Pat Fenlon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Pat Fenlon
Fenlon.jpg
Personal information
Date of birth 15 March 1969 (1969-03-15) (age 42)
Place of birth Dublin, Ireland
Club information
Current club Hibernian (manager)
Youth career
1984–1987 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1987–1991 St. Patrick's Athletic ? (?)
1991–1993 Bohemians 88 (29)
1993–1996 Linfield ? (?)
1996–1997 Shamrock Rovers 31 (4)
1997–2003 Shelbourne 153 (27)
National team
1988–1992 Republic of Ireland U21 3 (0)
1992 Republic of Ireland B 1 (1)
Teams managed
2002–2006 Shelbourne
2007 Derry City
2007–2008 Republic of Ireland under-23s
2008–2011 Bohemians
2011– Hibernian
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Patrick "Pat" "Nutsy" Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish former footballer and manager. He is currently in charge of Scottish Premier League club Hibernian.

Fenlon previously managed Shelbourne, Derry City, the Republic of Ireland under-23s and Bohemians. He won five League of Ireland titles with Shelbourne and Bohemians between 2003 and 2009. His 2004 season with Shelbourne saw Fenlon lead his squad past Icelandic champions KR Reykjavík and Croatian high-flyers Hajduk Split to a meeting with Spanish giants Deportivo la Coruña in the UEFA Champions League, becoming the first manager to reach the third qualifying round with an Irish club. During his time with Bohemians Fenlon also won the FAI Cup in 2008, the League of Ireland Cup in 2009 and the Setanta Sports Cup in 2010. Dundee United attempted to poach him unsuccessfully; Hibernian eventually did.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Born in Dublin, Fenlon was with London club Chelsea as a young trainee.[1] He signed for St Patrick's Athletic in 1987[1] and made his League of Ireland debut on 13 September 1987, against Shelbourne at Harold's Cross Stadium. Fenlon won the League of Ireland championship with St Pats in 1989–90.[1] In September 1990 he scored against Dinamo Bucharest in the European Cup.[2] After four seasons at St Pats, he signed for Bohemians in the summer of 1991.[1] He scored 29 goals in 88 appearances for Bohs and won the FAI Cup in 1992[1], as well as the PFAI Player of the Year accolade.

Fenlon signed for Linfield in January 1994.[1] In doing this he became the first Catholic from Dublin to play for Linfield, a Protestant club from Belfast.[3] Speaking about his time with Linfield twenty years later, Fenlon said he had been abused by fellow Irish Catholics for his decision to join Linfield[3] Fenlon won two IFA Cups and one Irish Premier League championship with Linfield.[1]

In June 1996, he signed for another Dublin club, Shamrock Rovers.[1][4] But after one season he transferred to Shelbourne,[1] thus making him one of the first players to have played for each of Dublin's "Big 4", i.e. St. Patrick's Athletic, Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians. Whilst playing for Shels he suffered a triple fracture of the shin in a match against Rovers in Tolka Park on 12 February 1999. He recovered from this to help fire Shelbourne to the league and cup double the following season, and secure a second PFAI Player of the Year award.[5] He scored the winning goal for Shelbourne in the 1999/00 FAI Cup final replay, as Shelbourne beat Bohemians 1–0.[6]

[edit] Management career

Fenlon started out his management career as player/manager of Shelbourne in 2002.[1] He guided the club to second place in his first season in charge. By the start of the 2003 season, Fenlon had hung up his boots to focus solely on the management of the club.[1] The rewards were immediate, and Fenlon took the club to their first ever back-to-back league titles, in 2003 and 2004.[1]

The 2004 season also saw Fenlon lead his squad past Icelandic champions KR Reykjavík and Croatian high-flyers Hajduk Split and into the third (final) qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, where his Shelbourne side were eventually overturned by Spanish giants Deportivo la Coruña.[7] Following this amazing run, and participation in the First Round of the UEFA Cup against Lille OSC, Fenlon was rewarded with a contract extension.[8] This made him the first manager to reach the third qualifying round of the competition with an Irish club.[1]

2005 promised big things for Fenlon and Shelbourne. However, things did not go exactly as planned. In spite of several big name signings, Shelbourne staggered past the season's finishing-line in a disappointing third place. One of Fenlon's former clubs, Linfield, also beat Shelbourne in the first Setanta Cup final. 2006 saw the return of success. Dogged by continuous rumours involving a move from Tolka Park during the 2006 season, Fenlon guided the club to their third league title in 4 years on 17 November 2006, with a 2-1 victory over rivals Bohemians, which saw the Dubliners claim the title on goal difference.

This was followed by reports linking Fenlon to the vacant hot-seat at Derry City left by Stephen Kenny, who had departed the Brandywell Stadium to take up the managers position at Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic. Fenlon resigned from his position as Shelbourne manager on 5 December 2006[9] and the reports proved true when Derry concluded an agreement with him.[1] In January, 2007, Fenlon was awarded the eircom/Soccer Writers Association of Ireland (SWAI) 'Personality of the Year' award after his success during the 2006 season with Shelbourne. However, results at Derry did not favour Fenlon and he resigned his position after just five months.[1][10] Fenlon was also manager for a series of games for the Republic of Ireland under-23 national team, consisting entirely of League of Ireland players.[11]

On 22 December 2007, he was appointed manager of Bohemians.[1] In 2008, within a year of his appointment, he guided Bohs to their second League of Ireland/FAI Cup double in a decade. The 19 points winning margin in the League was a new record. He won the league in 2009 with Bohs beating arch rivals Shamrock Rovers by 4 points. Bohs also won the League of Ireland Cup that year. Scottish Premier League club Dundee United attempted to appoint him as their manager in January 2010, although their compensation offer of £90,000 was rejected, with Bohemians looking for over £200,000.[12]

Fenlon was linked with the manager's position at Hibernian in November 2011.[13] Bohemians gave Hibernian permission to talk to Fenlon on 23 November[14] and he was appointed two days later.[15][16][17] Unusually, what would be Fenlon's debut game as manager away to Motherwell was abandoned at half time,[18] when one of the Fir Park floodlights caught fire.

[edit] Honours

[edit] As a player

[edit] As a manager

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Pat Fenlon Factfile". Irish Independent. 28 December 2007. http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/pat-fenlon-factfile-1254207.html. Retrieved 15 January 2012. 
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ a b Grant, Michael (12 January 2012). "Exclusive: Pat Fenlon irked by anti-Irish abuse but refuses to make it an issue". The Herald (Herald & Times Group). http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/exclusive-pat-fenlon-irked-by-anti-irish-abuse-but-refuses-to-make-it-an-issue.16440077. Retrieved 15 January 2012. 
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ "Ireland - Player of the Year and Other Awards". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/ierpoy.html. Retrieved 2010-01-10. 
  6. ^ "Ireland 1999/2000". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesi/ier00.html. Retrieved 2010-01-10. 
  7. ^ "Shelbourne 0-0 Deportivo". BBC Sport (BBC). 2004-08-11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/3551034.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-10. 
  8. ^ "Season 2004 ( Shelbourne )". Shelbourne F.C. http://www.shelbournefc.ie/fixtures.php?seasonid=105. Retrieved 2010-01-10. 
  9. ^ Fenlon Resigns As Shelbourne Manager
  10. ^ Official Club Statement: Resignation of Pat Fenlon, CityWeb, 2007-05-22. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
  11. ^ RTÉ Sport: Fenlon confirmed as Under-23 manager
  12. ^ Spence, Jim (8 January 2010). "Dundee United drop interest in Bohemians' Pat Fenlon". BBC Sport (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/dundee_utd/8440296.stm. Retrieved 9 January 2010. 
  13. ^ Young, Chick (15 November 2011). "Pat Fenlon favourite for Hibernian job". BBC Sport (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15744981.stm. Retrieved 16 November 2011. 
  14. ^ "Hibs given permission to speak to Fenlon". RTE Sport (RTÉ). 23 November 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2011/1123/fenlonp.html. Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  15. ^ "Hibernian appoint Pat Fenlon as new manager". BBC Sport (BBC). 25 November 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15864578.stm. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 
  16. ^ "Fenlon announced as Hibernian manager". RTÉ Sport. 25 November 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2011/1125/fenlonp_hibernian_bohemians.html. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 
  17. ^ "Hibernian announce Fenlon as boss". ESPN Soccernet. 25 November 2011. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/987998/hibernian-announce-pat-fenlon-as-new-boss?cc=5739. Retrieved 26 November 2011. 
  18. ^ "Motherwell 0 - 1 Hibernian". BBC Sport (BBC). 2 December 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15885108.stm. Retrieved 15 January 2012. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Dermot Keely		 Shelbourne manager
2002–2006		 Succeeded by
Dermot Keely
Hibernian F.C. – current squad
Derry City F.C. – managers
Bohemian F.C. – managers
Hibernian F.C. – managers


Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pat_Fenlon&oldid=478591936"
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages