Declan Devine excited to unleash Derry City players at Dundalk

It might be a tall order to expect the Candy Stripes to break the ‘big two’ monopoly in the league but Devine is excited to see how far he can take his team and remains confident they can challenge for a top three spot.

The Creggan man and his management team brought a refreshing optimism last year, finishing among the European places against a backdrop of underachievement and frustration from the previous season. However, Devine isn’t one for dwelling on former glories and is determined to improve on last season’s success.

“The one thing that’s been annoying me over pre-season is that everyone keeps talking about last year,” said the City boss, who guided Derry to an FAI Cup triumph in 2012. “The excitement has to be about this year. We have to look to get better.

“It was never going to be a 12 or 24 month project. When I leave this football club, I want to leave it in a better place than when I came into it - that’s what it’s always been about.

“And I believe in the bunch of players we’ve brought together this year. I believe they’re good people. I believe they’ve got a serious drive to progress their own individual careers and collectively.

“All I can ask as the manager of the club is that the players buy into the ethos of the club, that they buy into the work principle and so far, so good.”

It hasn’t needed another dramatic overhaul of 22 players, just a few tweaks here and there and nine new faces this time to bolster the squad as the club braces itself for a return to European football.

Similarly to last season there’s been a few risks taken in the transfer market, new signings who are relatively unknown and untested at this level. A Norwegian striker, a winger from the Ivory Coast, a Belgian defender who has arrived on loan via Hull City, a loanee frontman from Reading and another Sheffield United prospect in search of experience, are among the new recruits. Undoubted and, in some cases, unbridled talents but yet to prove their worth in the League of Ireland.

Devine has also pulled out the stops to bring a wealth of experience in the form of Conor McCormack who will captain the club alongside technically sound, attacking talents in Conor Clifford and Walter Figueira. One of his best pieces of business was persuading Jamie McDonagh to remain at the club while ex-Cork man, Colm Horgan will also bring much needed cover to the right back position.

It’s an intriguing squad he’s assembled and it will be interesting to see how quickly they gel, bearing in mind they face a difficult start to the campaign.

The Derry manager is optimistic about the season ahead in which he believes a third place finish and a cup final victory is not out of the question.

“I believe the players we’ve brought in have enhanced the group,” adds Devine. “I think we’ve got more experience within the ranks. Obviously we’ve lost the goals from Junior Ogedi and David Parkhouse and that will be huge for us, but I think we’ve brought in a lot of quality when you look at Walter Figueira and Stephen Mallon, Tim Nilsen - players who have done it at a high level for a long period of time. They’re players who we trust impeccably and players who we are really excited to see, especially out on that Brandywell pitch.

“We’ve got to strive to get better from where we were last year and that’s going to be difficult because a lot of other teams have strengthened really well.

“I always set my own personal goals and it’s to do better than the previous year - that’s my goal as a manager. As a group we will keep them to ourselves. We had a good chat about them in Dublin in the training camp last week but as a manager you always want to get better.

“I would like to win silverware in this tenure at the club. There are two cups up for grabs and a league title is something you always strive to do but you have to understand Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers have been building for a long period of time.

“My target is to do better than last year so obviously finishing in the top three and I’d love to win a cup,” he stated.

Far from the finished article and still some way short of last season’s top two in terms of experience, financial muscle and squad depth, Devine is nevertheless determined to close that gap.

“It’s a new year. It’s a year when it’s going to be more difficult because people are going to be coming to the Brandywell knowing the standards set were quite high and we’ve got to better those standards. For us to achieve that we need the people to come in and get behind us.”

Dealt the toughest league opener they could’ve imagined, a trip to league champions, Dundalk, Devine and his players are embracing the challenge.

“I’m really looking forward to it. Obviously it doesn’t come any more difficult than having to go to Dundalk but I think it’s nearly time to unleash the players. They have bought into it big time in terms of the difficulty of pre-season and the togetherness of the players is evolving all the time.

“It’s really difficult with 10 new players coming into the building but I feel we have competition for places, we’ve got versatility in places but we have to make sure we replicate the goals we got last year.

“I can genuinely say I’m excited. I like the look of the group. Technically we’ve been very good in pre-season in terms of our ability to move the ball.

“The levels have to go up now. There’s no doubt about that. We’re playing the league champions on the first day of the season away from home and they will be flying. They’ve had a fantastic pre-season in their own right.

“We have the North West derby in the second game, away to St Pat’s in the third game and then we have Bohemians, who finished above us and whom we didn’t beat last year, in our fourth game. So we start with a lot of big games but you want big games and they certainly will be coming thick and fast.”

Among Devine’s biggest achievements last season were building a rapport with the supporters, bringing back an identity and a structure back to the club while also reminding visiting teams just how difficult a venue the Brandywell Stadium can be with Derry in full flight.

And the Creggan man is determined to strengthen that link between the players and fans

“We have to build on the relationship between our fans and our players. Hopefully this year they will have new heroes who they can sing about and we’re very confident going into it.

“They’re the most important factor at this football club. The support we received last year was second to none and it was incredible to see that old ground full again. This is going to be a season where everyone must come together again - the youngest fan, the oldest fan, the youngest player, the oldest player, the backroom staff, the people who sell the programmes, the office staff. If we all stay nice and tight and together during the whole 10 month period then, the objective is to take this club forward again, so if we can do that we will be in a good place.

“We’ve spoken about how people who come in here and pay hard earned cash to watch us have to work extremely hard for that money and that’s something which is rattled into the players on a daily basis, that these people who pay our wages come here for entertainment on a Friday night. Our supporters work so hard for their living, their families and livelihood, so we have to be a reflection of them.

“If we are a reflection of them then Derry people don’t give in.

“If that’s the case then we shouldn’t give in either.”