SOCCER: League of IrelandFinbarr Flood insisted yesterday that while Shelbourne will start the new season with somewhat more modest ambitions than in recent years the club can field a competitive team and should be allowed to retain its place in the Champions League qualifiers.
The club's former chairman returned to take charge at Tolka Park yesterday in the absence of Ollie Byrne, who, though said to be doing well in hospital, looks certain to be away from the game for the foreseeable future.
Flood spent most of his first day back meeting staff and players, reassuring them about the financial position and seeking to ensure squad members stay on to play for the beleaguered club in the new season.
"I hope they all stay on but, to be fair, they've all shown loyalty to stay on this long and I made it clear to them that if they got what they felt were better offers from elsewhere then I wouldn't stand in their way," he said.
"The main thing from the club's point of view is to get a manager in, and I hope to do that very quickly. Once he is in place then he can look after the football side of things and I can look at concentrating on other aspects of the club. The aim would be that we would have someone in as soon as possible because what players are left are under pressure from other clubs who want them to leave, and the pool of players that is out there, available to be signed, is getting smaller every day."
Around a dozen players trained yesterday, and it is believed all hope to stay on for the coming campaign, though one source close to the club acknowledged, "If something good is going to happen here then it has to happen within the next week and a half or so because otherwise players are going to look elsewhere."
Quite who will be handed the task of overseeing the reconstruction of the squad remains to be seen, but while Flood wouldn't comment on the situation, the appointment of Stephen Geoghegan looks increasingly unlikely.
The former striker has not yet attained his Uefa B licence, never mind the A licence required by managers of teams competing in the Champions League, and Flood seems unlikely to persist with Byrne's solution to the situation - appointing a qualified coach who would effectively be passed off as manager.
Whoever is in charge, Flood admits, the club's targets for this season will be somewhat lower than in recent years, with the long-talked-about dream of qualifying for the group stages of European competition officially off the agenda.
"Hopefully we'll give it our best in every competition," he says, "but I've said to everyone here today, it's survival time. We won't set out to blaze a trail into the Champions League, we'll set out to blaze a trail to survival. The real aim will be to stabilise things on and off the pitch."
Asked about the prospect of the club being stripped of its place in the Champions League because of the financial problems it has suffered, he was adamant things could and would be turned around by the end of March, when European licences are distributed. And he added if that happened Shelbourne would be entitled to take their place in the competition.
"I think that if we're paying our players and abiding by all the various rules at that stage then it would be grossly unfair to interfere with us on that front," he said.
He said he was entirely confident the club would be able to field a competitive side in the season ahead.
Meanwhile, the former Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon has handed trials at Derry City to goalkeeper Ryan Harrison and former youth international striker Karl Bermingham.
Fenlon, who has yet to make a signing for the Northerners, is in the market for a goalkeeper following the departure of David Forde for Cardiff City. Harrison (20) has had spells with Swansea, Wrexham and Forest Green.
Bermingham (21) returned to Newry City last year after four years at Manchester City. He will hope to fill the vacancy created by the release of Stephen O'Flynn at the end of last season.
