Sports Direct Premiership: Glentoran v Crusaders (Friday, 7.45pm, BBC Sport NI & BBC iPlayer)
Glentoran and Crusaders kick-off the new Sports Direct Irish Premiership season on Friday night at the Oval, and new Glens’ assistant manager Paddy McCourt is hoping to lay down a marker for the rest of the campaign as he embarks on a new personal challenge.
Following a hugely disappointing, and at times controversial, season that saw the east Belfast side finish fifth and a whopping 30-points behind eventual champions Larne, manager Declan Devine has brought in ex-Celtic and Derry City player McCourt to his coaching ticket in the hope of building something special at the old ground.
“I still spoke to Declan regularly since our Derry days.” McCourt said.
“When he first came to the job here, he spent a bit of time having a look at what was there in terms of coaches.
“It was, I think, initially a two or three month contract he was on. So, he went down and did his own review of what he felt he needed to do moving forward. And when it got to the end of the season, he approached me about whether I’d be willing to come in alongside him as an assistant.”
“So, I took a wee bit of time to think about it and decided that it’s a post that I want to be doing. I’ve been in the camp the last six or seven weeks now, and I’ve really enjoyed it.”
After having failed to reach Europe, Glentoran have felt the pinch financially and have had to listen to offers for a number of leading players, with Bobby Burns and Daire O’Connor both exiting. McCourt is confident though that there will be a few more arrivals at the Oval before the transfer window ends.
“I think 13 players have left, and so far we’ve only brought in six or seven, so there is room there to add another couple. So that’s what we’re working hard to do,” said the ex-Northern Ireland player.
“We have contacts that we’ve built up through the years in the game. We identify players wherever the league they’re in.
“It doesn’t matter where they come from as long as they can come inside our financial budget. If we identify a target area that we want to improve, we’ll look at whatever players become available.
“Logistically, it’s better if you can get players that are from Ireland, but sometimes those players aren’t available, so we have to look further afield.”
First up for the Glens is a Crues side that is also going through a period of transition. It will be the first league game for new manager Declan Caddell and McCourt is excited about the prospect of a Friday night game under the lights.
“Looking forward to it. Definitely. It’s a big game. Crusaders coming to the Oval on Friday night,” McCourt said.
“I’m sure all eyes will be on the first game to see how we’re shaping up and how the Crues are shaping up, and it feels like it’s a fresh start for both sides.”
McCourt also has a relatively healthy deck of players to avail of tonight, with only Aaron Weightman an absentee after he sustained a fractured metatarsal against East Belfast in pre-season.
Caddell has himself drafted in two more players to his squad this week in Harry Franklin, a striker from the Welsh football league, and Harry Jewitt-White, a 20-year-old midfielder who has progressed through the junior ranks of Portsmouth and represented Wales at U19 level, as he hopes to keep pushing towards a top-three finish.