Cork City offers Clancy a chance to get career back on track
Trim man must be given time
Timmy Clancy is about to open a new chapter in his career in soccer.
His appointment as "head coach" of Cork City FC gives him a chance to resurrect his managerial career which came to an end when he stepped down "by mutal consent" as the manager of St Patrick's Athletic earlier this year.
"I am absolutely thrilled to be joining Cork City and cannot wait to get started. Since speaking to everyone at Cork City, this is an opportunity that I could not pass up and I am really looking forward to the challenge," said Clancy.
The Trim man was signed by Millwall before moving to non-league football with Weymouth, AFC Hornchurch and Fisher Athletic. He later switched to Scotland where he had spells with Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Hibernian and St Johnstone.
When he returned to Ireland he had brief spells with Bray Wanderers, Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers before taking charge of Drogheda Utd. It was a baptism of fire if there ever was one.
The club were in a low place when he took charge ahead of 2018 season with little money and not even a full squad of players.
Clancy went about building a new team and eventually guided the Louth club to the Premier Div. His work with Drogheda earned him high praise indeed - and deservedly so.
Clancy took over as manager of St Pat's ahead of 2021 season and had a promising first season with the club guiding them to fourth in the table and a place in the Europa Conference League.
His team's run in the Conference League included a memorable 0-1 away victory over CSKA Sofia as well a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Mura last July.
This season however things went awry for him at Richmond Park. A slow start to the campaign was compounded by a 2-0 defeat to Bohs at Richmond Park in March with some St Pat's fans calling for Clancy to be sacked.
Instead of sticking with the manager as he went through a stormy patch St Pat's opted to let him go with his assistant Jon Daly taking charge.
Clancy later told the Meath Chronicle he was enjoying his break from the game but now, no doubt refreshed and with batteries recharged, he is looking to get his career back on track.
He also said that the most important thing for a manager is to bring the 'right' players into any club. Players with a good attitude who are willing to learn and work hard. It will be interesting to see who he brings to Turner's Cross.
Cork City were relegated from the Premier Div after losing a play-off to Waterford a few weeks ago.
It's a massive task for Clancy to get the club back up to the top flight but if he is given the resources he should be able to do that - but he must be given time also.
He showed with Drogheda that given the chance he can do what only good coaches can do and mould a group of players into a team and get them to perform to a high standard.
He did that with very limited funds to work with when guiding the fortunes the Co Louth club.
Opportunity knocks for the Meath man in the Rebel county.