ATHLONE TOWN HAVE this morning confirmed that Mick Cooke will take the managerial reins of the club for the 2014 season.
Cooke, who was manager of the Drogheda United team that lost out recently in the FAI Ford Cup final, takes over from Roddy Collins.
Under Collins stewardship, Athlone Town had claimed promotion as they won the Airtricity Division 1 league title this year.
There was controversy last week when Collins expressed his surprise live on Newstalk’s Off The Ball after a tweet from the club’s official account read: “News on the appointment of the new manager tomorrow.”
However, Athlone Town later revealed that the account had been “compromised” and added that the claim was untrue.
On Friday, Athlone Town insisted that they had wanted Collins to stay on as a manager and only advertised for a new boss when they felt that Collins was not committing to another season.
Roddy Collins celebrates with the Athlone Town team.
Pic: INPHO/Donall Farmer
Cooke had been at the helm of Drogheda United since 2011 and previously was the manager of Monaghan United.
He also has experience of being in charge of both the Republic of Ireland U17 and U18 girls’ teams and was the assistant manager for a spell at Shamrock Rovers.
Collins is never far from controversy
Great appointment. Hopefully the squad and team next season will have some local representation ( Midlands). Its hard to support a bunch of lads no one knows anything about.
Amazing to see the crowd and atmosphere grow in what’s a very decent stadium as season went on. I prob only attended 4 to 5 games myself tbf but the Wexford youths game(1st big crowd I was at) was a shock given the crowd of 300 present the previous time. No one knew anyone on the pitch though which was awkward. The die hards chanting at the new bees was a bit of crack though!
Cooke is a great manager and will build a good squad if giving the chance.. Athlone will be no push overs next year and athlone vs drogheda will be a one to watch next season!
Best of luck Mick. Long way from playing with you in C S F L when Bobby wouldn’t let us play with his ball ! Hope you have great season. Doc
A great appointment by Athlone. One that could secure a good solid future for the club as Mick Cooke has that capability of getting players and staff pulling together in the right direction.
I was lucky enough to be involved with Rovers when Mick was Damien Richardsons assistant manager and he did great work on the training pitch and it has been proven to be the case with all the teams he’s coached with.
I’ve no doubt he’ll have Athlone playing a good brand of football and won’t be afraid to give a few young lads a chance if he feels they are good enough.
Best of luck Mick