Mathews keen to improve despite “brand new team”

Shelbourne manager Alan Mathews is hopeful his side can improve on last year’s campaign despite having an almost completely revamped squad.

The Reds have lost 14 players over the close season including the likes of Kevin Dawson to Yeovil Town and David Cassidy to Drogheda United.

“We’ve got to put together a squad, which we’re not finished with yet, and then we’ll sit down with the group and talk about where we want to go. Obviously we want to improve on what we did last year. It’s basically a brand new team.

“We’ve got to try and gel the new players that have come in with the lads that are going to be there from last year. As I said, hopefully we’ll try push that forward.”

Although a number of very important players for Shels, such as David Cassidy and Paddy Kavanagh have been lost, Mathews is fully focused on looking forward and not dwelling on those losses. “It’s irrelevant what I think”, he said when asked about the impact such losses would have on the squad.

“I’m delighted with the players we’ve brought in. I’m delighted with players who’ve decided to stay on board”.

The former FAI Cup winning manager at Longford Town went on to allude to the fact that all players at the club will be on reduced wages this season. “[The players are…] all on reduced money from last year and it shows a very positive attitude. I’m more interested in the players we’ve brought in as opposed to the players who’ve left”.

When asked about the reason for Shels’ budget being significantly lower this year, Mathews referred to the board using money in other areas of the club. “The reality is that the club have decided to put funds into other areas to try to improve Tolka Park and other areas of the club. And also, just look at what’s going on in the world, people haven’t got money to put into football.”

There will certainly be a reliance on youth this season at Tolka Park as a number of players from the under 19 squad are being brought into the first team. “We’ll be augmented by a number of the under 19 players who I’d be very, very hopeful will produce and come through”.

This will be Mathews’ third season in charge of the Dublin outfit and perhaps his most challenging yet, but he is confident that the squad assembled can move the club forward.