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Larne vs Cliftonville: Jim Magilton offers thoughts on Nathan Rooney arrival
Jim Magilton expects Irish League newcomer Nathan Rooney to hit the ground running at Larne. The Premiership champions confirmed the former FCB Magpies boss as their new manager on Tuesday.
Rooney has come in to replace Tiernan Lynch at Inver Park and takes charge of his first game on Sunday when Magilton's Cliftonville make the trip to East Antrim. Under Lynch, Larne delivered historic back-to-back titles and became the first Irish League club to ever qualify for the group stages of a European competition.
They are big shoes to fill, but Magilton believes Englishman Rooney will quickly adapt to life at Larne.
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He said: "I think it will be about his knowledge, how he communicates his messages to the players, and the manner in which he does that. And then it's about being able to step out and demonstrate that.
"I imagine he will have very open and transparent conversations, and he will be looking to get off to a winning start because the blueprint for Larne over the last couple of years has been pretty good.
"To win back-to-back titles, there's very little you're doing wrong. He has a core group of outstanding players who know how to win games, so he'll feed into that. He'll schmooze a few egos, I'm sure, because he'll want to get one or two players onside.
"The captaincy? Will he stick with Cian Bolger? I don't know, he may have a different viewpoint on that, but it will be about conversations. Then it will be about backing it up with performances, and if he gets all of that right then I think that transition will be pretty smooth at Larne."
Magilton knows what it's like being a newcomer to Irish League management. He arrived at Cliftonville last summer and led the club to their first Irish Cup win in 45 years, and also qualified for Europe.
The former Ipswich Town boss says he "had to be adaptable" after arriving at Solitude.
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He added: "You have to adapt. You may have certain principles that are non-negotiable, in terms of manner and attitude, that never changes, but you have to adapt.
"Being adaptable, being adaptable within the group, and then being able to transfer that to the group. We had a little spell when we weren't scoring goals and we weren't winning games, with the obvious noise about who left the building (Ronan Hale, Ben Wilson, Sam Ashford) rather than concentrating on who's in the building.
"I knew that we were capable of better, which proved to be the point. It's always about trusting the players and having confidence in the players.
"If you drop below performance levels, there's no reason for that. Speaking to the players is always important I have to say the attitude and application of players in this league, it's blown my mind.
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"It did last year. There are no easy games, every team has moments in the game. We've struggled a little bit more than last year, when it was a bit more free-flowing and we were scoring early goals to help us settle down.
"Patience is important – not one of my greatest virtues I have to say – patience with the players and the people who we've brought in. We went heavier in terms of recruiting younger players and lads who weren't residents here, and that takes a little bit of time to settle in as well.
"I'm still enjoying it, still loving it, I've got great staff, a really good group of players, listen we're going to have another go at it and see where we finish."
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