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Webster has played every minute in the league for Waterford this season. Laszlo Geczo/INPHO
Ever-present

'I loved it there but not getting offered a new contract was a bit of a kick in the teeth'

Dubliner David Webster is enjoying life at Waterford, having been told that he was no longer part of Shamrock Rovers’ plans.

AS ONE DOOR slammed shut, another swung open for David Webster.

Having been a regular in the Shamrock Rovers team for three years, the defender was told by manager Stephen Bradley that he had no future at the club.

They wouldn’t be extending his contract, and thoughts of uncertainty surrounding his future immediately began to set in.

“It’s the first time that has ever happened to me, having been at Bray for so long and then Rovers,” the Dubliner tells The42 this week.

“Not having my contract renewed was a bit of a shock and at the time there is a lot of stuff going through your head. What am I going to do? Is anyone going to want me?”

Webster enjoyed working under the current management team and while it came something of a surprise, he accepts that it is the nature of the business.

“Stephen was an unbelievable player and he knows the game well,” he says. “The training sessions were brilliant and I loved it there but not getting offered a new contract was a bit of a kick in the teeth.

It did [come as a surprise]. We sat down and spoke at the start of last year. They said what they expected of me and that they wanted me to step up, but I felt I did. I thought I had stepped up in the dressing room, vocally and that.

“Look, that’s football and they obviously felt that the club was going in a different direction to the one I was going in. You just need to get on with it.

“On the flip side, it’s probably one of the best things that could have happened to me as I’m loving my football now and this move would never have happened.”

David Webster celebrate victory over Cork City after extra time During his time at Shamrock Rovers. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

Those initial feelings of anxiety didn’t last very long, as his phone rang within an hour of the news breaking.

It was the longest hour of my life!” he says, only half-joking. “Pat [Fenlon] asked what was going on and if we could have a chat. I said ‘Yeah, definitely’ and we got the deal done a couple of days later.”

Fenlon was the man who had brought Webster to Rovers from Bray Wanderers back in November 2014. Nutsy taught him a lot and, now working as director of football at Waterford, he put an offer on the table to link up with the newly-crowned First Division champions for their return to the top flight.

At 28, it was just the kind of challenge that excited Webster.

After playing schoolboy for Shelbourne, Knocklyon Celtic (very briefly) and St Joseph’s Boys, he had joined Bray as a youngster and progressed from the U21s to the senior team with the likes of Dane Massey and Chris Shields.

Seagulls boss Eddie Gormley handed him a league debut at the start of the 2009 season and he would become a mainstay at the Carlisle Grounds over the next five seasons — learning from the coaching of Gormley, Paul Osam, Pat Devlin and Alan Mathews — and going on to captain the side.

“Bray was brilliant, I loved every minute of it,” he explains. “The team at that time was full of experience with the likes of Colm Tressan, who had been there and done it in the League of Ireland.”

David Webster Webster spent five seasons in the League of Ireland with Bray. Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO

Webster jumped at the chance to play professionally when Rovers came calling. Again, it involved a conversation over the phone with Fenlon.

“It’s one of the biggest clubs in the country with their history and all so it was a no-brainer,” Webster says. “I was delighted to get the call, I actually thought it was a piss-take at the time. I was over in Vegas and I had voice message on my phone. I rang back, thinking it was someone taking the piss, and it turned out to be Nutsy.

“But I was proud to get the call and make the step up to full-time football as that is what I had always dreamed of as a kid. I’m very thankful to Pat for the opportunity.”

Around that period, he had been working in Lifestyle Sports while doing a couple of college courses, and although Fenlon said he could keep the job, it was soon packed in to give his complete commitment to the Tallaght outfit.

The levels of expectation at Rovers are notoriously high, and while he admits taking some time to adapt, Webster looks back on his spell there with pride.

You kind of just wing it at the start,” he adds. “As time went on, I got into it and started to really enjoy it. The fans are brilliant and expectation is high, but you enjoy that because you want to play football at the top.”

Now, the centre-half was being told to move on and the Waterford project appealed to him.

“They had run away with the First Division and Pat was there,” he says. “I had spoken to a couple of other people and they told me it was an absolutely brilliant club and that I’d love it down there.

“They did a great job with the re-brand and not so long ago there were only 150 or so going to the games, so the work they had done was unbelievable.

“At the time, I was thinking that I wouldn’t mind getting out of Dublin. Bray is only 15 or 20 minutes away, so I’ve effectively been in Dublin my whole career.”

Pat Fenlon Pat Fenlon has had a big impact on his career. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Webster signed on the dotted line in November and it has proved a smart decision. 11 matches in, he has played every minute at the heart of the Blues defence — striking up a solid partnership with Kenny Browne.

Gary Comerford and Rory Feely have also filled in when ex-Cork City defender Browne has been injury, as he currently is.

“I’ve been playing beside Kenny and he has been there and done it,” he says. “That has rubbed off on me a bit. Gary has slotted in at a few positions and he’s been excellent. It shows how good a player he is, he’s very professional as well. Rory Feely has come into centre-half a couple of times too and he can fill a few roles too.”

I’m loving everything about it at the minute,” he adds. “The travelling isn’t too bad, it’s an hour and 15 minutes down and there are four of us in the car — Paul Keegan, Rory Feely, Dylan Barnett and me.

“Paul’s an absolute legend. He’s so tuned in and he has been a really big personality in our dressing room. I’ve been really impressed with the club’s recruitment, and that’s going on top of the quality that was here already last year.”

Waterford got off to a blistering start and sat joint-top of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division table after a 2-1 win over the current champions Cork City at the beginning of this month.

However, the end of that game also saw influential midfielders Bastien Hery and Stanley Aborah red-carded and the pair are currently serving six and four-game suspensions, respectively (this evening reduced to four and three).

They’ve since been handed 1-0 defeats by Derry City and St Patrick’s Athletic, while their squad has been further depleted by sendings off for Sander Puri and Gavan Holohan.

“It’s more the manner of the defeats that was hard to take,” Webster says. “Up in Derry, the first half was the best we’ve played all season, in my opinion. We took the foot off the pedal after the break and in fairness to Derry they were excellent. The crowd and the atmosphere up there was great, which will have given them a lift. We didn’t have the worst of starts against Pat’s either.

If you look from the outside you’ll see the two boys are missing and think ‘They’re falling apart’, but we’ve played well in spells.

“Look, they’re two quality players and of course we’re going to miss them. Even Sander and Gav are going to be huge losses for us as well.”

Tomorrow night, Webster comes up against his former employers. Bray may sit at the foot of the table, but they will be still on a high from their first win of the season after beating Shamrock Rovers 1-0 on Monday night.

“We were joking earlier on in the season when they were down that it would have been a great time to play them to get points on the board,” he said. “But they’re flying at the minute so it’s going to be a tough game. They were beaten by Dundalk but they played good football and put in a shift.

“They will be rejuvenated but we’re at home and we have a good record. The fans have been excellent all season and they will be behind us so it could be a cracker of a game.”

On this season’s objectives, he adds: “We want to win every game we play so it’s good that there are matches coming thick and fast as we can put those other ones behind us. Expectations on us have changed outside the club with people saying this or that, but within the club we’re just concentrating on staying up and taking one game at a time.

“We’ll re-evaluate then later on down the season if things change. We’re were flying and things changed really quickly with the last two games, so we’re not taking anything for granted.”

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