Derry axe Roddy Collins - 'results not acceptable'

IT lasted 174 days, just shy of six months, but Roddy Collins' reign as Derry City manager is over.

The Dubliner's tenure was cut short on Sunday evening following a meeting with Philip O'Doherty, the club chairman, and the Chief Executive, Sean Barrett. Their rendezvous, which took place in O'Doherty's home in Derry and is said to have been an 'amicable' sitting lasting around a mere twenty minutes. 

Collins' departure was confirmed in a brief 40-word statement, posted on the club's official website.

"The Derry City FC Board of Directors would like to announce that Roddy Collins has left the club by mutual consent," the statement read.

"Derry City FC would like to thank Roddy for his service, and we wish him well for the future."

Collins' reign has not been short of controversy, with a rumoured spat between he and Peter Hutton, his assistant manager, late last week tumbling around the mill by the Foyle. However, O'Doherty has stressed that the decision to wield the axe was purely results based.

"It was really due to the results not being good enough," he told BBC Radio Foyle.

"I met Roddy and I think he expected the decision from the Board. He took it very well. He's very professional. We were both disappointed that the results hadn't been better.

"We looked at where we were in the table. We have a European game coming up - it's just six or seven weeks away. We need to qualify for Europe, we're seventh in the table and we badly need points."

O'Doherty admitted that the concerned Board had mulled over delivering Collins his P45 'over the last week', adding later in the same interview that results this far had been branded 'just not acceptable'.

Collins was the subject of boos form a section of the Brandywell crowd on Friday night following a one-nil defeat to Shamrock Rovers. In twelve League games, Collins recorded only two victories. With a 1-0 win over Sligo in the EA Sports Cup thrown in, Collins had just three wins from thirteen games and his team had scored just nine goals in that period.

Collins had been under close scrutiny of late after a series of disappointing results and controversy was never far away this season with high-profile players like Rory Patterson and Patrick McEleney having been left out of his squad during a fractious spell.

On the night of the one-all draw with UCD at the end of April, Patterson - the League of Ireland's top scorer with 24 goals in 2013 - was sent to play with the Derry reserves in an Ulster Senior League game at Drumkeen United, a match that also featured Shane McEleney, another whose relationship with Collins was said to have become strained.

Following a scoreless draw at home to Limerick FC on Easter Monday, a 'Collins Out' placard was shown by one disgruntled fan in the Southend Stand. In one of his many confrontational media interviews Collins said after that game: "That's not what supporters want to see and I wouldn't pay in to see it."

A perceived negative style did not sit well with City's supporters and the Brandywell Board became gravely concerned at the drastically dropping attendances with little more than 1,200 reported for Friday's game against Shamrock Rovers. Aside from a 3-2 win over bottom-of-the-table Athlone, Derry have scored just five League goals - two of them at home - and are already twelve points off League leaders St Patrick's Athletic.

Collins retained an abrasive exterior and his post-match interviews on Friday night showed his edge.

"We're not far off," Collins declared in one interview.

"This is a professional club, not a YMCA, and it has to be turned into one because it's built out of sand. I'm building solid foundations where it's not a YMCA and it's not about personalities - it's about playing well and winning."

There had been rumblings of discontent when it emerged that Hutton, Collins' number two, would not be present at Friday's game and had instead been dispatched to view the St Patrick's Athletic v Cork City game at Richmond Park.

Collins responded to a query on Hutton's absence: "The assistant manager goes to be present at a live game to get a report because we've got some dodgy ones, what's the problem?"

Derry's players have not gathered collectively since Friday's defeat, but Hutton and first-team coach Marty McCann were due to look after Monday morning's get-together. 

Hutton has been placed in interim charge with Derry's Board of Directors set to meet on Tuesday night to discuss the vacancy with names like Paul Hegarty, Sean Connor, Kenny Shiels and Paul Kee have been doing the rounds already locally. Derry legend Hutton - who managed Finn Harps last year - is another who will be heavily linked to the vacancy.