Derry City chairman Philip O'Doherty delighted with bumper season ticket sales

The endless queue of fans from the Brandywell Stadium gates to the Mark Farren Stand on route to purchase a Derry City season ticket before Christmas was one of the stand-out images ahead of the close season and it was evidence of the excitement growing around the club.

That was on the back of an astonishing turnaround in fortunes last year with Derry’s form under Higgins securing fourth place and eventual qualification for European competition.

Friday night's visit of champions Shamrock Rovers has sold out with further sales of season tickets put on hold such is the demand to watch the new-look Candy Stripes.

So the fans are daring to dream ahead of the first home match of the 2022 campaign and Mr O’Doherty can understand the positivity and the record season ticket sales.

The success of last year and the entertainment dished out at Brandywell also caught the imagination of people who may not have been keen supporters of the club in the past. So expect to see new faces at the ground this year swept up in the waves of optimism, including the chairman’s brother who discovered a season ticket under his Christmas tree.

“The season ticket sales have been good,” said Mr O’Doherty. “I haven’t got the exact numbers yet but they’re much higher than we’ve ever had so that’s all very positive.

“My brother and his wife, and he certainly wouldn’t be a big football fan, but they’ve actually got season tickets. I think I had to tell him where the Brandywell was,” he laughed. “He went to one game last year and I think we won 2-0 but they decided they would become season ticket holders and I got them season two season tickets as Christmas presents.

“I think the quality of football last year and the unexpected success that we were going to actually qualify for Europe motivated a lot of people. And a lot of people because there was no real live sport for a season and a half, when people did get into the games they really enjoyed the experience. There was a lot more buzz around Derry at the end of last season and at the start of this season.”

Higgins exceeded expectations last year by galvanising the group and had the season started after six games Derry would’ve finished runners-up. However, Mr O’Doherty is careful not to get carried away and shares the manager’s pragmatism ahead of a tough opening to the new campaign which began with an encouraging 2-2 draw against Dundalk at Oriel Park last weekend.

“I think we have to keep our feet on the ground but it was an outstanding achievement last year by Ruaidhri, his backroom team and obviously the players themselves. He did fabulously well and certainly motivated the players. When he took over we had two points from a possible 18. So it was a fabulous turnaround.

“I remember saying to him, ‘your target is to get into Europe’ and I don’t know if I really believed it myself to be honest,” he laughed. “He managed to do it thanks to a penalty shootout in Dublin. Derry City don’t do things the easy way.

“We can hope for the best with the early games, which is a very difficult start.

“I think last season there were so many unexpected results. I know Shamrock Rovers won by a large margin but there were a lot of unpredictable matches and I think there will be a few surprises this season as well. I really do believe that.

“I think Sligo and St Pat’s did really well last season as well but I think there could be a couple of shocks this season because we’re still not in fully normal times. I just would like to see the grounds filled up a bit and I would like to see more away support at the Brandywell and have more of our supporters go to away games as well. I think there will be bigger crowds at all League of Ireland games this year and it will be interesting to see how the results turn out.”

There has been much furore over Higgins’ star-studded recruitment drive in the close season which, alongside last season’s terrific form, has catapulted City among the pre-season favourites to challenge Shamrock Rovers in the title race.

Mr O’Doherty was impressed with how Higgins went about his business in the market and how he ultimately secured his targets.

“We have almost got a new team now and it’s a very strong squad but I would reinforce what Ruaidhri is saying, we have to basically be realistic too. They have to become a team as well. There’s a few individuals that haven’t played together at all but it does seem a fabulous squad of players.

“He seems to have done his homework and he gets a lot of information about players before he decides he wants them. I don’t get involved in that part of things at all but from my point of view he seems to know exactly what he wants. He reminds me of a guy who used to manage the team. He’s very like him.

“We want players to come through from the youth setup as well and a few more players have signed professional contracts over the last couple of months that are maybe on the fringes of the squad. I think he wants to maybe leave a bit of space for players to come through. We had (Ronan) Boyce last year who had a great year and we want to see more examples of that.”

The return of homegrown talents Patrick McEleney and Michael Duffy in particular was a major coup for the club and something the chairman had long called for.

And he’s delighted to have them back particularly given that they were, at times, subjected to some verbal abuse from a small section of the Derry support over the years - incidents which left Mr O’Doherty feeling ‘ashamed’ and ‘disappointed’.

“We’ve always hoped they would come back. I know sometimes when Patrick and Michael especially were playing for Dundalk, a very, very small minority of the fans were being quite abusive towards them and their families in the Brandywell were certainly very unhappy. I spoke to some people about that. It was outrageous behaviour and I was disappointed and ashamed but hopefully the fact we’ve got these guys back they will realise players will always come back if they’re treated well.

“And 99 per cent of the fans at the Brandywell respect them as professional footballers and know that they have to do a job no matter who they’re playing for. I don’t think it affected them because they usually did very well against Derry at the Brandywell, so I don’t think it helps giving people abuse, it motivates professional players actually.

“They have nothing to prove in terms of their ability. If they were to repeat those types of performances they showed at Dundalk then hopefully they could get some silverware this coming season or two.”

The chairman isn’t expecting overnight success but what would he regard as a successful season in 2022?

“As a minimum we would like to qualify for Europe. Over and above that it would be nice to get some silverware, either the cup or the league. The league would be a big ask. We haven’t had a great cup run for a long time now in terms of the FAI Cup, so I would like to see us do much better in that. I think it’s one of those competitions. Derry people love a cup run and we just haven’t been able to give it to them for a while now. So hopefully that changes.”