Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Irish Mirror

Sport

Mark McCadden

New Longford boss Stephen Henderson refutes 'dinosaur' tag

Stephen Henderson Cobh Ramblers John Caulfield Ireland Longford Town Sligo Rovers

Stephen Henderson reckons he will be labelled a “dinosaur” if he picks up a few bad results in his new role as Longford Town boss.

The former Cobh Ramblers and Waterford chief believes clubs are too quick to appoint young managers these days and that older bosses are being squeezed out of the game.

So much so that he was surprised to land the job at the Bishopsgate club.

Henderson also had a pop at Pro Licence holders who are “fronting” A Licence qualified ‘head coaches’.

His appointment means, at the age of 56, he is the second-oldest of 18 managers currently in place across the two divisions, with only John Caulfield (58) his senior.

“There is a new generation, but there is also room for experience,” insisted Henderson.

“I am going to be looked at as one of the older managers. If I lose the first two or three matches, I’m going to be getting dinosaurs thrown at me.

“It’s not, ‘give him time’. It’s, ‘that’s a dinosaur, kick him out the door’.

“And I don’t think we have done ourselves any favours with these Pro Licence coaches fronting A Licence coaches.

“That sickened me to the core. I felt they were devaluing themselves by doing that.

“You went out and you educated yourself, but you are grand to take a few bob to let your man run the team for you, he’s after coming off his A Licence.

“So we haven’t done ourselves any favours, to be honest with you, with that kind of carry on.”

Henderson says he has never been offered such an opportunity.

“No, because they know I wouldn’t do it, because I’ve moaned about it,” he said.

“These people who facilitate them, I have a problem with them. They have probably given the older managers a bad name.

“I don’t think you have any self-respect if you are prepared to go and facilitate that.

“Best of luck to the younger lads. I’m actually looking forward to going up against them next year, to be honest with you.

“Hopefully my experience will take me through. I’m really looking forward to it.

“And it’s great for the league, I suppose, but there is genuinely room for the older lads.

“Please, don’t be dismissing them as old fodder; they are not. They are genuinely lads who are consistently educating themselves on top of the experience they have.

“There is room for them.”

Henderson says he still feels young - but that he was shocked at one stage during his Cobh reign when a club official suggested they needed a younger manager.

“I don't feel old at all. Plenty of people out there would want to make you feel old, but I don’t feel old,” he said.

“But there is a general trend towards the younger managers, I think that is fair to say.

“I suppose in that context I was a little bit surprised (to get the job), because I did think they would probably go down… and I could understand it.

“I’m not having a go, a club is well entitled to hire whoever they want.

“But the fact is that I have invested €30,000-€40,000 in my coach education, and because we reach a certain age we are not relevant anymore?

“People forget that you still have to do your CPDs(Continuous Professional Development).

“You are constantly updating your own coaching skills and your own coaching knowledge and your own coaching trends.

“We’ve already organised that we are going to go over to a couple of clubs in England to watch some of the coaching sessions over there.

“I suppose I don’t feel old, but… even at Ramblers, one of the committee members had a go at me for being (old).

“That kind of knocked me a little bit, thinking I was a bit too old and they needed a new manager with new tricks. That kind of rocked me to the core.

“I don’t feel old but I kind of had a feeling that the league was moving towards 40-year-olds. But I am genuinely delighted to be given the opportunity.”

Henderson outlined how he has evolved as a manager in the 18 years since he first took up the role with Cobh Ramblers.

“How we talk to players, it’s changed. When I started I punched a wall once and broke my fist, so I had to stop doing that. That was silly of me. That kind of stuff, that’s gone,” he said.

And when it was put to him that he wouldn’t be considered ‘old-school’, he replied: “C’mere and I’ll tell you, what is old-school?

“For f**k sake, can someone explain to me what old-school is?

“I’ll tell you what old-school is. In my opinion, old-school is you focus on becoming world-class at the basics. You focus on teaching them the basics of the game.

“Sometimes you can get carried away with rotation - you go out there, you come in here, you are running in behind there.

“But then you are forgetting about what wins you leagues. And it’s the teams that generally do the basics best that win the leagues.

“Look at the goals that are being conceded in both Premier and First Division, and international level.

“Have you ever seen centre-halves and full-backs let the ball bounce so much in your life?

“Honestly, how many goals are conceded by just trying to be clever and making huge mistakes? That’s not being world-class at the basics, that’s being naive.

“That costs you a goal, it costs you three points. Eventually it’s going to cost you your place and your manager his job.

“So, old-school, I really don’t know what old-school is. But that, to me, is old-school; having a healthy respect for the basics.

“And if that’s what old-school is, then yeah, there is an element of old-school in me, because we have to nail the basics.

“Then we put all the flair on top of it. Put all the dressing on top of it, once we have that right.”

LOI MANAGERS BY AGE

John Caulfield (Galway United) - 58

Stephen Henderson (Longford Town) - 56

Dermot Lennon (Athlone Town) - 53

Declan Devine (Bohemians) - 49

James Keddy (Wexford) - 49

Andy Meyler (UCD) - 46

Danny Searle (Waterford) - 44