O’Connor excited by the idea of a blank canvas after appointment as first ever CK United men’s first team manager
New CK United manager Tom O'Connor is excited by the prospect of a blank canvas after being appointed as the first ever CK United men's first team manager
The words of Tom O’Connor after he was appointed as CK United’s first ever Men’s First Team Manager following on from the club confirming their place in the the newly formed Third Tier, the National League last December.
The Dubliner has plenty of experience having managed at Shamrock Rovers, Bray and Wexford, primarily managing academies but also having stints in charge of senior teams. So what drew him to CK United?
“The chance to just build a squad from scratch and kind of try and build something. It’s going to be a challenge. There’s no doubt about that. When you’re starting from zero it’s a challenge, but it’s a huge opportunity. It’s an opportunity that we can try and shape a group that reflects the values of the club rather than a lot of times you’re inheriting a team that may or may not be the right fit for the club. So it’s a really good opportunity to get the players in that represents the area rather than trying to retrofit these things I suppose later on,” said O’Connor.
“I suppose the structure of the club and being academy focused, a lot of my background would be academy progression and working at the higher end of the academy progression like 19s and then 20s into senior and obviously a couple of senior roles throughout that time. I think because I would have the ambition of trying to do things without having to recruit lots of players or to try and work within the confines of what way they’re looking to run the first team. I think it really struck a chord with me that we can really try and get something where we can create that pathway right through the club into first team football,” he added.
O’Connor added that despite being primarily academy and pathway focused that he does want to give local junior players a chance to play at that level too but knows it’s not going to be easy to get them to commit.
“You know it’s not going to be just it’s not as easy as just saying they’re good enough. They have to buy into the travel and stuff as well so that’s why there’s a little bit of a difference on this than there is with you know junior football that’s localised. It’s not as easy as just saying, listen, there’s 10 really good players playing in the area and they should be in the team. They may not want to do the travel, so we have to factor in all of these things and really get the right people to fit.” He says he’s looking for a specific type of player that fits his vision, including the progression of academy players.
“if anybody’s good enough, they’re old enough, it doesn’t necessarily, as I said, it’s not age focused, it’s basically if you’re good enough, if you fit the dressing room and you’re willing to learn and you’re willing to buy into the standards and take pride in representing the club properly, you know, you’ll get your chance,” said O’Connor.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re 16, 17, 18, 19. If we feel you’re right to step into that position, we’ll most certainly give you that platform to go and do it.” O’Connor has coached several local players during his career to date, citing Danny Doyle and Shane Barnes as two such players, whilst he coached Wexford U19’s at a time when several local players were coming through the academy there.
However, he insists that just because he’s coached them in the past that does not guarantee that he’ll be trying to sign them.
“Everyone will start thinking that I’m going to try and sign them. But there’s a lot of players that I coached that are still doing extremely well in junior football in the area. And then there’s a lot of players who haven’t come through any sort of League of Ireland system who I’ve been keeping an eye on. Some of the representative squads that have never played any sort of league-wide football are very good. So it’s not going to be just because you had a contact with Tom O’Connor that you’re going to be considered. There’s a lot of people out there that I want to talk to.”
This is the first season of the National League and there’s still so many questions over the league and how things will shape up. For instance the full line up has yet to be announced, and being the first season, the standard and the level of the competition won’t be known for quite a while. O’Connor is well aware of this and know it’s going to be difficult but says it’s down to him to get a squad together that’s capable of competing.
“In terms of knowing what the standard is going to be like, I think it’s going to be difficult. But I think if you get things right in terms of your own squad and composition, you’re going to be competitive regardless. So you’ve got to kind of make sure that you’re organized, competitive, hardworking, and that’s the things that we’re going to be working towards,” O’Connor explained.
“I think we can only really focus on ourselves. And once we do our things right, I feel that, you know, regardless of what the opposition is at the level, we should be able to compete and hold our heads, hopefully, at the top end.” With a move to Buckley Park imminent, O’Connor knows what an asset that’s going to be for the club, and stressed the importance of keeping it in order to draw the fans in.
“There’s a lot of history attached to Buckley Park and anybody I’ve spoken to is talking about the days they had down there, the times they went to watch, you know, even international underage games, things like this. So there’s a lot of nostalgia around it, and there will be a little bit of hype around it as well. It’s going to be important for us to make sure that that stays there.
“That’s going to be the drive for us in the short term, is to make sure that we have something that when we have people coming down, that they really can attach themselves to the club. and attach themselves to the team.
“And when it comes to match night, they want to get back out and watch us in all types of weather.”
