Derry City boss Tiernan Lynch wants to bring fun factor back to Brandywell

It's not going to be 'an overnight fix' insists the new City boss but he's been suitably impressed by the talent in the dressing room and with how his first pre-season on Foyleside has gone to be excited about the upcoming campaign.

Asked what his expectations were for the 2025 campaign, Lynch was reluctant to make bold predictions but he's clear on how he wants his players to enjoy playing their football and for the fans to enjoy watching the product on the pitch.

"I'm here to win as many football games as we can," he said. "I'm here to try and give the fans as much enjoyment as I can. This is a collective. We have to enjoy it or there's no point being here.

"The fans have to enjoy it or they won't come to the games. And the players have to enjoy it otherwise they're not going to perform. That's the main aim in this.

"First and foremost you're here to try and please the fans," he insisted. "They're the most important in this. When the fans come and get behind the team, it's a very different game and it's a very different football club. That's one of the things we want to try and do here - get the fans excited and off their seats and enjoy and go away happy."

Fans grew disillusioned with their team's performances at Brandywell last season as hopes of a league and cup 'double' petered out and Lynch is determined to get them fully behind his team this term.

"We've got to get it [Brandywell Stadium] rocking and that's our job. It's not the fans' job to rock it, it's ours! I think if we can play an exciting brand of football then we'll get that [atmosphere].

"Even the two games I've been involved in at the Brandywell, you can feel how much they're edging them on to go forward and be exciting and get behind them and try and drag the last ounce out of them.

"I feel that on the sidelines and it's important you get the fans out to get behind us. It's our job to make this place a real fortress this season.

"That's why I came here. You have to embrace these challenges. The big thing for me is trying to enjoy the ride and make sure we try and bring the fans with us to try and enjoy it.

"As you saw on Tuesday night [against Institute], they [the fans] enjoy teams that want to attack. They enjoy teams that want to score goals and hopefully we're going to bring that."

Goals were harder to come by on Friday night as Derry's pre-season preparations continued with a 1-0 win over Ballymena United at Brandywell - Michael Duffy scoring the winning goal on 83 minutes.

There was no shortage of chances created by the home side on the night but with so many new faces and with a brand new management-style, Lynch isn't naive enough to expect to click his fingers and for things to be perfect.

"There were probably flashes of things that we wanted to do," he said of the performance. "We lacked a little bit of consistency in what we wanted to do. We know this isn't an overnight fix. We know we have to work at this.

"I'm probably a wee bit disappointed to be honest. I thought it was a wee bit slow and laborious at times. We probably felt it a little bit obviously our second game in a week in preseason.

"Had we taken our chances in the first half it would probably have been a very different game. Listen, it's preseason there's lots of things we're trying to work on. Lots of things we're trying to introduce. We know it's going to be a process. We know we're not going to just click our fingers and it's going to happen. We just have to keep working at it.

"The big thing is making sure we're creating those chances - that's the first thing we've got to make sure we get right and then it's about finishing those chances.

"There's definitely quality in that changing room. Now it's a matter of blending it all together and trying to get a bit of momentum. They're a really enjoyable team to work with. A really enjoyable team to watch, even in training on a daily basis. They're hungry which is great. They can be fitter.

"But I'm happy with where we're at at this stage. When you come in you try to introduce a new playing style or game-model - whatever the terminology is, you have to try and learn this stuff.

"Players are human beings and you can't give them everything at once. You have to try and get the basics into them and add to that as the season progresses. At the same time you have to look at things we're doing well and maybe not doing so well.

"We have to be patient with the players at the same time because we're maybe asking them to do things they have never done before. They will make mistakes at it but as long as we have that work ethic to get behind the ball and try and win it back and stop conceding goals then we have half a chance."

Lynch is still on the lookout for a centre half before the close of the League of Ireland transfer window at the end of the month but does he feel his squad is equipped well enough for the season ahead?

"You probably never feel ready. We will probably be two or three months in and still trying to implement things and want more and do more. We have to be patient with that and keep working hard every single day. It's important in our analysis sessions we point out the things we're doing really well. There's a lot of things we're doing really well but also things we need to improve on but they're very open to it."

The Belfast man will be happy when the transfer window closes and he can concentrate on matters on the pitch.

"We're looking to bring in a centre back and we're working really hard to try and make that happen. We'll see where that goes.

"Trying to chase players and agents wouldn't necessarily be my thing," he added. "You want a settled squad as early and as quickly as you can.

"Transfer time is a crazy time in football for everybody but we've got to keep working through it, keep being positive and hopefully we get what we want. I'm delighted with what we have in that changing room they're a phenomenal bunch."