Cork City look to add style to spirit

“Chalk and cheese” is how one close observer describes the difference between Cork City 2015 and Cork City 2016.

Not surprisingly, John Caulfield doesn’t go quite so far when asked to sum up the close-season changes in personnel and playing style at Turner’s Cross. But, in his third season at the helm, the manager is willing to concede that his new-look side is now much closer to his original vision of what a Cork City team under his management could and should be.

“We deliberately targeted people to see could we play more expansively,” he says. “As a manager, I’ve always wanted my teams to be entertaining, attacking, and scoring lots of goals. If you look back to the teams I managed in my amateur days, we were always top goal-scorers. As a manager, you want to be excited by your team, you want to see the players go out and be creative.”