Board of Control of the eircom League on foot of recent newspaper articles in his name.

Clearly the members of the Board view some of Dolan’s recent utterances as controversial but officers were not prepared to discuss the matter in any detail before the meeting.

Said Brendan Dillon, chairman of the league: “This meeting was called because of recent newspaper articles and we want to discuss the content of them with him.

“I want to make it clear that no disrepute charge has been made against him. But our job as a board of control is to see if there is a case to answer and that is why we need to talk to him,” Mr. Dillon added.

Cork’s manager has been very outspoken in recent weeks on several issues as they affect the Cork club.

Most recently he was unhappy that last week’s eircom League match against Shelbourne was brought forward from Friday to Thursday.

The League ordered a change to facilitate Shelbourne’s friendly tournament at the week-end involving Leeds United and Aston Villa.

He said: “I have no concerns at all about any of my articles and I really don’t know much about this.

“It does not suit me to travel to Dublin for one meeting on a Wednesday when we have an important training session for next Friday’s important match against Shamrock Rovers.

“But I relish the chance to talk to the officers of the league and to give them my views on where Irish football is going and how it should be run.”

Dolan said that he would be suggesting that the three-man committee meet him at a central venue half-way between Dublin and Cork to enable him to take some part in Cork’s training session.

The other two members of the eircom League’s committee are Tommy Allen, general manager, and Declan O’Looney, hon. treasurer.

The committee interviewed another manager of an eircom League club on Monday and Mr. Dillon said: “I don’t wish to say anything about it because we have not arrived at a decision.”

Meanwhile Cork City are planning on playing a challenge game against Bolton Wanderers at Turner’s Cross on Wednesday, September 3.