Paddy McLaughlin says he 'dreaded' telling Cliftonville's players he was leaving Solitude.
The former Reds boss informed the squad after training on Monday night, with the 43-year-old making the move to Derry City to become assistant manager to Ruaidhri Higgins.
McLaughlin says the opportunity to rejoin Derry was too good to turn down, and is now set to be in the dugout for Friday night's trip to Cork City in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
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“It was a no-brainer for me coming back to Derry," McLaughlin said.
“The difficult part was telling the Cliftonville players on Monday night as I was dreading that after four good years.
“But once it was done, I was able to look forward to this new challenge. It could have happened before now, but I couldn’t turn it down when this opportunity arose.”
McLaughlin had been in charge of Cliftonville since 2019 and helped the Reds win the League Cup and County Antrim Shield during his time at the helm.
They narrowly missed out on the Premiership title last season, finishing one point behind eventual champions Linfield, while this term their title assault faded in the home straight.
McLaughlin has succeeded Alan Reynolds in the Derry City role after he returned to Waterford for personal reasons, joining the Blues as Keith Long’s No 2.
“Derry City was my club as a supporter growing up, and then as a player. It’s the chance to be part of something over the next few years,” said McLaughlin.
“We’ve been friends for a long time and it would be brilliant to build on the recent success at the club.
“There’s a lot of hard work involved in success - in football and in life generally. It’ll be up to us, the staff and the players to keep improving to reach those levels.
“Hopefully there will be exciting times ahead over the next few seasons and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Derry boss Higgins had refused to rush into an appointment and was glad to bide his time, once it meant getting the right person in.
Higgins said: “Paddy has great history here and was part of the 2002 cup winning team. It’s his hometown club and I’m really pleased to have him.
“He brings a vast amount of experience and quality and he did a fantastic job at Cliftonville. He’ll bring so much to the players.”
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