McDonald staying at Glentoran
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Glentoran manager Alan McDonald and chairman Aubry Ralph celebrated the league title win back in May and will now centre their attention on trying to retain the Gibson Cup
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Glentoran chairman Aubry Ralph says the club will give boss Alan McDonald all the time he needs to get back to full health and once again take his place in the managerial hotseat.
McDonald has indicated that, despite suffering severe verbal abuse from a section of Glens fans and receiving a number of disgraceful text messages to his personal phone following Saturday's humiliating 6-0 defeat to Coleraine, he will not give in to the boo-boys and walk away from his job.
However, the weekend’s events have understandably taken their toll on McDonald’s health and he was told by his doctor to stay away from Tuesday night’s 3-2 co-Operative Insurance Cup win over Glenavon at Mourneview Park.
It had been expected that the former Northern Ireland captain would decide that enough was enough, having had to endure an unacceptable amount of criticism throughout his two year tenure at the Oval.
But it emerged last night that, having had a few days to think about the situation, he has admirably decided to tackle the flak head on.
McDonald is hoping to be able to go to Seaview on Saturday to watch his side take on second place Crusaders in the Carling Premiership, with what chairman Ralph describes as a watching brief.
Whether that proves to be the case remains to be seen and either way, his assistant George Neill, flanked by coaches Scot Young and Tim McCann will take charge of first-team affairs for another game.
It has been a turbulent week for everyone associated with the club and Ralph will be hoping for a sense of calm to return to the pitch, giving the boss plenty of time to recover before he resumes his duties.
“We have stated from the very beginning that we will in no way put any pressure on Alan no matter what,” said the chairman.
“We never wanted to rush anything and we are still giving him plenty of time.
“I spoke with him (yesterday) and he was in a far more positive frame of mind than he was when I spoke to him on Monday night and he told me that he wanted to go to Seaview on Saturday.
“I told him that he doesn’t have to rush back, he can take as much time as he likes but obviously he is keen to get back into it as soon as possible.
“That is admirable and you have to give the man a lot of credit for wanting to tackle the criticism that he has taken over the past few days, some of which has been absolutely disgusting.
“Personally I am delighted that he has decided that he isn’t going to walk away from Glentoran Football Club.
“He was faced with a very difficult decision and I am glad that he took time before coming to this decision.
“It would have been very easy for him to quit as a knee-jerk reaction to what happened on Saturday bearing in mind that he has things outside of football to consider as well.
“Now I hope that he just takes plenty of time to recover and when he is back in the dug-out he gets the backing of the right-minded supporters at Glentoran and we can put to bed this whole sorry episode, which has frankly caused the club a lot of embarrassment.”
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I feel sorry for alan for the personal abuse that was uncalled for but he simply is pathetic as a manger. Alan is not the man for the job with inept tactics, formations and squad selections. If ralph thinks the storm is over then he will see depending on results and if alan can reach a domestic final or will we be 12points behind before december which we rarely win a game.
The majority of fans want alan out (most who stayed last sat to applaud coleraine) due to dire football and his disregard for football and his attitude in which he inherited the job.
Time to fonacab Alan.
Posted by philgfc | 12.11.09, 16:52 GMT
You start a sentence with 'I mesmerised...' don't refer to a past-tense event when you actually mesmerised someone or something, and then you refer to other people as idiots. Well done!
By 'baying' like that the fans showed their utter contempt and disgust at the mishandling of this whole situation. Sometimes money has to be spent in order for it to be gained. Furthermore, if the manager leaves his position of his own accord then no compensation is required to be paid.
Posted by Ryan | 12.11.09, 16:35 GMT
If the job's to big for you and it's effecting your health. Then I think you should'nt be in the job at all. Ralph's delighted of course because he dose'nt have the pressure of goin out to find another manager. Oh and by the way when you talk about embarrassment Aubry lets take a look at yourselves The Andy Kilmartain affair gettin docked 12 pts. (EMBARRASSMENT) and if that was'nt bad enough you lot do the same admin mistake all over again with Gary Smyth. (EMBARRASSMENT) Oh and lets not forget the best one of all. When you give Roy Walker the job as Glentoran Manager but not only did you cause the good name of Glentoran alot of (EMBARRASSMENT) you caused embarrassment to Mr Walker as well. So before you start pointing the finger at the fans who keep this club running, dont forget that Ralph. Look a bit closer to home.
Posted by easty | 12.11.09, 15:40 GMT
I mesmerised that people think by baying like that they will get rid of an employee of a business .The employee would be entitled to a substanial claim relating to his workplace . The club would lose much needed money .
the idiots have not gone away .
Posted by HR Speak | 12.11.09, 14:02 GMT
Ralph wants to put this episode to bed - Before we do that perhaps Aubry wants to tell us what is going to be done to fix the obvious problems that exist with the team and the management.
As far as I can see the club has rode out the storm and will go back to the way it was last Friday.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - Albert Einstein
Posted by Cockney Hen | 12.11.09, 13:45 GMT
The personal abuse was wrong, that's not up for debate. What is truly embarrassing to the club however is the football being played, the inept tactics and managment and a historic 6 goal anihilation at home to a team far below us in the table. Now THAT has caused a lot of embarrassment!
I feel sorry for Alan, he isn't doing this on purpose, we all want him to succeed. Sadly though he just isn't good enough and now needs to leave because he can't turn this around.
The minority of supporters gave him the personal abuse, but the majority of supporters were protesting for him to leave. I hope he feels better soon and I wish him the very best in his future career, I have nothing against him as a person but I DO NOT want him in charge at The Oval anymore.
Thank you for trying, thank you for the Gibson but McDonald Out! And Mr Ralph, be careful how you refer to the fans, you don't want to lose us as well.
Posted by Ryan | 12.11.09, 10:40 GMT
We support Alan.
Yours,
Linfield fans.
Posted by Aaron | 12.11.09, 10:20 GMT
The majority of fans don't want McDonald in the job - fact. This line by Ralph that it's only a minority isn't true.
If he can't cope with criticism and the pressures of the job, which let's face it have emanated from his own failings then he shouldn't be there in the first place.
Posted by markgfc | 12.11.09, 09:24 GMT
i think the glentoran supporters who abused alan are disgraceful to the club and bring down irish league football as a hole im glad alan has decided to carry on as he is the man for the job
Posted by william | 12.11.09, 08:45 GMT