Dan McDonnell joined us to discuss the situation at Dundalk, regarding the position of Filippo Giovagnoli as Shane Keegan takes over as manager of the club.
Dundalk's new sporting director Jim Magilton revealed this afternoon that Keegan, their former opposition analyst and a UEFA licence holder, has been promoted to the role of first-team manager.
"Filippo does not pick the team," the former Northern Ireland international confirmed.
"In all my experience, I picked the team when we won. When we lost, the group picked the team. There is lots of consultations.
"You guys know the inner workings of a football club, there's a lot of consultation.
"Opinions will be talked about and then it will ultimately be the manager that picks the team and you have to stand over that and we're all aware of that."
Dundalk & Giovagnoli
McDonnell explained the context of the situation and what it means for Dundalk, Giovagnoli and Keegan.
"This is a strange old story, but in 'League of Ireland Land' we are used to it to some degree. Vinny Perth was previously Dundalk manager but couldn't be called manager and was head coach. It was a nod and a wink thing where everyone knew that Perth was 'the boss' but he couldn't be called the manager.
"You go to the games, you look at the sideline and you know who is in charge. Players would talk about who is picking the team. There have been several situations like that in recent years.
"I remember a time when Dundalk went down to Cork to play them when they were really fierce rivals, and in the match programme John Caulfield went out of his way to welcome 'John Gill and his team'. Everyone knew that there was a bit of niggle in that, but factually correct in the sense that Gill would have been listed in various forms."
Roots
The root of the problem comes from Dundalk's Europa League campaign.
"The story was out there for Europe to see," McDonnell said.
"Filippo not having a UEFA Pro licence was a news story on global news story around the game with Arsenal because they are a Premier League side and it is this quirky story. As a result, it has completely alerted UEFA to what has been going on - UEFA have then contacted the FAI to say 'Is this happening in Ireland?'
"As a result, Dundalk have had to come out and make this statement today. It is important to state that on December 8th, two days after the FAI Cup final, Dundalk released a statement that 'Filippo takes over as the head coach.' During the off-season, they have signed a number of players and the only person quoted on the press releases was Filippo, apart from one where a player said he signed after speaking to Filippo."
Press conference
"Today we had a press conference where they said that it would be a collective effort to pick the team, but if there is a debate then Shane Keegan will have the final say.
"A lot of people in Irish football have been here before and are looking at that with a little look and a smile, and they are saying 'let's see what things are like on the sideline in the coming weeks.'"
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