WE HAD OUR first managerial casualty of the season as Mick Cooke parted company with Athlone Town yesterday.
Sitting rock bottom of the table with no points from their opening ten league games, I think it was the right decision to make at this stage of the season.
It has clearly something that Mick has been thinking about for a couple of weeks and he had discussions with the chairman before any action was taken, which is the responsible thing to do.
The parties came to an amicable agreement in this case and the club went and sought out a successor so they weren’t left floundering without a manager for a week or two.
Mick Cooke is an incredibly nice guy and is always very genuine which you can see in the way that this has been handled.
All in all, it’s best for Athlone whose biggest problem has been conceding too many goals. You look at a club like UCD who tend to let in a lot of goals yet have but have the ability to score.
Athlone have already shipped 27 goals this year (three more from the Students) which is effectively three goals a game.
With Mick bringing in experienced players like Derek Prendergast and Alan Byrne, it looked as though he was making a strong defence his priority and you would have felt they had a good foundation.
But the reality is that didn’t happen and they haven’t been giving themselves an opportunity to pick up points from games. The longer this type of run goes on, the more a team will be drained of a positive mentality.
When you’re getting beaten it just gets worse. Mick is around the players at training every day and would have seen this so it’s best for everyone.
On what he achieved during his time at Drogheda, I believe he would merit another job in the Premier Division. It does seem to be the case that a small pool of managers get the opportunities in this league but that’s because there aren’t enough Pro Licence coaches out there due to the ridiculous length of time it takes and the amount of money it costs to get these badges.
I could certainly see him getting a job soon and there is no reason why he couldn’t come in as a number two somewhere. He’s a fully qualified coach who is a very good character with great experience and knowledge in the game.
I would’ve thought there will be possibilities there but, that said, football can be a fickle business.
Keith Long has been named as Mick’s replacement and he was a very good player I would have played against over the years during his time at St Pat’s and Bray.
It’s bound to be a difficult job for him and he will have to inject some energy into the squad straight away. Addressing the obvious issue that they are conceding too many goals is also vital.
If you want to go in and make yourself hard to beat the problem can be that players perceive that it’s not enjoyable football to play.
So it becomes a balancing act of getting the players on board and making them understand that the way will eventually be a positive if they can stop losing games and starting picking up points.
There are probably a couple of players there who don’t want to be there now because they’re bottom of the league and look like they may not be able to rectify the situation.
He will have to instil some hope into the squad and put in place a system to stop leaking goals and bring some positive energy back into the club.
First up for Keith is a meeting with Bray Wanderers, a club he played for and held the assistant manager’s job at, on Friday night.
They will probably set out to not lose the game first and foremost. If you don’t concede the minimum you will come away with is a point so that’s the way they will look at it.
And if they can get that first point on the board they can go from there.
