Galway Utd boss on the secret to competing with richer clubs in transfer market

Irish Daily Mirror

16-05-2025

Galway United boss John Caulfield reckons provincial club managers have to 'box clever' in the transfer market to compete with some of the richer League of Ireland sides.
Caulfield pulled off one of the finds of the season when he brought striker Moses Dyer to Eamonn Deacy Park from Canadian side Vancouver FC.
He has been rewarded with Dyer's eight goals so far propelling him to the top of the Premier Division scoring charts.
The 11-time capped New Zealand international was this week named the SSE Airtricity/SWI Player of the Month for April.
But he wasn't on anyone's radar here before Caulfield swooped.
He was reacting to the departure of Tim Clancy from his former club Cork City, and the difficulties with competing against sides that could splash the cash, when he gave an insight into Galway's success so far this season.
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'The investment in the league nationwide has grown dramatically,' he said. 'If you look at the period when I was previously manager in Cork to now, the investment in clubs has been massive. And the stakes have been upped.
'And I suppose the challenges for the provincial clubs, particularly probably Sligo, Galway, Cork and possibly Waterford is competing because you're on a much lesser budget than the four Dublin clubs and Derry.
'But that's the challenge. That's why you have to work so hard. That's why you have to try and see if you can find the likes of Moses and these guys who are maybe not in the public eye.
'And there are ways somewhere that you can find these guys that will come in and make a difference.
'Ollie (Horgan) and myself put a lot of work into that, trying to find players that maybe are outside the eye of the clubs in Dublin.
'Because we know we don't have the money that's there, we have to box clever.
'I suppose the gap in that side has got bigger, but you have to try and find other ways and other solutions of how to stay in there, how to get results, how to sign players outside the box that will keep you competitive.
'And I suppose that's the challenge. And no matter if you're a manager of any club, it's really, really difficult.
'But you have to work incredibly hard and you have to have people with you who work hard and have good knowledge.
'You're not going to have any of those provincial clubs competing to sign a player that, with all due respect, Stephen (Bradley) or Duffer or Stephen Kenny come in for because financially you're not going to be there.
'So you have to go elsewhere. And that's the challenge for us.'
Sligo Rovers boss John Russell, meanwhile, is another who is working off a small budget - and his Bit O' Red side is rooted to the bottom of the Premier Division.
He is eager to turn things around quickly.
'The squad and staff all know results have not been good enough for a club like ours,' said Russell.
'But again, there's a huge determination within us to turn things around and there's no better way of beginning to do that than with a good result in a derby.'