Stephen Bradley ‘not concerned’ about his future at Shamrock Rovers

Shamrock Rovers’ manager Stephen Bradley insists he is “not concerned” about his future.

Bradley’s side suffered a third consecutive loss on Monday night with defeat to basement side Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds.

But the former Arsenal starlet accepted he, and his side, deserve to be criticised after losing four of their last five Premier Division outings.

“I’m not concerned. No, not at all,” remarked Bradley when asked if he felt under pressure.

“We deserve every bit of criticism we get — the players, myself.

“You’re at Shamrock Rovers and you’re losing three-games in-a-row. It’s not good enough; it’s not acceptable. We know that.”

With a growing discontent among Rovers faithful, Bradley is confident he’ll get the support of the club’s board to see the long-term ‘project’ of focusing on underage football and development of a proper training facility in Roadstone.

“Time will tell on that. I’m at a big club and you have to win games - I get that. I understand that and have done so from the start.

No excuse

“We don’t use that (the long term project) as a fall-back or excuse. That has always been the goal. But it doesn’t give me leeway to lose three games. It’s not good enough.”

He stressed: “I don’t use ‘the project’ as an excuse. I know what we have to do. I’m fully behind this group of players and what we’re building. We’re not a million miles away. But right now, we’re going through a rough patch. Do you walk from it or do you stand up as a group and say, ‘right let’s go’. I’m well aware that we need to win games. Overall, we have to keep working hard, keep our heads down. And cut-out the silly errors. I believe in this group long-term. Come the end of the season, I think we’ll be fine.”

Despite losing five of their six away matches already in the campaign, Bradley believes his current squad is better than the one who finished third in 2017. “This year, we’re a different team. I know we’re a better team. If you look at the goals we’re giving away and break it down, every one of them are errors on our part. We haven’t gone anywhere in the country and got opened up by any team. Everything has been our mistakes. We just have to cut-out the silly errors.”