Hoops fan Fenlon not giving up on title
And nine months on from leaving Hibs in the SPL, the 45-year-old Dubliner accepts there was probably only one SSE Airtricity League club which could have tempted back into the domestic fray.
“I was offered, without going too much into it, a few jobs in the last few months,” he says. “It wasn’t tickling my fancy to be honest. This is probably the club I wanted to manage. I don’t want to be disrespectful to any other club in the league because it’s a good league with good people. But I did want an opportunity to manage this football club and thankfully that has come.”
Although he only had one season with Rovers as a player, and came to prominence as a manager with Dublin rivals Shelbourne and Bohemians, Fenlon’s connections with the Hoops go back a long way.
“There is a family link,” he explains. “My dad brought me to Milltown and my mam and dad are both from the southside — from Crumlin — so the link was we’d go to my granny’s on a Sunday for dinner and then go to Milltown. That’s how I started following Rovers. But my uncle Christy, as long as I can remember, going back to the early days, he has followed them through thick and thin — the good and bad days. So there is a bit of an affinity there.”
Fenlon has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with Rovers, enough time he hopes in which to plan for the long-term as well as the immediate future.
“One of the things that really interests me here is building a club not just a team,” he says. “There is a great incentive here in that the stadium is in place, the schoolboys is ticking over as there’s been a lot of changes to it by Trevor [Croly], in fairness, and there is a chance to build something. In previous clubs it was about just going out to win football matches and leagues because there was so much money being thrown at it. Here, there is a chance to try and develop, and that is what really interested me as well as winning some trophies.
“You know when you come into a club that the expectations of supporters is to win things but as a manager you have the possibility of trying to bring everything on in that regard as there are good structures in place at the club.”
More immediately, Fenlon has to finalise his backroom staff. He has asked John Gill to stay on as his assistant but, unless the latter has a change of heart, Fenlon thinks he might choose to step aside after the weekend. In terms of alterations to the squad, Fenlon suggests major change is unlikely to happen until next season, although when asked about Paddy McCourt – who he tried to sign at Hibs – he made no attempt to disguise his interest in the player.
First up though, Fenlon, who only took charge of his first training session with the players yesterday, faces the challenge of having to hit the ground running with minimal time to prepare against his former club Derry City in Tallaght tonight (kick off 8pm). And a win, he accepts, is almost mandatory if fourth-placed Rovers are to retain any hope of closing the 12-point gap on leaders Dundalk.
“I’m not coming here to be second,” he says. “It’s difficult, it’s a very, very difficult task but it’s doable. I’ve seen it happen before. We’ve got to win probably 99% of our games to have any realistic chance. You’ve got to beat the teams that are ahead of you. That will be difficult but it is doable and we’ve got to make sure we give ourselves a chance and get ourselves into a position where maybe people look behind and see us making a little bit of a charge.
“I think the real serious goal is to make sure we get that European place. It’s important for the supporters. It was disappointing for them when it came round this year and they saw Pats using this ground for Europe. And from a financial view as well, it’s a help for the club moving forward. That’s probably the bigger goal but we’re not giving up on anything.”
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