Sligo Rovers F.C.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sligo Rovers

Full name

Sligo Rovers Football Club

Nickname(s)

Bit O'Red

Founded

1928

Ground

Showgrounds,
Sligo,
County Sligo
(Capacity 5,500 (2,400 seats))

Chairman

Michael Toolan

Manager

Paul Cook

League

Eircom Premier Division

2007

6th





Home colours





Away colours

Sligo Rovers F.C. (Irish: An Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish football club playing in the Football League of Ireland.

The club is a co-op, it is owned by the people of Sligo. Sligo Rovers have played at The Showgrounds since their inception. The Showgrounds is held in trust, which ensures the ground can never be sold and will remain for Sligo Rovers to use.

1 History
2 Supporters
3 Current squad
4 Recent Managerial History
5 External links

[edit] History

Sligo Rovers Football Club was formed on 17 September 1928 as a result of an amalgamation of two junior sides, Sligo Town and Sligo Blues. Their first game was a 9-1 victory against Ballyshannon on 23 September 1928. The club, elected to the League of Ireland in 1934, hails from Sligo and play their home matches at the Showgrounds. The club colours are red and white stripes with red shorts away colours are all white.

In the years of The Emergency (WW II) the club captured the imagination of the country when it signed the legendary Bill "Dixie" Dean -the former Everton legend and still the all time top scorer in the English First Division.

Rovers finest periods came in 1937 & 1977, when they won the League of Ireland championship, 1983 when they defeated Bohemians to win the FAI Cup and 1994, when under manager Willie McStay they won a "treble" of the Irish First Division title, the First Division Shield and the FAI Cup, beating Derry City FC in the final. In 1994 they got through the preliminary round of the European Cup Winners Cup (eventually losing to Club Brugge in the first round proper, 5-2 on aggregate).

Former Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez managed the club in the 1994-95 season. Steve Cotterill, manager of Burnley since the season 2005/2006, succeeded Sanchez as manager.

On 12 November 2005, Sligo Rovers claimed the 2005 First Division Title with a 0-0 draw at home to Athlone Town. Sligo Rovers are playing Premier Division football for the first time in six years in the 2006 Eircom League season. Sligo Rovers reached the FAI Cup semi final in the 2006 season but their manager Sean Connor resigned days after the game despite being contracted until the end of the 2007 season. Despite Connor's lack of interest towards the end of his tenure Sligo Rovers still managed a very credible 5th place finish in their first season back in the Premier Division.

Sligo Rovers are the subject of a popular, semi-autobiographical book, There's Only One Red Army by journalist Eamonn Sweeney, published in 1997.

[edit] Supporters

Benny the Bull, the Sligo Rovers team mascot

The club has always had loyal following in Sligo town as well as throughout the North West of the country, where it has been an outpost for football since its membership of the League of Ireland, this despite not always being successful.

There are five main supporters groups, they are:

Forza Rovers (ultras)
SRFC North Sligo Supporters Club.
SRFC South Sligo Supporters Club.
SRFC Dublin Supporters Club.
The Bit O'Red Supporters Trust.

[edit] Current squad

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Richard Brush
		GK	Pat Jennings (on loan from Derry City)
		DF	Gavin Peers
		DF	Keith Foy
		DF	Jamie McKenzie
		DF	Seamus Coleman
		DF	Mauro Almeida
		DF	Anto Murphy
		DF	Danny Ventre
		DF	Chris Butler
		MF	Rafael Cretaro
		MF	Alan Moore

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Ciaran Green
		MF	Conor O'Grady
		MF	Sean Doherty
		MF	Gary Curran
		MF	Brian Cash
		MF	Steve Feeney
		MF	Romuald Boco
		FW	Ross McLoughlin
		FW	Fahrudin Kudozovic
		FW	Matthew Judge

[edit] Recent Managerial History

2007 Paul Cook

Managerial career began 27 April 2007.

Liverpool born Cook is a former professional footballer whose former clubs included Burnley, Wolves, Wigan Athletic, Coventry City, and Tranmere Rovers. Cook managed Conference side, Southport, from June 2006 until January 2007 when he was dismissed.

2006 Rob MacDonald

Managerial career began 14 November 2006. Resigned 6 March 2007.

Took charge of only one competitive game, 18 November 2006 Vs. Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds, Bray. Result 1-1.

2004 Sean Connor Resigned 2 November 2006.

Belfast native succeeded in getting the team promoted to the Premier Division in 2005 but left in controversial circumstances with only a few games left in the 2006 season.

2001 Don O'Riordan

Dubliner O’Riordan came to the club after a successful period with Galway United. However, with Rovers he failed to build a side capable of challenging for promotion although he did lay the groundwork for the club’s highly successful Youth policy and he gave a number of locals their Senior debuts in the eircom League.

O’Riordan and Sligo Rovers parted ways in the summer of 2004.

1999 Tommy Cassidy

Cassidy, who had previously managed in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, could do little to reverse the slide in Rovers’ fortunes following the departure of previous manager Jim McInally and they were relegated from the Premier Division.

Cassidy came close to getting Rovers back up as they were in contention right up until the final day of the 2000-2001 season when they lost 4-1 against Home Farm Everton.

1999 Jim McInally

McInally came to the Showgrounds at the start of the 1999-2000 season but early results didn’t go his way and he left the club due to personal reasons.

1997 Nicky Reid

Reid was one of Jimmy Mullen’s last signings and the former Manchester City F.C. player was asked to take charge. In his first season as player-manager, he took the club on it’s longest ever unbeaten run – which saw them claim the League Cup in February of 1998, beating Shelbourne over two legs in the final (Reid also captained the side). His second season didn’t go as well and the club just escaped relegation from the top flight on the final day thanks to a 2-0 win against Derry City F.C.. Reid was then released from his contract and he returned to England where he went back to college to get his physiotherapy qualifications.

1996 Jimmy Mullen

Mullen came to the club after a good spell with Burnley F.C. but his reign at the Showgrounds was short-lived and he left the club due to family reasons in July 1997.

1995 Steve Cotterill

Before Lawrie Sanchez left in 1995, he recommended that Sligo Rovers appoint Cotterill and that proved to be a wise decision as he led the club to third place in the Premier Division of the National League and his side also reached the League Cup final (Rovers were beaten on penalties by Shelbourne). Cotterill was then offered the position of manager of Cheltenham Town, who he brought from non-League football into the Football League winning the FA Trophy along the way.

1994 Lawrie Sanchez

Prior to his appointment with Rovers, Sanchez was best known for scoring the winning goal for Wimbledon in the 1988 English FA Cup Final against Liverpool. Sanchez built on the good work done by McStay with his professionalism rubbing off on everyone at the Showgrounds. He led the club to semi-final of the FAI Cup where they were beaten by Shelbourne.

1992 Willie McStay

In two years McStay lead Rovers to an historic treble, when they won the 1993-94 First Division, First Division Shield and the FAI Cup. In 1994, the Scot left Rovers just before the start of the new season after being approached by Celtic F.C., his former club as a player.