Tiernan Lynch has utopian vision for Derry City but it's a bigger job than he thought!

​The Belfast man has been taken aback by the demands and challenges which come with leading the Candy Stripes but he's put in endless hours since his appointment less than three weeks ago in his attempts to put his stamp on the club.

It's an overwhelming workload but one he's embraced and he's genuinely relishing the potential of the club as he works behind the scenes on analysing last season's performances, meeting players, identifying and approaching targets and forming his backroom team.

It's a taste of what's to come in the coming weeks but the former Larne boss certainly isn't one to shirk a challenge.

"There's no doubt there's challenges in this," he said. "But I think the more you get into this and the more you look around, it's a hugely exciting challenge.

"It's genuinely a phenomenal footballing city. And probably bigger than what I thought if truth be told which just makes it all the more mouthwatering.

"It's certainly not going to be easy. This is already long days, long hours, and a huge amount of work. Lots of plates spinning but that's how we do this and it's something that we'll relish."

His role is wide-ranging and the problems inherited multifaceted but Lynch has a very clear vision of what he described as 'utopia' and finding and building 'a home' for Derry City Football Club is very much high on the priority list.

Whether that's a short term goal or a long term dream, Lynch insists he's been involved in progressive talks with the powers that be at Brandywell regarding the issue of a training and academy base they can call their own.

"Things like a home," he responded when asked what off field matters needed addressing. "Getting a home. Something we can call home and somewhere to report to every day.

"Players want to feel that bit of love and that bit of homeness. I can't give Sean [Barrett] and Philip [O'Doherty] the credit they deserve because they're doing a huge amount of work behind the scenes.

"That was one of the things we talked about whenever I first met them. To be fair to them they're doing everything in their power to try and make this happen."

Is it a vision which can be realised in the near future? Well, Lynch isn't prepared to make bold predictions and knows there's lots of work to be done in the meantime.

"I think it has to be a short, medium and long term vision. We know what utopia looks like. I think everyone has been shown and told what utopia looks like. But you can't go from where we are now into utopia.

"We have to get those incremental steps along the way. From the beginning, the first day, the players have to buy into what we want to introduce. They have to see something and that's something we're working very hard to try and do."

In terms of building a squad ready to compete for the title, Lynch has a core of players to work with and build on but there promises to be plenty of comings and goings before February.

"Sometimes you hear criticism and it's easy to criticise. The big selling point for me and you look at what Ruaidhri [Higgins] and his team did last year, they were two weeks away from doing a double and football can be cruel.

"We've all been on the cruel side of football. So I think the core is definitely there. I've pretty much got my way around most of the squad and they're a really, really good bunch of boys who don't seem to want to shy away from hard work.

"There's things that definitely need tweaking and this is no criticism of Ruaidhri or anyone else but there's levels of professionalism there that needs to be added and I'm not someone who ever shies away from difficult questions or sweeps things under the carpet. I'm someone, whether I get myself into trouble or say some things I shouldn't say, I just believe in getting it out there and having the conversation.

"To be fair the club have been unbelievable these past two weeks in trying to put those things right."