Future excites Derry City boss Declan Devine
The Candy Stripes boss says he can’t wait for 2021 season to get underway this Saturday at Longford Town but he stressed the work going on behind the scenes at the club is just as crucial as that on the pitch.
“It has been well documented that the Board of Directors and Chairman would like a training facility to enhance our platform to develop our own players. If, and when, that materialises in my opinion it would be the best thing to happen this football club in its history,” insisted Devine.
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Hide Ad“To have somewhere that’s your own and somewhere that, over the course of the next 20 years, we can develop local talent and develop our own players can only enhance the club, meaning we don’t need to go to England or Scotland to get a host of players as that’s not sustainable.
“At the same time some of the best players in our history have come from outside of this city and outside of this country, but the discussions that are ongoing at board level are very healthy for the future of the football club.
“We want to have a platform. We need our fans to know that we have a direction and a target we are moving toward and we will be sticking to that target.”
Devine is already planning for the future and plans to have his home town club back challenging for honours sooner rather than later.
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Hide Ad“I love working for this football club. I find it a tremendous honour to be able to do the job I do,” he added.
“I was brought up coming here as a kid. For the early part of my coaching career I was working with one of the best managers the club has ever had and I was able to win a trophy here as a manager myself but I think I’ve a lot more to come.
“I want to build a squad that’s capable of challenging the top two or three over the next couple of years and I want to get there as quickly as possible.
“Over the last six months or so there’s been a lot of soul searching going on within the club and a lot of things have been spoken about on how we make the club better. Now it’s up to us to put some of those into practise.”