Can Gary Cronin guide Longford Town into promotion contention?

Gary would be considered a real Town man having been with the club for around ten years. During that period he was a player, coach  and assistant manager. 

During his playing days Gary proved that he was a very capable player but he was also a great clubman. During his tenure as a player he also was very committed and it was the same in his role as coach and assistant manager. 

Gary is coming to Longford having managed Bray Wanderers for over three years and during that time he did very well with the Wicklow club and only recently got his team through to the First Division promotion play-offs. 

By all accounts there was a huge interest in the Town job and there were many top applicants for the position. The fact that Gary is weeks behind all the other managers in the League and he needs to sign players immediately due to the closeness of the commencement of next year's league campaign. 

There have been many changes at clubs in the last month or so. Gary left Bray  because the Bray and Cabinteely merger which was confirmed recently and the tie up meant that Pat Devlin would be going back to the Carlisle grounds as director of football. 

With Devlin taking over Gary was invited to stay with the new club but he declined the offer.

 At this stage in the off season St Pat's, Drogheda, Athlone and Dundalk have announced new managers and the situation in Waterford isn't confirmed to date. 

Since the end of the season Dylan Grimes, Conor Davis and Rob Manley have left the club but not a lot is known regarding the other members of  the 2021 squad. 

Daire Doyle is now assistant manager in Drogheda who are now managed by former Town player Kevin Doherty who has taken charge at the Co Louth club.

 Many supporters are worried at this stage regarding a squad for next season but by all accounts Gary Cronin will be working on his new squad and announcement of signings will be made in due course. 

Looking at the First Division for the 2022 season one can see three full time teams Cork City, Waterford and Galway United and that gives those clubs a big chance to get back in the Premier League at the end of the season. 

The First Division next season will be a really tough one with those clubs plus the new Bray club along with Treaty United (Limerick), Wexford, Cobh and our near neighbours Athlone.

 It's no good competing in the First Division just to make up the numbers and with that in mind we hope that new man Gary Cronin will be able to put out a team to push for promotion and hopefully make the play-off positions come the end of next season. 

At the moment all the talk is about a nine team First Division and that will not be a runner. Shamrock Rovers second team might fill the void but anything could happen in the next few weeks.

 It's also hoped that we will start producing new players from within the club’s underage squads and we need to start getting local youngsters interested in possibly making the breakthrough to the first team. 

The merger between Melview and the Town is a move in the right direction and let’s hope this is a worthwhile venture and we can see those very talented young players make it to the top with the club as Aodh Dervin has proved. 

Gary Cronin can only do so much on the field of play but the club needs to get the local supporters back at Bishopsgate like when current Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny was here as a rookie manager some twenty years ago. 

Longford needs a centre of excellence for up and coming young and talented players from the county and surrounding counties like what is happening in other provincial clubs. There is a massive catchment area in the midlands and we need to tap into this. 

The 2022 season tickets are now on sale and we all know that people like to buy season tickets for friends and family at Christmas.