What a season that was, 2021 will go down as the season to forget. From a shambolic transfer window in January, a non-existent pre-season in February, a poor transfer strategy, a managerial merry-go-round, departures on and off the field, national media headlines, a European run,many many missed opportunities and a takeover saga, 2021 was one hell of a season.
In the off season we saw core players leaving the club, such as Sean Gannon, Sean Hoare, John Mountney, Jordan Flores and Dane Massey to name a few, the alarm bells started ringing early on.
In December 2020 we saw the arrival of Jim Magilton as Sporting Director to oversee player recruitment and contract negotiations, at the time we didn’t know the extent of the incompetence that was on show in the club, but a recent interview with Dane Massey and Brian Gartland on LOI Central certainly shone a light on it.
During this interview Dane Massey highlighted how poorly he was treated by Jim Magilton during contract negotiations. Dane received a call from then manager Filippo Giovagnoli asking Dane to call Jim to discuss his contract for next season. Of course Dane was concerned by this, rightly so, why, given the service Dane Massey had given to Dundalk FC over his time with the club should he go chasing a contract, why would the club not provide a contract and allow the player decide if they would accept, deny or negotiate, but certainly not chase a contract, this showed a total lack of respect from the club. Unfortunately this was a trait shown to other players at this time. The fans were completely unaware at the time that this was the approach by the club.
February started on a positive note with a Presidents Cup win over Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght, a penalty save from Abibi set the course for what “could” be a good season, but off-field antics would dictate otherwise.
Staying in February, the club received their fine from UEFA for breaking the shadow coaching rules during the Europa League campaign of 2020, this started the ball rolling on a managerial train-crash that would play out over the next two months, weeks previous to this Filippo Giovagnoli was given the role of Full Time Team Manager with Shane Keegan as assistant, after the Shadow Coaching fine was issued the club released a statement to say that Filippo was demoted to Team Coach while Shane, who had all the correct UEFA pro licenses, was promoted to First Team Manager, unbeknownst to Shane.
Filippo and Shane .
In April, we lost not just one Manager but two when Filippo and Shane both left and the club was managerless for the next three months with Jim Magilton reluctantly taking the wheel and overseeing some of the poorest results the club has seen in recent seasons, but he insisted he had many people interested in the managers job, from all across Europe and throughout the World, even the fans among us with poor eyesight could see the Bullshit being spouted, enough was enough.
In April we also saw protests outside Oriel against the owners Peak6 and the chairman Bill Hulsizer, these protests continued for some weeks at many home games until the club started taking measures to prevent the banners being seen and trying to stop fans from protesting, the club instructed Gardai to stop supporters from watching the games from the perimeter of Oriel Park and confiscated banners from supporters.
With all the protests happening throughout April and May the call went out to the supporters to come together and establish a supporters group with the view of having a voice and an influence to open communication with the club, this led to the establishment of The 1903 Supporters Club, with approximately 300+ members it’s the largest group of Dundalk supporters gathered together. If you haven’t joined yet please visit their website on www.the1903.ie and join today.
In June we saw the return of Vinny Perth, nearly one year after being let go by the club, with all the CVs received by Jim it was surprising to many to see Vinny return, but thankfully he did.
We also saw the departure of Chris Shields from Oriel Park, it was a hard departure to take by many fans but he received a send off befitting a club legend.
July saw a turbulent few weeks, we had a good European run beating Newtown Saints, Lavedia Tallin and pushing Vitesse Arnhem to within minutes of qualification but missed out on the final qualification stages for the Conference League group stages. Our European performances were like the good times of old but our domestic form wasnt as good, a Jekyll and Hyde season to say the least.
Staying in July, we also heard rumours that the Derry Boys were departing Oriel Park when news broke that they signed agreements with Derry for next season, Patrick Mc Eleney and Michael Duffy were leaving Oriel Park, it was devastating news. It was heartbreak for many fans, the thought of them playing next season with Derry City was unbearable. But that was Football, wasn’t it.
In August, Covid restrictions were lifted somewhat, 2000 fans were allowed back into Oriel, and boy did it make a difference!! The Oriel Roar was back. As Sean Murray mentioned during an interview, “You don’t want to put in a poor performance in front of that crowd because they will let you know about it, they drive you on”, the 12th man was back in Oriel and since then we only lost one game at home since the crowd returned.
In September our home form continued, Covid restrictions were lifted fully, a full crowd was back, and beating Rovers at home was the highlight for many but the lowest being the cup exit at the hands of St Pat’s in Richmond Park, the season seems to be all but lost. Given our poor league form of recent times there was talk of a relegation battle and first division football for next season and while this thought was worrying, we knew, it couldn’t happen. Could it?? Slipping in and out of the playoff spot, the fight between Finn Harps, Waterford and ourselves continued until we met Drogheda in October. A win there and we were safe, the permutations of European Football was the conversation of many, with Rainman like calculations discussed we knew, a win against Drogheda and other results going our way would put us back in the mix, that was how compacted the league table was.
A close 1-0 win against Drogheda away saw us move clear of the relegation battle, we were finally safe, but other results not going our way meant our European dream was over. For the first time since 2011, Dundalk wouldn’t be playing in Europe the following season.
For many fans staying in the Premier division was the mission, it was mission completed, but with rumours of a club takeover starting to whisper from many sources, it soon became the only talking point among fans.
With many interested parties emerging only one consortium was the fan favorite, a consortium of Andy Connolly and StatsSports, the option to send the Americans home while putting the club back in local hands was the dream outcome.
November 10th 2021 will be a date many Dundalk fans will remember for a long time, a statement was released by Dundalk FC, the white smoke rose from Oriel Park, the takeover of the club was completed, the club was back in local ownership, Andy Connolly and StatsSports were the new owners and the fans were ecstatic, finally some positive news and the future was looking alot brighter. The buzz was back around the town, around the club, the good times were in sight.
Overall, it was a crazy season, ups and downs, crazy decisions and non-stop rumours, cries from the supporters for clarification on….eh….. basically everything, it was overall a season to forget.
There are other things I didn’t mention, the season was just too long to depress you all with it, after the game on Friday night I’m sure many supporters echoed the feeling, “Thank god that season is over……”, I understand that sentiment completely.
Its time for us all to take some time away from Oriel, rest up and enjoy Christmas. Trust that Andy and Co have the best interest of our club close to their hearts, and, be ready to come together in January, revived and ready to support our club, the players and the new owners in 2022.
Because no matter what happens, this is our club and we will support it until we die.
To finish, in a season of madness, crazy decisions, departures and turmoil, let’s look at the positives, Peak6 are gone, the Shedside Army sent them home with their bags packed, the future is bright again.
In the words of my brother Paul, “No Yanks, Let’s Party!!!”.
C’mon The Town!!