Stephen Bradley has revealed the secret behind his decade-long survival in Irish football’s toughest job. Shamrock Rovers are in Champions League action this evening against Maltese side Floriana and the game marks the 10th anniversary of Bradley ’s Tallaght Stadium appointment. Initially in as an interim replacement for Pat Fenlon, he was handed the reins full-time at the end of the 2016 season. In the 10 years prior to his tenure, Rovers had gone through five permanent managers. Only Paddy Coad – 1949 to 1960
– has been a longer-serving gaffer with the Hoops. Asked for the secret behind his longevity, he replied: “It is just having good people around me. I’m lucky. I’ve got some of the best people I’ve ever come across around me. “I’ve had Glenn (Cronin) and Stephen Mc(Phail) by my side for the whole time. They’ve been really important for me, helping me in every way. “It really is good people that makes you really appreciate what we have and enjoy what we have and
understand how we’re lucky to do what we do and lucky to do what I do. “Like I said before, we are a club that’s pushing to get better. We’re only young, I know I’ve been doing this a long time now, but we’re only young. “We’re still learning and getting better so that for me is the number one thing especially with some personal stuff that happened. “Without the good people around me, it wouldn’t have been possible. “I’ve been blessed with some of
the best people you come across, which is one of the key factors for me, I would say.” Bradley insisted that he wasn’t even aware of the anniversary until a fan approached him at Dublin Airport yesterday morning. A former Rovers midfielder, he first took charge of the club for the second-leg of a Europa League tie with Finnish side RoPS Rovaniemi. His first piece of silverware was the 2019 FAI Cup, and since then he has won five Premier Division titles, including last year’s
league and cup double. “I do remember the (Rovaniemi) game,” he said. “I didn’t register it until I was leaving the airport and one of the fans congratulated me and said it’s 10 years to the day. “It’s been some journey already. It feels like only yesterday really. “I can remember the first game. Obviously there’s been so much growth and change in the club in that time, which has been positive obviously. “It’s been a big part of my life, both professionally and personally,
and like I said before, it’s genuinely not one that I do take for granted. “It’s not lost on me that I’m in a brilliant job, a brilliant club, and yeah, I’m very lucky.” The Hoops have also qualified for three of the last four group stage/league phase campaigns in the Europa Conference League under Bradley, and are aiming for more European glory this year. They have been handed a favourable draw against Maltese opposition – and progress in this tie would guarantee them the
minimum of a Conference League play-off spot. Having beaten Hamrun Spartans of Malta in the league phase last year, confidence should be high. However, getting a read on tonight’s opponents hasn’t been easy. “There’s been a lot of change in the attacking part of the pitch, they’ve recruited quite heavily in the last ten days,” said Bradley. “They’ve signed seven or eight players, they’ve signed a centre-back as well, from Brazil. So they’ve gone and recruited quite heavily in the last two weeks or so.
“There’s been a lot of change so it’s been hard to get a read. “If you look at last year and how the manager likes to play… but the actual individuals, we won’t know for sure until we play.” Rovers have banked over €15million in European prize money over the last four years, and Bradley sees not only progress, but improvement, as key. “My first thought is Shamrock Rovers, but the bigger picture is the league as a whole and I think we’ve definitely been
making progress, and for a number of years now,” he said. “Other teams have obviously started to come on that journey as well, Shelbourne last year which is really good to see. “Hopefully that can be repeated again this year and that’s the aim for all of us. “For European football, we know what it means to all clubs around Europe, not just us. It’s important both on and off the pitch. It shows progress. “I said the first time we did the group stage
that if we’re sitting here after another 10 years and haven’t qualified, it’s a big failure. “We’ve managed to get a few group stages since then and that needs to be our aim. We need to keep aiming for that.” Asked if Europa League or Champions League qualification was on his radar, he said: “Our aim is to improve, I don’t ever shy away from that every year, our aim is to improve. “What that looks like we’ll know in the next few months, but
our aim, we obviously did the double last year domestically and got the groups, we could have done better in the groups, we know that. “But our aim is to improve on that and that’s always the aim of this club. “Whatever that turns out to be and whether we can do that or not, we don’t know. But that’s the aim and that starts (tonight). One part of that journey starts (tonight). “And like I said, whatever that looks like, we will know in
the next few months, but we can have a show of life in the fact that we want to keep striving to be better and raising standards for ourselves and the league.” Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond .
Stephen Bradley, Shamrock Rovers, Floriana, Tallaght Stadium, Pat Fenlon, RoPS Rovaniemi, Glenn Cronin, Stephen McPhail, FAI Cup, Premier Division titles, Europa Conference League