We’ll start our 2022 season preview with the announcement that two Sligo icons have left. Rhys McCabe and David Cawley have both been released.
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It was a tough decision but we can’t keep players here because of sentiment and neither were trained in Ireland so did not help with European registration rules.
As for the transfers in, we obliterated our transfer record by signing Eoin Sheridan from Shamrock Rovers for £925,000.
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He scored the winner in the 2019 FAI Cup against us and I’ve been following him since.
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It might seem like a risk but we need to think about registration rules for European competition and he’s one of the best Irish players at his age.
We also signed young centre back Paul Douglas from Cork for £425,000.
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Again a young, talented Irish player is a must buy when they’re available.
It all went downhill from there though.
Firstly, the Europa League knockout game against AEK Athens is our first match of the season and it’s very difficult to get players back to full match fitness before then. But that’s okay we’ll deal with that over time.
Then we received the news that first choice right back Alpha Dionkou was injured.
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Annoying but we have adequate backup at right back. Then it got worse.
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Our best player Ryan Cassidy is injured for our most important games as Sligo manager. Typical.
The only way it could get worse would be if one of my best players had a release clause that I forgot about…
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… And Sheffield United trigged that release clause.
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Yep, Dylan Levitt has gone.
What made it worse was that I offered him a new contract as soon as the bid came in, which he accepted, so it gave me some hope that he’d stay.
Them shoddy transfer dealings leave us light in midfield and wide areas but I don’t want to sign players for the sake of it. We also have a lot of talented youngsters (all regens) on loan so I need to think of their futures too.
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But we’ll have to worry about squad depth later, for now we have to focus on beating AEK Athens over two legs.
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With no Levitt or Cassidy it would be a miracle. Stranger things have happened though…