CORK CITY HAVE confirmed that club legend Joe Gamble is returning to Turner’s Cross as assistant manager.
Gamble joins the club after coaching spells with Waterford FC and Limerick FC, and will be a familiar face alongside former team-mate Neale Fenn.
Gamble, 37, said he was delighted to be returning to a club where he won a league, FAI Cup and Setanta Sports Cup as a player.
“I’m ecstatic to be here. I left the club 10 years ago as a player, so it has taken me 10 years to get back here, which is just the way football goes,” Gamble said.
“This has always been my club, and I didn’t think it would take this long for me to get back here! I have great passion for this club and my time here as a player was probably the most enjoyable part of my playing career. Obviously, I am now a coach and I just can’t wait to get going.
“We know it wasn’t a great season in 2019, there was great success before that, but this is a new chapter. Neale and myself are here now, and we want to be successful. We know there are a lot of good young players at the club and around Cork; there is fantastic work being done in the academy and there is great potential there, so we need to help them realise that potential and make them into first team players.
“It will take time to bring young players through, but we want to be competitive. We want to be up in the top half of the table and more. We are Cork City and we want to be competitive; nothing else bar that sort of ambition and drive will be acceptable.
“As a Corkman and having been involved in great nights at Turner’s Cross, we want teams to come here and have to earn anything they get. Home or away, we want to be tough to beat and be competitive.”
Gamble joins the club following a difficult year at Turner’s Cross. City finished eighth in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division Table, winning just nine of their 36 games, while long-serving manager John Caulfield left the club in May.
Head coach Fenn believes that Gamble will bring a winning mentality back to a club that massively underachieved last season.
“I’m absolutely delighted. Obviously, I played with Joe here at City and I know the type of character he is,” Fenn said.
“He’s a winner and he’s also a highly qualified and respected strength and conditioning coach as well, which brings another dimension to the staff here.
“Joe has played here, he’s won trophies here, he’s been to England, he’s played internationally, so he ticks a lot of boxes. He wanted to come back here to his hometown club, and I am delighted to have him. It is important that we have a strong Cork core in the squad and the staff, and Joe is certainly one of those. He lives and breathes Cork City, and I know he will put his heart and soul into it.”
