CORK CITY HAVE made a change of manager for the run-in that will define their season.
Club owner Dermot Usher has confirmed that Richie Holland will take charge for the final five Premier Division games as well as next week’s FAI Cup semi-final with St Patrick’s Athletic.
Holland took over as caretaker back in May when Colin Healy resigned but returned to a supporting role when Sporting Director Liam Bukley became boss after an unsuccessful search to find a permanent replacement.
Cork were thrashed 5-0 away to Dundalk on Monday night, continuing a dreadful run of form that has seen them lose six of their last eight Premier Division games.
With five more to go the Leesiders are ninth in the table, nine points adrift of Sligo Rovers and set for the promotion/relegation play-off with the First Division side that emerges from their post-regular season series.
“We are conscious that results have not been what we need in recent games. Following internal discussions, we feel it is best to make this change now as we go into the last six games of the season. Liam [Buckley] will now go back to focusing on the role of Sporting Director, which was the role in which he originally joined us, to focus on player and manager recruitment,” Usher said.
“Richie has been with the club a long time and he knows how much our current position is hurting everyone connected with the club. I have no doubt that everyone from the backroom team to the players to the fans are fully focused on improved performances and results over the coming week.
“There is still an awful lot to play for and we need to dust ourselves down and face that challenge.”
Holland added: “This is my club that I have supported from a young age, I played for the club underage, I coached in the women’s team, academy and I’ve been in with the first team for the last couple of years.
“I know how much this club means to the supporters, and I know people are hurting right now.
“We know that this is not where Cork City should be, and we know that recent performances have not been good enough.
“As a collective, we need to get back to the basics that we, and our supporters, expect from a Cork City team. We need to show more hunger and more fight, and we need to be a hard team to play against.
“We know that we have good players here at the club, and we have a lot of lads who are from Cork or have come through the academy, who know what this club means to people.
“Starting with Friday’s game against St. Pat’s, we want to put a team out on the pitch that will give everything for the Cork City crest on the jersey, who will fight for everything and who the fans will get behind.”
