Game 16

Dundalk 1-1 Longford

We’ve had the white smoke. The board have made their decision. We have our new manager. Now what?

The performance was better on Friday night than on the previous Friday night but the glaring issues within the squad were on full display yet again. Of course if we had taken our chances we could easily have won but the same can be said of Longford who had some excellent chances to grab the winner.

I spoke on The Town End podcast about how in the build up to the game I felt the performance didn’t matter, the result was what was important. We need to start winning games by any means necessary and we didn’t do that. So having not gotten the result I wanted I began to console myself with the positives in the performance which I had told myself didn’t matter because that’s what fans do.

The fact that the team at least fought back was an improvement on their last performance. It’s an alarming sign of the times that fighting back to get a draw at home to bottom of the table Longford is progress. But when you consider that Longford are only bottom of the table because Dundalk capitulated at home to Waterford the previous week you start to see why not getting beaten by the team at the foot of the table is progress.

You can hear more thoughts on the game here.

So where do we go from here? Over half of the season left, Europe coming up and the FAI Cup in the distance. Finally someone in the dugout in charge of the team who wants to be there and has had success before. Question marks all over the place when it comes to contracts and planning for next season or beyond.

It feels like we’re on the brink. Each decision or lack of decision seems to divide or irritate the fan base. Nothing is straight forward anymore. Once things start to go wrong, each decision and its ramifications are magnified as we all try to figure out what’s going wrong or who’s to blame.

What should have been a positive thing, appointing a new head coach, has been handled in such a way that you can’t help but ask serious questions about what is going on.

We all want to get behind the team and the coach right? We all want what’s best for Dundalk fc. Sometimes that means having a healthy scepticism about what you’re hearing. Being sceptical doesn’t mean you don’t love the club.

That might mean supporting the team in spite of not agreeing with where things are going or how the club is planning to get there. It doesn’t mean you love the club less than someone who is 100% devoted to every decision and who thinks you’re a traitor for not agreeing with them.

It’s been a challenging year and a bit for all of us and it can be hard to keep positive and and optimistic about the future of the squad when there are so many unanswered questions lingering around the club. It can be even harder when you might not agree with the decisions that have been made.

Let’s be honest, there is a good chance that things will get worse before they get better.