Connor says Utd job is the toughest of his career to date

Date Published: {J}

It was something of a break with tradition when Galway United announced Sean Connor as their new manager earlier this year, the fourth man to take the hot-seat in 22 months.

United have typically opted for a rookie manager, as the previous four appointments of Ian Foster, Jeff Kenna, Tony Cousins and Stephen Lally shows, but this time around the club’s Board opted for experience in bringing in the Belfast native.

With experience comes a certain level of expectation, and Connor has admitted that he was shocked by the lack of structures in place at United, despite having been warned as to the bare look on the cupboard.

“It was really a surprise, there was nothing there when I came in, nothing. The club doesn’t even have a training ground of its own, and it has been a fractious few weeks trying to get somewhere to train.

“There were no players signed when I took over, so with just trying to put a squad together and get somewhere to train, it has put us a few weeks behind everyone else and I think the season is starting probably two weeks too early for us, but we’ll just have to get on with it,” he says.

The expectation that experience will bring a certain degree of success goes both way, and United fans are hailing Connor’s appointment as a turning point for the club. He hopes that will be the case, but he is pleading for patience as he tries to “build this club up from nothing”.

“I would plead with the fans to be patient. The goal this season is to stay out of the bottom three, that is it. Hopefully we’ll achieve that and build from there, but it will be a slow process, we have a very small budget and a low fan base, which is a major surprise given the size of this city, so things will take time,” he says.

It is no secret that Connor will be operating off the smallest budget in the Premier Division this season of €3,000 a week, but despite that, he appears to have attracted some real quality to United, which is fuelling expectations on the terraces.

City native Stephen O’Donnell has joined his home-town club, experienced defender Thomas Heary has also come on board, while fans’ favourite Bobby Ryan returns to the club having picked up league medals with Bohemians and Shelbourne, as well as stints at Dunfermline and St Patrick’s Athletic.

“The players who have come in deserve a lot of credit for accepting the small deals we had to offer. They obviously want to play, and hopefully we have put a good squad together, but it might take them some time to gel and again, I would appeal for a bit of patience as we build for the future,” Connor says.

Part of that building process has seen NUI Galway step in to offer United use of a pitch at Dangan to train, as well as use of the Elite Athletes gym at the university’s Kingfisher Club, something for which Connor is very grateful.

“The college has been very good to us, coming in at a tough time for the club. I was surprised to find when I came here that there was no weights training programme, but that has changed, and the use of the gym and the swimming pool is very welcome,” he says.

United open their league campaign with a trip to Richmond Park to take on St Patrick’s Athletic, a side United beat four times last season, but Connor doesn’t see that happening again.

“Pete Mahon and John Gill have put together a very good squad, I think you’ll have Bohs and Shamrock Rovers challenging for the title, and after them you’ll have Sporting Fingal, Sligo Rovers and Pats. We will be in the third section, and we need to make sure we finish top of that mini-league,” he says.

St Pat’s v Galway Utd, Friday, 7.45pm, Dublin.