Former Republic of Ireland international Paul McGrath has been appointed director of football and development at Waterford United, with the club also naming Alan Reynolds as its new player-manager yesterday.
"I am extremely honoured to accept this position," said McGrath of his surprise new role. "I am looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and I hope that I can lead Waterford United to the success that the club deserves. I am thrilled to be back involved in football and I can't wait to get stuck into the job," added McGrath.
"Everybody at Waterford United is thrilled that Paul is joining the club," said club chairman Ger O'Brien.
"I am so glad to have a person of his calibre at United and we are happy at being able to afford him an opportunity to get back to an involvement with football."
McGrath retired from football in 1998, after eight seasons with Manchester United, eight with Aston Villa, followed by brief spells at Derby County and Sheffield United. He returns to Irish football 22 years after leaving St Patrick's Athletic for United.
Reynolds, meanwhile, returns to the club where he spent nine years as a player, making his debut for Waterford as a 17-year-old in 1991, before having spells at Longford Town, Cork City and Shamrock Rovers. He turned down the managerial post last month in the wake of the controversial dismissal of Jimmy McGeough who took out a High Court injunction against the club following his sacking.
"The club had a number of very highly qualified applicants for the position of manager, but having given the matter a lot of thought and consciously not rushing into a decision, we feel that we have made the right choice in Alan, who has always shown great leadership qualities," said O'Brien.
"Given his experience in the Eircom League, we believe he is right person to bring the club forward."
"This is a wonderful opportunity for me," said Reynolds. "I can't wait to get to grips with my new role and I look forward to working with everyone at the club, especially with Paul.
"Hopefully we can build a club that Waterford and the south east can be proud of and I hope that the supporters will work with us to achieve this success."
Meanhwile, representatives of the Eircom League's 22 clubs last night agreed to seek that the FAI Licensing scheme be rescheduled in the wake of the decision by the committee administering the programme not to grant a single Premier Division licence. The clubs voted by 15 to five in favour of proceeding with this season's league in its present form with a 10-team top flight and 12-team first division despite the problems.
However, the decision may yet cause difficulties for the association, which will have to seek the permission of the Licensing Committee before making any changes to the way the scheme is implemented and the approval of UEFA if standards in any area other than infrastructure are relaxed.
A number of first division clubs argued last night that the league should be reorganised in the wake of the licensing decisions with everyone competing at the one level for the time being but there was considerable opposition to the proposal from the bigger Premier Division outfits, some of whom have previously been linked with a proposed split from the league.
Derry City abstained from the vote with the club's representative, Jim Roddy, expressing considerable frustration. "If there was any logic at all," said Roddy after the meeting, "the upshot of everybody getting a First Division licence is that everybody would be playing in the first division next season. People predicted that there would be a fudge, though, and that is what we've got. It's ludicrous although it may not be sorted out yet."
The clubs will now discuss the matter again on February 21st at the a.g.m. when, it is hoped, they will be in a position to vote on a fixture list.