History of Derry City F.C. - Recent Times (2006–present)

Recent Times (2006–present)

After a period of much speculation and rumour, Pat Fenlon was finally appointed as manager of Derry City on 8 December 2006 for a three-year long contract to fill the void left by former boss, Stephen Kenny. He is Derry's twelfth manager since the club joined the League of Ireland. During a press conference on 12 December Fenlon confirmed that he had already undertaken the challenge of finding a replacement for departed goal-keeper, David Forde, as well as convincing the club's out-of-contract squad-members to re-sign for the 2007 season. He outlined these as his priorities before he would begin searching for new signings from other clubs.

On 12 December 2006, it was also announced that Derry City had not only been accepted into the new-look League of Ireland for the 2007 season (membership of which was decided by criteria other than points attained in the previous season for this season only), but had scored the highest number of points between those teams accepted - 830 - for on-field and off-field criteria determined by the FAI's Independent Assessment Group.

Prior to this, Derry City were entered into the draw for the 2007 Setanta Cup (qualifying due to their successes in 2006) on 7 December 2006 and were drawn in a very competitive Group 1 with Drogheda United, Glentoran and Linfield.

Shaun Holmes, Mark McChrystal and Stephen O'Flynn all joined David Forde on the way out after they were released by the club on 14 December 2006. Likewise, on 15 December 2006 Paul Hegarty announced that he would be moving on from his role as assistant manager due to difficulties in relation to Pat Fenlon's new training schedules for the 2007 season, while Colm O'Neill, a fitness coach at the club, also left to join Stephen Kenny in Dunfermline.

Although some reports claimed that Curtis Fleming was to take the vacant assistant manager's position left at the club by the departure of much of Stephen Kenny's staff, Pat Fenlon revealed that Anthony Gorman would fill the spot on 31 December. Fenlon also helped commit Ruaidhri Higgins to the club for another two seasons just two days later, but decided that Clive Delaney was not in his plans and let the club release him on 21 December 2006. With goal-keeper Pat Jennings Jr. signing a new contract with the club in January 2007, Fenlon was also linked with bringing in tall Norwegian striker, Øyvind Hoås of Fredrikstad, and highly-rated Irish League player, Conor Downey of Cliftonville FC. Nevertheless, released Irish Manchester United youngster, Kyle Moran, and former Irish school-boy international, Karl Bermingham, were invited to the club for a trial period prior to the 2007 season's kick-off.

On 19 January 2007, David Forde's performances for Derry during the 2006 campaign were rewarded with the presenting of the eircom/Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland's 'Goalkeeper of the Year' award. Pat Fenlon was also named as 'Personality of the Year' after his league success at Shelbourne FC. During the awards ceremony, held in Dundalk, Dermot Ahern, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was a guest in attendance and gave a speech, claimed that the two highlights of the league year for himself had been his presence at two historic occasions in the Brandywell; the club's Setanta Sports Cup game against Linfield FC and the UEFA Cup match with Paris Saint-Germain. He poured praise on the club, its fans, players, staff and board, claiming that its efforts and achievements had ramifications way beyond sport. Only days later, the club as a whole was awarded the Belfast Telegraph's Sports Award for 2006 after its displays during the season.

Derry's first signing of 2007 was eventually announced on 28 January - Pat Fenlon convinced one of his former Shelbourne F.C. players, Dave Rogers, an experienced defender, to join him at the Brandywell. Karl Bermingham's signature followed on 2 February 2007 after a successful trial spell. A few days later, other trialist, Kyle Moran also signed a one-year contract. On 20 February, Fenlon convinced another former Shelbourne player - Greg O'Halloran - to join him in Derry on a two-year contract.

Fenlon's reign began with a win in his first competitive game against Glentoran in the Setanta Cup on 26 February 2007. Two days later, he made another new addition to his squad - Peter Hynes - while also allowing fellow new-comer, Kyle Moran, to move to Shelbourne on loan to aid his fitness and development. By 5 March, the manager looked to have his preparations for the new season complete as he signed Swedish goalkeeper, Ola Tidman, and former Irish international, Alan Moore.

With Derry opening their title challenge at home to Bray Wanderers on 9 March 2007, Kevin McHugh was the first player to score of the new season as Derry went on to win by this single goal. Under a week later, after the 'Erin Go Brawl' boxing bout between Derry boxer John Duddy and Anthony Bonsante on 16 March 2007 in Madison Square Garden, New York, a Derry City flag was held behind Duddy during the victor's television interview. In the meantime, despite the club being pitted as favourites for the title by numerous bookmakers at the outset of the season, Derry City made a poor start, losing to strong title-contenders St. Patrick's Athletic and Drogheda United in their early-season confrontations. They also fell to Cork City at home in the fifth series of games to a score-line of 4-1. The last time Derry City conceded four goals at home in the League of Ireland had been when Cork City ran out 4-1 winners at the Brandywell in April 2000. Having won only three games from nine competitive matches prior to this game, Pat Jennings Jr., the goalkeeper, was viewed as being at fault for quite a number of Derry's conceded goals and was dropped for Ola Tidman to make his debut. Conceding four goals on his debut, however, Tidman also failed to inspire confidence as the club seemed to be missing David Forde following his pre-season departure to Cardiff City. The team in general appeared to be lacking in the drive and tenacity that was once present under Stephen Kenny and were failing to create clear-cut, goal-scoring chances. The loaning out of attacking midfielder, Ciaran Martyn, on 31 March 2007, Norwegian top division team Fredrikstad F.K. until 15 July 2007 (with the future option of that club being able to purchase the player for an agreed fee if they so wished) did not help matters, although Derry City did stand to make a considerable profit from the deal and were thus realistically unable to turn it down. The club's poor streak eventually came to an end on 13 April 2007 when a goal by Peter Hutton gave Derry a 1-0 away victory over Waterford United. However, the club fell to a 2-1 away defeat to Drogheda United in their next game - the last series of games in the group stage of the 2007 Setanta Cup. This saw them depart from the tournament before the knock-out stage, the club having won only one of their six games. This was the second year in a row that the club was eliminated from the competition's group stage. The club's poor form continued as they went down to a 1-0 score-line at home to UCD in their following league game.

Fenlon signed former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Ben Roberts on 12 May 2007 to help solve the club's defensive problems. However, on 22 May 2007, Fenlon resigned as manager, and Peter Hutton took control of the team. Roberts was also released days into his contract after sustaining an injury.