NEALE FENN WILL be given a budget that will allow him to build a squad capable of returning Cork City to the upper echelons of League of Ireland football next season.
That’s according to City chairman Declan Carey, who says the SSE Airtricity League club has put together a three-year plan with the intention of recovering from a dismal 2019.
John Caulfield, whose reign as manager was brought to an end in May, bemoaned cuts to his budget as his team struggled to reproduce the results and performances that yielded a Premier Division title and two FAI Cups earlier in his tenure.
As City sit in seventh place in the table with nine games to go, Fenn has been appointed first-team head coach following his sudden resignation as manager of Longford Town.
For the first time since 2014, the Leesiders’ accounts won’t be boosted by a cash windfall from competing in Europe next season. Their last realistic chance of securing a Europa League place ended when they were dumped out of the FAI Cup by Galway United on Friday.
“We’ll sit down with Neale over the next couple of weeks and we’ll build a competitive budget for him for next year to put a squad together, and a competitive one at that, to bring us back up to the top of the table, play some exciting football, get the fans back into the ground and get the excitement back,” said Carey.
“I know myself personally from speaking to supporters, speaking to our shareholders and members, that the morale isn’t as good as it was over the last couple of years. That’s natural. We had a stack of trophies only two or three years ago. That’s changed now and we need to bring it back.”
Speaking at yesterday’s unveiling of Fenn at the Cork International Hotel, Carey added: “I don’t want to go into the ins and outs of Neale’s own contract, that’s kind of between us and him, but we have a three-year plan to get back up to the top. The first port of call is to get the club back into Europe and then take it from there; challenge for the top two and eventually win a league title again.
“That’s ultimately what we want to do. We want to bring trophies back to this city. The fans and everyone who works so hard for the club — the staff, volunteers and all the backroom team — that’s what everyone deserves and we want to give everyone the best chance of getting that.”
Carey also rejected suggestions that the timing of Fenn’s appointment contributed to the club’s elimination from the FAI Cup. After the 1-0 loss in Galway, interim boss John Cotter said preparations were detrimentally impacted when he was informed that it would be his final game in charge.
On the eve of the second-round tie, Cotter delivered the news to the Cork City players as speculation mounted regarding the imminent arrival of their new manager, who watched from the stands as City were dumped out as a result of a Conor Melody goal.
“I suppose you can make excuses one way or another for performances or whatever,” Carey said. “At the end of the day, we’re a professional team. These kind of things shouldn’t impact us — speculation, rumours or whatever.
“I and the Board wanted to be open and honest with John about his role. I’ve worked very well with him over the last couple of months while he was doing the interim head coach role as well. We sat down with John and we were open, honest and up-front with him, which I know for certain is what he would have wanted.
“We gave John the option then of when to tell the players and when to tell the staff. We offered him support with that, whatever way he wanted to manage it. He knows the players better than anyone. That’s the way he chose to make the communication to the staff and players. We support John in that and we’ve supported him for the last couple of months. We’ll continue to support him.”
Carey stated that Cotter will now revert to his previous role as assistant manager, with Fenn expressing his desire to retain the existing backroom staff. However, it’s understood that Cotter is unlikely to choose to remain involved in the set-up.
