Advertisement
New Boss: Mick Cooke. INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Done Deal

Mick Cooke replaces Roddy Collins as Athlone Town boss

This year’s 1st Division champions have appointed a new boss.

ATHLONE TOWN HAVE this morning confirmed that Mick Cooke will take the managerial reins of the club for the 2014 season.

Cooke, who was manager of the Drogheda United team that lost out recently in the FAI Ford Cup final, takes over from Roddy Collins.

Under Collins stewardship, Athlone Town had claimed promotion as they won the Airtricity Division 1 league title this year.

There was controversy last week when Collins expressed his surprise live on Newstalk’s Off The Ball after a tweet from the club’s official account read: “News on the appointment of the new manager tomorrow.”

However, Athlone Town later revealed that the account had been “compromised” and added that the claim was untrue.

On Friday, Athlone Town insisted that they had wanted Collins to stay on as a manager and only advertised for a new boss when they felt that Collins was not committing to another season.

image

Roddy Collins celebrates with the Athlone Town team.
Pic: INPHO/Donall Farmer

Cooke had been at the helm of Drogheda United since 2011 and previously was the manager of Monaghan United.

He also has experience of being in charge of both the Republic of Ireland U17 and U18 girls’ teams and was the assistant manager for a spell at Shamrock Rovers.

Roddy knew the job was his if he wanted it — Athlone

Athlone Town clear up managerial situation after Twitter account is hacked

Your Voice
Readers Comments
5
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.