Loan market is key for Derry City: insists manager Declan Devine

In recent years the Candy Stripes have benefited from loan moves for the likes of David Parkhouse (Sheffield United) and Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe (Colchester), two players who have shone during their spells at Derry.

Devine is hopeful Ireland U19 starlet Hodge can also shine, but also concedes that everyone at the club have to play their part so that the teenager can produce the goods.

“The loan market has been key to us and it has been so important for us,” he insisted.

“We have brought people like Josh Kerr, Danny Lupano again, Adam Liddle, David Parkhouse, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, players who are coming here to experience senior football for the first time and it has been a brilliant market for us and now we’ve been able to bring in Joe which is brilliant.

“We are all hoping we can help him develop and we are hoping that he can help us win football matches and that’s the bottom line. We haven’t got the biggest budget in the world but what we do have is the ability to provide a facility for young players to come and express themselves.

“We have a lot of players tied down now on two and three year deals and that’s something we’ll continue to try and improve, but let’s not look past that loan market, which has been very good for us in the past. Players like Stevie Mallon, Junior, Parky, Josh Kerr and Lupano, all those boys have done well for us and the loan market, as I said, has been a good market for us.

“Obviously there was speculation linking Joe to us for a few weeks, but we had to speak to a lot of people in terms of trying to get this done. It’s not everyday that Manchester City or a club of that magnitude lend Derry City a player, they have had to do their homework on us and that’s one of the pleasing aspects out of it is that they trust us to look after one of their brightest young players.

“From my point of view we are delighted to get him in and over the line, but we also have to understand that I want our supporters and us as a club to embrace what this is and it’s a young lad coming to try and play first team football for the first time. He has got a magnificent career ahead of him, but let’s not put any undue pressure on the boy, let’s just come along and enjoy and see how the boy gets on.

“I’m really looking forward working with him, everybody I have spoken to holds him in the highest regard, so it’s something we’ll all embrace and I think everybody at the club has a responsibility in terms of his fellow players, the likes of Danny Lafferty, Ciaran Coll, Darren Cole, Joe Thomson and Eoin Toal, so we have all got a wee bit to do in terms of helping this young fella in his first step into senior football.”

Only a few weeks ago St Patrick’s Athletic added goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros on-loan for the season from Premier League champions Liverpool and Devine believes Derry capturing Hodge from Man City proves that League of Ireland football continues to be on the rise.

“It’s massive and it’s something that we would like to build on, that relationship, and while it brings a wee bit of pressure, at the same time we are delighted to have Joe and we are delighted that Man City see us as a viable option to help develop and evolve one of their players and help him take that next step,” he added.

“He’s such a nice boy and comes from a great family and to have absolutely no ties with us and he wants to come here, is something that we should all as a football club be proud that he wanted to come here and play.

“I’m told they (Man City) looked at all aspects of the club. How we play, how we bring players through, our training regime. So it’s very positive for the club that Man City have given us a player.

“The League of Ireland is a hell of a lot different to Under 23 development football, there’s an aggressiveness, it’s high intensity, so it’s something that the boy has really welcomed.”