It has not been the best of times to be a Sligo Rovers fan. The draws for the European competitions took place this week, without the team from The Showgrounds. In what used to become a regular diary entry for fans of the Bit o' Red after five appearances in six years, Monday's draw came and went without any excitement in the north west.
Instead of taking about trips to Albania, Ukraine, Lithuania and Norway like they had in recent years, Rovers fans have spoken about the managerial situation. Officially, Owen Heary is still manager of the club, only half way through the first year of a two year contract.
Last night on Off the Ball, Stuart Byrne told Joe that Owen Heary had been sacked as manager of Sligo Rovers and was not going to return to the club. The news may have come to a surprise to many in the wider footballing community but not to those in Sligo. That news had been widely reported online and even on RTE's Soccer Republic over two weeks ago.
At the time of writing, there has been no confirmation from the club about Heary's departure. It has been spoken about openly in the national media. Fans in the north west are waiting for the white smoke to emerge from The Showgrounds.
Club icon Joseph Ndo took temporary charge of their last game before the summer break against Dundalk. The Cameroonian may have been on the sidelines, but he was not on the teamsheet given to press. Both managers names were suitably absent from the teamsheet handed around The Showgrounds pressbox.
It is just over a year, since the club sacked Ian Baraclough as manager of the club. The now Motherwell manager brought the league, FAI Cup and Setanta Cup to Sligo in a short but historic period in charge. The Setanta Cup win meant that the side won every domestic trophy available to them in a eight and a half year period starting with the First Division title in 2005.
Sligo Rovers' Joseph Ndo celebrates with the Setanta Cup ©INPHO/Donall Farmer
The affable Englishman was replaced by John Coleman, who guided the side to the clubs first European win since 1995. They also famously defeated Rosenberg in Norway in what was one of the best results for an Irish side in Europe in recent memory, before losing the tie at home. Coleman's tenure lasted just 88 days before he returned home to England to take charge of Accrington Stanley.
Gavin Dykes, who was part of the backroom staff under Baraclough and Coleman took caretaker charge until the end of the season as a permanent replacement was eyed up. That man was to be Owen Heary. The then Bohemians manager has started his managerial campaign promisingly and was snapped up by on a two year contract last October as the club looked to return to the top of the table, after only winning the league two years previously.
Heary's tenure never lived up to the heights it was expected to as Rovers flirted with the bottom of the table after the first round of games. He was only able to gain one league win in the opening 12 league games, but five other draws kept the point column slowly ticking.
The club brought many new additions into the team in the off season including Estonian international Sander Puri and former Bohemians striker Dinny Corcoran. The mixture of the new signings with club stalwarts and some promoted youth team players never paid off.
When rumours of Heary's departure began to surface locally two weeks ago, Damien Richardson and Mick Cooke were openly mentioned by fans as two possible candidates to take the job. No more has been heard about that in the past ten days.
Ndo's stint on the sideline against Dundalk, meant that the recently steady Sligo Rovers had used their fifth manager in less than a year. The team returns to action this Saturday night against Bray in the Carlisle Grounds, with players and fans not sure what the immediate future holds.
The Setanta Cup win over Dundalk in May of last year now feel like the end of a historic golden period for the club and its fans. Sligo Rovers are almost unrecognisable now from the one that was seen only 13 months ago.
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