DECLAN Devine insists there is no time to celebrate his appointment after he was confirmed as Derry City manager on Monday night.
It is the Creggan man’s second spell in charge of the club, while Marty McCann, Kevin Deery and Paddy McCourt, Director of the club’s Academy, make up the management team.
Devine was confirmed in a press conference held in the Bishop’s Gate Hotel alongside Chairman Philip O’ Doherty and Director Sean Barrett.
Speaking to Derry Daily, the new Candy Stripes boss insisted there would be no time to dwell on his appointment as there was urgent work needing to be done before the start of the new season.
When asked what attracted him back to the position, Devine said: “How can you not be attracted to manage Derry City Football Club, it is a massive football club, it is the biggest club in Ireland,” he said. “It is a club I have loved and supported since I was a boy, a very young boy at that in 1985 when I was 12 and took to my first game.
“But more importantly, I am not jumping through hoops here and I am not celebrating,” he added. “We are here to know that there is work to do and we have a job to do, to try and build this place up.
“This place needs to be back winning football matches, having an identity as a football club, having players who are willing to put their bodies on-the-line to represent this football club, but even more importantly, to give supporters and fans something to shout about.”
With Marty McCann, Kevin Deery and Paddy McCourt coming into Devine’s experienced fold, the Foyleside boss admitted he was ‘over the moon’ to have an all-local setup on board.
“The backroom team couldn’t have been shaken down any better,” Devine said. “Having somebody of Paddy’s (McCourt) influence and the reputation he has throughout football is a massive asset to this club.
“And to bring my ex-captain Kevin Deery, who has left the club over recent years and gained managerial experience at Institute and Sligo Rovers, he knows the league inside out.
Declan Devine is delighted to back in charge of his beloved Derry City. (North West Newspix)
“And finally to have, in my opinion, one of the best coaches in the country in Marty McCann, all working and pulling together, I am absolutely over the moon.”
Devine is keen to filter local talent into the Derry City squad next season but has urged the City not forget the ‘outside influence’ that has benefitted them over the last 30 years.
“This club will always need outside influences, it always has and it always will,” Devine added. “Some of the people that now reside in this town like Jack Kay, Stuart Gauld and people of that ilk have come here and made this place their home and don’t take away they are outside influences.
“But yes, we need to find the next Liam Coyle, we need to find the next Paddy McCourt, we do, we need them, we need the heartbeat of this team to be from the North-West area, but we will always need outside players to come here and see the warmth and the friendliness of the Derry people.
“But also to experience what we have all experienced in the past. When the Brandywell is shaken to the core and the people are celebrating, we need that, and we need to replicate that.
“It is not going to be easy, it’s not going to happen overnight, some of the best players in the country are from Derry and they all playing at top clubs.
“We can’t just hit a magic wand but ultimately we want the best players from the North-West and greater North-West area to represent this football club.”
With only six players signed up to the club so far in the off-season, Devine, who signed a two-year contract with Derry, has already spoken to a number of players about their contracts and the possibility of coming to the North-West club.
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