Tim Clancy says he had to sift through “hundreds” of player recommendations during the close-season before settling on his squad for the new season.
The St Patrick’s Athletic manager made six signings ahead of the campaign and then added out-of-contract goalkeeper Dean Lyness last month.
Before he finalised his squad, however, he had to wade through countless CVs and video clips.
“I wouldn't be exaggerating to say there were hundreds from different agents and people reaching out,” he admitted.
“Some agents would send you all of their players. There could be 30 or 40 players on their list.
“They might say, if you need players in specific areas, these are the players we have. You can go through it that way.
“It would not be exaggerating to say it was hundreds upon hundreds that we got sent through.”
Fortunately, Clancy wasn’t alone when it came to filtering through the many, many options.
“There would be a lot of us looking at a lot of the stuff,” he said. “You can narrow it down for whatever position you are looking at and look more in depth.
“But that’s the job of agents as well, if their player is out of contract you have to try and create interest. I accept that as well.
“You get working relationships and if you get success through an agent, and you know their level and they know the league, they are the ones you will go back to, and you normally get success then.
“If they have multiple players it benefits that agent and the club as well.”
During the close-season, Tommy Lonergan (UCD) was the one Pat’s signing from a rival League of Ireland side.
Jake Mulraney arrived from Orlando City and Noah Lewis from Willem II. Clancy also secured a number of loan moves for players based abroad.
Vladislav Kreida came in from Flora Tallinn, Conor Carty from Bolton and Jay McGrath from Coventry City.
When it comes to players who are unfamiliar to the League of Ireland, research is key.
“Joe Redmond was at Drogheda and came in mid-season. He had just left Birmingham and was over training with Barnet and a few other teams in pre-season,” recalled Clancy, ahead of tomorrow night’s clash with Cork City.
“It was late in the window, he came in and trained with us having not seen much of him. We saw his quality and signed him straight away.
“But they are few and far between, you have to try and do as much homework as you can.
“Look, every signing is not going to be perfect or work out. But you want to do as much homework as you can to make sure that’s a small percentage.”
He added: “That’s where the platforms, profiles and links to players’ clips and whatever else becomes more important if you don't know them.
“Then it’s trying to get a common opinion on someone. Who will give you good feedback on a player and as an individual as well to bring into the group?
“It probably means there is a bit more work to do but I wouldn't say harder. I’d just say it’s different recruitment.”
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