LAST NIGHT, OWEN Heary was one of the analysts on Setanta Ireland’s coverage of St. Patrick’s Athletic’s 3-0 win over Longford Town.
At 7.35pm, the show began with host Des Curran asking Heary to explain exactly what his status as Sligo Rovers boss was following conflicting reports.
Heary said he had been told by the chairman, Joe Burns, his services were no longer needed by the club following a heavy defeat to Shamrock Rovers on Sunday, 5 June, with the players informed of the decision the following day.
On the Tuesday, however, Heary received another phone call to say he had been reinstated and admitted it was all “in limbo, but hopefully it will be sorted out soon.”
Just before the game kicked off, however, the club released a statement on Twitter confirming Heary was no longer manager:
It said:
“Sligo Rovers F.C. reluctantly wish to confirm that Owen Heary has stepped down as First Team Manager and departed the club. We would like to thank Owen for his services to the club and wish him all the best for what will without doubt be a successful managerial career.”
However, at half-time, Heary said it was the first time he’d seen the statement and that he had not stepped down as manager adding: “I don’t know where this statement comes from.”
You can watch it all here:
This one looks like there may yet be more twists and turns to come.
he may have been bad for sligo but what kind of amatuers are running what is supposed to be a professional football club up there?
Embarrassing that a so called Professional club can conduct its’ business in this way.
Absolute disaster of a manager. 4 th largest budget in the league and stuck in a relegation fight with only 2 wins. Has footballers but insists on a long ball game. Players he brought in are, for the most part, useless. The football is shite as reflected by the fans who are voting with their feet. He is playing the Martyr but wants to be paid off on his full 2 year contract with no compromise. People may say contracts should be honoured but with Heary in charge Rovers will be relegated no question.
Ok, we get it, you don’t like the guy and as you say, results seem to support why you have that opinion. That’s no reason to mistreat him though. Sack him if you want but at least be professional about it and communicate it clearly. One minute the club release a statement that they have parted company, then say they’ve reinstated him and then say he stepped down…all contradictory messages. All the signs suggest to me that there are real problems with the management of that club. Do your business behind closed doors!
I’m a Bohs supporter so have little time or sympathy for Heary but Sligo have made a balls of how they’ve handled the situation. Very unprofessional and if I was a Sligo fan, I’d be rightly pissed off with the club.
Is that true that they have the 4th largest budget in the league? Presumably Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers and Pats (unsustainably) are the top 3. I thought John Caulfield was talking shite when he said he was operating off the 5th largest budget but apparently not.
This mess isn’t helping any of the parties involved from the manager to chairman and committee
As a rovers supporter I very disappointed by the whole thing.
There has been no clear statements from the club since things have gone pear shaped
We have some very capable players and heary is not a capable manager look at bohs performance this season compared to last.
All in all I think this is going to be an expensive tale for rovers and we should keep to our managers from abroad as proven thru the years to be the most successful for use
heary won’t walk away from the 18 months left on his contract worth a reported 70k. that’s why he says he was fired . He wants his payoff. The club can’t afford to pay him off but If fans stay away like what’s happening now then 65% of gate receipts budgets for next season will leave the club in trouble next season as well . The club need to bite the bullet and pay him off and say good riddance to a shite manager . heary doesn’t look good in this situation either . no club will touch him in the future now. The sacking was the right decision 2 wins from 16 is shocking. I’m just disappointed by the way the rovers board handled this
Delighted he finished with Bohs when he did, was an absolute disaster as manager his stint at Sligo just confirmed that he’s simply not up to the task of managing a club in the League of Ireland.