Ruaidhri Higgins vows to stay on as Derry City boss and 'come out fighting'

The 40 years-old Limavady man praised chairman Philip O'Doherty for his 'unwavering' support but admitted the club needs 'a reboot' following a season where his team finished in fourth place and trophyless despite being just three games from winning a potential 'double'.

With several high profile players now out of contract and considering their future, the off-season promises to be a long one with plenty of comings and goings through the Brandywell gates.

Higgins insists he's 'proud' to be Derry City manager and doesn't expect to be one of those departures despite calls for him to leave from large sections of a growingly disillusioned fanbase.

And while he admits the frustration and disappointment was 'raw' after the 2-0 defeat to Drogheda in front of almost 40,000 fans at the Aviva, he's certainly planning on seeing out the remainder of his contract which expires at the end of the 2025 season.

"It's obviously very, very raw," began a downbeat Higgins. "I was eight-and-a-half years as a player. Three-and-a-half years as a manager, so 12 odd years I've represented this club and I'm very proud to represent this club.

"It's obviously extremely raw at this moment in time but I'm proud to manage the club and I'm still in contract so obviously when times are tough you've got two options. You can roll over or you can come out fighting. I live in a city where when the going gets tough normally you come out fighting and I'm sure that's what we'll do."

The mood was in stark contrast to two years ago in the same press room where he celebrated a 4-0 Cup final win over Shelbourne - his first trophy as a manager.

With no European football for 2025 and for the first time under his watch, the ability to entice top Irish based players to come to Brandywell could prove much more difficult.

And with the likes of Patrick McEleney, Brian Maher, Will Patching, Colm Whelan, Shane McEleney, Andre Wisdom and Adam O'Reilly all out of contract, Higgins has his work cut out convincing those he wants to stay on to commit their futures.

Those conversations will likely start in the next couple of weeks when the dust settles and a post-mortem of an underachieving season is conducted.

"Listen. I have a really good relationship with Philip. He's been a big supporter of mine. His support's been unwavering really. It's not about me but as a collective we haven't been good enough. The thing that really, really hurts badly is that a few weeks ago we had both trophies in our own hands and we've come up short,

"I don't know," he responded when asked if failure to qualify for Europe will impact his recruitment. "I haven't had those conversations yet.

"That wasn't in the plan and its probably not the time to talk about it. Yes, it needs a refresh and a reboot and we'll discuss that internally over the next week or two."

Do you want to stay on?, he was asked.

"Aye. The club means an awful lot to me. I get criticised for being emotionless at times but believe me I'm an extremely emotional person. When you don't achieve it hurts and hurts bad and extremely affects you life and it affects the [lives of] people around you.

"So do I still have the drive and the hunger to keep going? I think when the dust settles . . my intentions right now are to keep going and we have to try and look forward."