United boss pays the price for poor start

Date Published: 01-Apr-2008

APPLAUDED by his former fans before the game, jeered by his own fans after it, Saturday night marked the end of Tony Cousins’ reign as Galway United manager after another defeat forced the club’s board to act yesterday morning.

There are some who say that sacking the manager after four games was premature, but the simple fact is he was given the boot after 62 games in charge, and rather than being a bit early to act, there is merit in the argument that the club moved four games too late to end the former Rovers player’s tenure at the club.

The final straw was the utterly abject showing by his team on Saturday night, and in that respect the players should hang their heads in shame as their performance — or rather, the lack of one — effectively meant that three men lost their jobs yesterday, with both Alan Gough and Philip Coffey also relieved of their posts at the club.

Goals in either half were enough to seal the win for a ShamrockRovers side that didn’t have to rise above the ordinary to move back into second in the table. That was a major disappointment in the first four games of this season, the fact that Bohs, Pats and now Rovers each took three points from United without really needing to impress.

Cousins made an appearance on Monday Night Soccer on RTE last night and just lacked a little bit of dignity by having a moan about his former employers. True, he had just lost his job earlier in the day and was bound to feel hurt, but he was somewhat economical with the facts.

He might have brought United to their best league finish in 14 years, but he wasn’t responsible for their promotion; and his ……………………..