John Coleman contrasts League of Ireland he's returning to with Waterford from one he knew at Sligo Rovers
JOHN COLEMAN believes he is returning to a better League of Ireland which is an antidote to 'backwards, sideways' football in the English Premier League.
Coleman
The 62-year-old - and ex-Sligo player Danny Ventre, who is expected to be confirmed as his assistant - watched caretaker boss Matt Lawlor
Coleman was impressed but admitted the Blues had to ride their luck and that they might not be so fortunate next time around.
Nevertheless, he reckons he will be working in a better league than the one he had a brief experience of little more than a decade ago.
Coleman said: 'It's got better, in my opinion. It's got the exposure that it deserves, that it wasn't getting, so I think that's a big plus.
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'I think the crowds have grown, people are more excited about it, people are switching to Irish football at the expense of English football, which is the way it should be, and hopefully we can have some exciting times.
'What you've got, I think, in the whole league, is players who are giving their all. And I think that's proper football, and the type of football that I want to watch.
'People can get turned off watching Premier League football, backwards, sideways, boring, predictable chess football.
"This is muck and bullets, and it gets the juices flowing. I can't wait to get started.'
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The Kirkby native said he was still in negotiations with Ventre, whom he managed during his first spell in charge of Accrington Stanley, about coming in as his no 2.
Ventre won a league and the FAI Cup three times during a six-and-a-half-year stint with the Bit O'Red and also played for Derry City.
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He was first-team coach at Bristol Rovers under Joey Barton and Coleman said: 'Danny knows the Irish football scene very well.'
The presence of Pádraig Amond, who scored the winner against Shels on Monday, in Waterford's ranks meant Coleman had been keeping tabs on the Blues anyway.
Coleman signed Amond, now 37, for Accrington from Pacos de Ferreira in 2011.
Coleman said: 'I know quite a few of them because I've come up against them but personally I know Podge really well.
'I have taken a big interest in Irish football since my time in Sligo, I watched them play last season and he covers every blade of grass. He never leaves a drop out there.
'As long as he is willing, I think his body will carry him through.
'He is a great pro, a great lad and was great to manage when I had him first time around. I hope his enthusiasm and professionalism rubs off on the rest of the players, which I'm sure it does.'
And he believes that will help him build on the work done by Lawlor who took nine points from his four games in charge since the club parted company with Keith Long after seven straight losses.
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Yesterday he watched on from the stands at Tolka Park as Waterford beat champions Shelbourne 1-0
Coleman said: 'He's put the pressure on. That's for sure. What he has done is he has got the players giving their all, and that's great for another manager coming in.
'He's got every last drop out of them which is all you can ask for. Matt's done an unbelievable job in the last two or three weeks.
'And that's no disrespect to Keith because it's a tough gig when things just don't go for you. I've been on the receiving end of that many times in my career.
'But there's been great work done in the last couple of years in Waterford and hopefully we can carry it on.'
However, he conceded that he might have to change how the side plays given how Shels dominated without getting anything to show for their efforts.
He said: 'We've sat in, absorbed a lot of pressure, the keeper's made three unbelievable saves. On another day do they go in and it hasn't worked?
'Do you change your approach or leave it as it is and hope that you keep getting away with it? The odds are that you're not going to keep getting away with it'.
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