SWILLY ROVERS will get their League campaign in the Ulster Senior League under new management this weekend.
Aaron Rogan’s tenure at Swilly has been cut short by the club after League Cup losses to Cockhill Celtic and Letterkenny Rovers with Sunday’s 6-1 loss at Letterkenny his last act as manager.
Rogan was appointed in late July as the successor to Jason Gibson, but has lasted only 39 days in the position – a shorter spell even than the infamous 44 days Brian Clough had in charge at Leeds United in 1974.
Swilly underage and Donegal Schoolboys League coach Gerry Crossan is set to step into the void ahead of Sunday’s Ulster Senior League clash away to Bonagee United.
Swilly’s very future in the Ulster Senior League had been in question following Gibson’s departure, with the club performing a u-turn on a decision to withdraw from the League.
[adrotate group=”38″]Swilly won just one League game last year, in September against Fanad United, and finished bottom-bar-one, with only Fanad beneath them in the table at season’s end.
Under Rogan, Swilly had just two League Cup games and the Derry native, a former Swilly player, has expressed his disappointment at being let go.
“The Board at the club told me that I would be given time,” he said after contacting Donegal Sport Hub this afternoon.
[adrotate group=”76″]“I never got a chance to play my preferred team. I’ve been working had over the last few weeks. I had eight new players in and had four more ear-marked to come into the club,
“One of the reasons I took the job was that I had time to do it and the time to make changes.
“I feel that I have got a raw deal here.
[adrotate group=”37″]“I was going to call a meeting myself because the facilities aren’t there to properly train and there are only four or five locally-based players that I identified as being good enough for the Ulster Senior League. The rest were based in Derry. “
Rogan had a new-look Swilly team deployed for the last two weekends, but has outlined the difficulties he had faced. He said: “There are people in the dressing room there who are there too long and have too much power. I think player power is an issue.
“Before one of the games there, I got a message from a player to say he couldn’t make it because his missus wouldn’t let him go. How can you work with that?”
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