Roddy Collins has slammed Bohemians for being too focused on political issues and not worrying enough about winning trophies.
The ex-Bohs boss, who made the comments in his column on Buzz.ie, believes the new Bohs manager should have one sole focus, and that is to win football matches and take home silverware.
'The Rodfather' believes that fans of the Phibsboro club have been tricked into thinking the club is doing well, despite the fact that it has been 13 years since 'The Gypsies' lifted the Premier Division trophy. Collins also ruled himself out of the running for the Bohs job, stating that he wouldn't get the support he needed from the board to do the job properly.
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Here's what Roddy had to say:
Roddy Collins: I have not applied to become the new Bohemians manager and I won’t be doing so.
In the days that have followed Keith Long’s departure from Dalymount Park, countless Bohs fans have contacted me about the position, urging me to return to the club.
It ain’t happening. Right now, I would not get the freedom and support from the Gypsies board to turn the club into trophy winners and that would frustrate me.
Back in September, 1998 I received a phone call from a senior Bohs official to ‘come in and give a hand’ in the wake of Joe McGrath’s exit.
I was happy to do so and by the end of that season I had steered the team to Premier Division survival via the play-offs.
When I left Bohs in June, 2001, we had won the double, finished as FAI Cup runners-up and beaten Kaiserslautern and Aberdeen away from home in the Uefa Cup.
Structure
Could Bohs emulate such success in the near future? Yes. Will it happen? No, due to the way that the club is currently operated.
Any organisation that makes social inclusivity and its local community key elements of its structure must be applauded and Bohs do so much great work in Phibsboro and Dublin’s northside.
But somewhere along the way, the club has forgotten that being a successful football club is its primary objective. Winning trophies is now a secondary issue.
Bohemians is a club that is now too political and this is wrong. To me, it seems that the least important thing there is football, with no ambition to win silverware.
The new boss faces a tough task in changing the culture up in Dalymount. Here’s what he needs to do to win the battle.
He must keep the young players that the club continues to develop by banging his fists on the boardroom table and ensuring that the club finds the money to keep them on longer and more lucrative contracts.
Since last December, Bohs have lost Georgie Kelly, Andy Lyons, Ross Tierney, Dawson Devoy, Promise Omochere, Jack Moylan and Sean Grehan. This is simply not good enough for a club of Bohs’ stature.
But this culture has been there for decades. When Billy Young was in charge during the early to mid-eighties, Jacko McDonagh, Paul Doolin, Terry Eviston, Kevin Brady and Liam O’Brien all left for Shamrock Rovers to become key members of their four-in-a-row title-winning run.
It’s the job of the manager to secure these great young talents and sign experienced stars — not being cosy with the board and being buddies with the directors.
Keith was there for eight years — no trophy to show for his efforts. It amazes me that he was offered a new four-year contract last year.
Wrong emphasis
For me, the emphasis is all wrong at Bohs, so even if I received a call from their board, I would not go there.
The Hoops are setting the standards in Dublin and right across the League of Ireland.
But Bohemians can be just as big a club as Rovers. Now, they’re content with beating them in derby games as happened on Friday night.
How far are Bohs behind Rovers? 10 to 20 years.
If the Bohs board is brave and takes the correct approach they will appoint a boss that only sees winning football matches and silverware as his brief, with everything else irrelevant.
This will bring him into conflict with the board but so what?
The sale of young players, the €1.7 million received from Wolves when Matt Doherty moved to Spurs two years ago and strong ticket sales have left plenty of money in the club’s kitty.
So it should be invested in keeping the best young players there when offers arrive in from Shamrock Rovers and Britain.
There has been a lot of sympathy extended to Keith in the past few days over the platter exodus but it doesn’t wash with me.
He should have put a gun to the head of the board and told the directors ‘if they go, then I go’.
Did Shelbourne keep trying to buy Glenn Crowe when I was Bohs boss and he scored an incredible 25 goals when we won the league? Of course they did but they didn’t get him when I was in charge.
The same applied to Kevin Hunt, while I refused to budge with the board when it kept stalling on my bid to sign Trevor Molloy from St Patrick’s Athletic. We got him in the end.
My belligerence didn’t go down well and I remember one director telling me that if ‘I kept my head down I had a job for life’.
Nonsense
Nonsense, I wanted success, not a job for life and every manager must think this way.
It’s 2009 since Bohs last won the Premier Division crown and 12 months before that since the FAI Cup was last claimed by the club. Since 2009, the Setanta Sports Cup was won in 2010.
Bohs fans have been hoodwinked for the past 12 years.
It’s time for real and meaningful change at Bohemian Football Club, not just the arrival of a new first team
manager.
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