JASON GIBSON HAS CONFIRMED that Sunday’s Ulster Senior League game against Bonagee United will be his last as the manager of Swilly Rovers.
Gibson took over at Swilly for the 2011 season, but back in January informed the club committee that he had decided to step down at the end of this season.
This will mark the end of Gibson’s sixth season as the Swilly manager having had seven seasons as player-manager at his native Lagan Harps beforehand.
Picture caption: Jason Gibson, left, with Niall Callaghan and Tony McNamee. Picture by Stephen Doherty
“I’ve had 13 years in management and it’s been very intense,” Gibson, who played for a year-and-a-half at Swilly under Danny McConnell’s reign as the manager.
[adrotate group=”37″]“I’ll probably always be involved in football. I’m the vice-chairman of Swilly at the minute, too, so I’ll see that out until the AGM.
“A lot of people place emphasis on the first team, but the off-the-field structure is very good at Swilly. My focus could go on helping with their development plans. There is some great work going on in Swilly Rovers.”
Swilly lost 4-1 to Derry City Reserves on Wednesday evening in Aileach and Sunday’s game will bring the curtain down on this campaign.
[adrotate group=”39″]Swilly are currently the fifth-placed side in the six-team Ulster Senior League with only one League win all season, a 4-0 away win at Fanad United back in September.
Gibson said: “We took the decision this year to take investment out of the team and to go with a mostly local team.
“We knew what was coming. Even at that, I’d still have been disappointed with the commitment levels of some of the players.
[adrotate group=”46″]“I’m a wee bit disillusioned with it, too. It could be the players’ attitudes or it could be the league structure. How do you ring a player up and say: ‘Come and play with me in a six-team League?’”
Gibson guided Swilly to back-to-back Knockalla Caravans Cup wins in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, Terence Shiels scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Glengad United and, a year later, Kyle Black’s goal secured a 1-0 win over Letterkenny Rovers.
“That isn’t a Cup that’s won easy,” said Gibson, whose team lost 1-0 to Cockhill in the Ulster Senior League Cup final in 2014.
“When we lost the League Cup to Cockhill, Ryan Shields played out of his skin that day, he marked Garbhan Friel out of it and, late in the game, Garbhan got a yard and scored with a deflected shot.
[adrotate group=”38″]“We never sustained any great League campaigns. We had one finish in the top three. It’s so difficult to compete with Cockhill, Derry and Letterkenny.”
While some uncertainty surrounds the direction the Ulster Senior League will take this summer, Gibson is thankful for his chance to try his hand at the Ramelton-based club.
He said: “There weren’t too many chances for managers. There weren’t too many clubs taking Donegal League managers.
“It was an attractive job at the time. They always had a tradition in Swilly so it was a good opportunity for me at the time. I had my time done at Lagan and it was good to get the challenge of Swilly.”
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