February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
He has no coaching badges, precious little coaching experience, and an avowed dislike of the off-field limelight. Exactly what he is supposed to contribute during the three days per week he will spend in the city then is anybody’s guess.
There is some talk that his name will attract players to the club (a ridiculously far-fetched idea) or will cause an upsurge of interest at the box office (even more ridiculous given that he’s not playing). Waterford is a great soccer town, with a rich tradition and — via John O’Shea’s emergence on the world stage — a unique opportunity to cash in on increased interest in the game there. We wish them well with this venture, but if the unseemly manner of the excellent Jimmy McGeogh’s departure from the club at the end of last season is anything to go by, we do not expect McGrath’s stay to be a lengthy one.
Needless to say, it was such a bad week otherwise for the Eircom League that McGrath’s arrival into the fray in as nebulous a role as this represented its first positive headline in months. The latest debacle surrounding the fact that not a single club had qualified for a UEFA Premier license, and that Shamrock Rovers and Limerick United weren’t even up to getting Div. 1 licenses had a familiar whiff to it. A competition that has been in serious trouble for a long time was once more publicly exposed for its ineptitude. The only difference seemed to be that this time the FAI were calling their bluff.
Inevitably, all those involved pleaded for more time to try to meet the higher standards now being demanded of clubs purporting to be professionally run outfits. Almost four years after UEFA first issued broad guidelines on this matter, nine months after the FAI published its own specific manual, they are looking for a stay of execution so they can get their houses in order. It would be easier to sympathize if this wasn’t a bunch of clubs who last year received nearly