Managers programme notes
Posted : 1st January 2020
Today we welcome in a new year and I hope that 2020 will be a happy, prosperous and successful one for everyone connected with Linfield Football Club.
2019 brought several significant highlights - winning the Premier League and League Cup, as well as an enjoyable run to the verge of the Europa League group stages but those achievements have passed into the history books and we are solely focused on bringing more success to this club in the year that lies ahead.
We have just come through a run of challenging fixtures against Crusaders, Glentoran and Coleraine and I hope that we have come through them in good shape and with a healthy points return.
Today we will kick off the new year with a tough challenge from an Institute team that will be fighting for their premiership survival. They pushed us hard in the pre-Christmas game at the Brandywell and although we won by a 3-0 score line, I remember Rohan Ferguson making three top drawer saves to preserve our clean sheet.
It’s been a demanding schedule of fixtures for players across this league and we face another fixture on Saturday to conclude the holiday programme.
Our Irish Cup campaign will open up with a game against Queen’s University at the Dub on Saturday and it’s a prestigious competition that I really want to see us make a major impact in. We will treat our opponents with every respect, as we know that shocks can occur in Cup football, if teams do not prepare professionally.
Ethan Boyle and Kyle McClean will join us when the transfer window opens officially in the next day or so and they will be welcome additions to our squad over the remaining months of the season.
I fully expect the title race to go right to the wire this season, with five teams having been neck and neck in a tight group at the top of the table and with all the teams being capable of taking points off each other. We may have come through a gruelling set of Christmas fixtures but each and every fixture from now until the season end will be just as tough and we really want to build up momentum and consistency, to drive us on the success we are pursuing.
Several of the leading contenders have strengthened significantly and with one fewer European place to qualify for this season, it promises to be an exciting and challenging race for the major honours in the coming months.
We will approach the task in hand on a one game at a time basis, starting with today’s difficult assignment against Institute and we will need all of our supporters to get behind all of our players today, and in all of our games in the months ahead, to help inspire us to the success we seek.
Happy New Year