The Commentary Box: O'Donnell remains in a bind as he attempts to rebuild squad

Dundalk boss Stephen O'Donnell remains in a bind as he attempts to rebuild his squad for next season.

O'Donnell can not move to sign any players until the future of the club is resolved surrounding possible new investors or a complete takeover. Total secrecy surrounds the talks. This is how it should be, as a leak as to who the potential investors are could scupper whatever deal can be made. It's good that the talks seem to be ongoing at the time of writing.

However sometime this week the current owners must come out with a statement on the current state of the talks or if they are dead in the water. There is no doubt that the longer this goes on, the harder it will be for Dundalk to bring in the players needed to make an attempt to qualify for Europe once more.

The market for League Of Ireland players is limited. Dundalk will be in serious trouble should they fail to build a strong squad for next season. Many reporters have been saying Dundalk will be struggling to stay up next season. That does not have to be the case. But the longer this debacle goes on the more it appears that this will be the case.

The club have already lost Daniel Kelly who has signed a two year deal with Derry City. Daniel becomes the seventh Dundalk player to be signed by Derry in three years. Such was the financial package that Daniel got he was one hundred per cent to move to the north west.

Daniel is a huge loss to Dundalk. He has been very unlucky to be hit by a series of injuries during his time at Oriel. But he has fought back to return to full fitness and was very effective at scoring key goals.

Many blame the Oriel Park artificial pitch for the injuries that he picked up while at Dundalk. I do not know how correct this is. but he will have to play on an artificial surface at the Brandywell, that has come in for much the same criticism as Oriel has.

For Daniel's sake I hope he does not sustain the same injury problems he had at Oriel. I wish him the best. He is right to move to Derry given the potential of Derry City.

They are in Europe next season. They are also seen as the only club who can take the title off Shamrock Rovers. That would be really great to see.

The club has remained tight-lipped as to why Pat Hoban has been told to find another club. The reason has not been given. One can only guess that the club have done it for financial reasons. if so, surely they should have waited for the investment talks from possible new owners before making such a decision.

There is no doubt that after speaking to Hoban last week, that there is no way he would be willing to stay at the club, such is the hurt he has naturally felt when he was free to find another club.

But Pat still has another year of his contract to go at Oriel. Surely he remains a Dundalk player. Whoever comes in for him, they will have to pay the club top dollar for the club's record goal scorer.

Please do not tell me that Pat has been released on a free and that he can talk his terms to whatever club he chooses.Dundalk can get much needed cash for Hoban. I just hope that when he goes that Dundalk get a good return on their investment..

Nobody has really brought this part of the Hoban issue up. My understanding is that he does indeed remain a Dundalk player until terms are agreed for his transfer with the club and Pat's representatives and himself.

I would be shocked if his contract has been expunged and that he is now a free agent. There is a great night being planned for Pat next Friday in the Lisdoo. There will be much fund raising for key charities.

Among the guests will be Stephen Bradley, Shamrock Rovers manager. Also there will be former Dundalk managers John Gill and Vinny Perth. The tickets for the night sold out very quickly. Pat deserves the night out. But for him the key aim is to raise as much money as can be for very important charities.

Dundalk had a very lucky escape at being taken over by Hull city, The takeover almost went through but fell apart when it became apparent the English club intended to use the Oriel Park side as a mere feeder club.

An interview in a Hull paper at the time quoted a Hull city coach as saying that Dundalk would have to change their playing style to one demanded by Hull.

This was ridiculous. The club would have been selling its soul. It caused much consternation among supporters. In the end Hull pulled out and took over Shelbourne instead.

However when Damian Duff told LOI TV after beating Drogheda that he was out of contract and indicated that he was clearly very unhappy with the situation at the club. The Hull ownership came into clear focus. Duff was very unhappy at the direction the club was going.

It was clear that the Tolka Park side were going to lose its independence and be told to follow Hull's line of thinking. This was clearly unacceptable to Damian Duff. When he indicated he may not be back, there was quite rightly a huge kick back against Hull by Shelbourne supporters.

To be fair to the Hull owners they quickly confirmed that their ownership of Shelbourne had come to an end.The Turkish owners agreed to be fair to end control of Shelbourne. The owners of Hull have now decided to pursue interest in a Greek club.Talks are at an advanced stage.

A difference of opinion about how Shelbourne should move forward caused the split in the club. Hull handed back control to Premier Sports TV founder, Mickey O'Rourke.

It's understandable why Shelbourne supporters expressed opposition. Within 24 hours of the Damian Duff interview, Hull were announcing the end of their involvement in Shelbourne.

One can only imagine had this been Dundalk the club would be in turmoil. This is why the current owners must be very careful about who is coming in with the investment for next season.

The harrowing week ended very well for Duff. He signed an extended contract with Shelbourne, which will keep him at Tolks for the next number of years.

I spoke to Dundalk FM's John Murphy last week on how he would summarise Dundalk's season that has just finished. He described it as one of being so near and yet so far. He says the season was so near because of how Dundalk just missed out on Europe. But the season was also so far, as John was sure the cup was certainly there for the club this season as well.

He describes the season as being a very peculiar one. First of all the team sustained many injuries. There were a few signings in as well.

But Dundalk never seemed to have the same 11 players two weeks in a row. This left no rhythm or cohesion in the team. The team also developed an awful habit of giving simple goals away.

John says they went behind in too many games last season. Add to this is the fact that the team were also ahead in many games, and then imploded giving away simple goals again. He cited two games against Bohemians.

In one of the games, Dundalk were two nil up at one stage, but were pegged back to a draw. They also led two one against the Dalymount Park side, only to concede two late goals to lose three two in Dublin.

The pinnacle of every player in the League of Ireland is to get into Europe. They would nearly put that ahead of winning the league. John says that the despondency that many Dundalk players showed after the UCD game was that they can not look forward to Europe next season.

Stephen O'Donnell can also not look forward to Europe next season. This was the carrot for him to bring new players into the club next season. John repeated that supporters never knew what players in the different positions before each game.

To be fair Dundalk were hit badly by the long term losses of Louie Annesley and Andy Boyle through injury.He says it was very hard to name the best centre half who came in instead of these two players.

Greg Sloggett was excellent in midfield, but should never have been moved to the centre half slot after the Galway game in the FAI cup. John says the only player out of the back four to come out with any credit was Archie Davis.

John says there were two stars in the defensive show. These were Archie and goal keeper Nathan Shepherd. John says that in midfield, Dundalk were crying out for Patrick McEleaney type player. He says Robbie Benson's prolonged injury hit Dundalk badly.

Greg Sloggett is a winner of the ball rather than a provider. Conor Malley blew hot and cold in regards to his form in midfield. He played so well against UCD because he was given so much room. He must prove himself next year when he goes to the homes of Sligo and Waterford next year.

John described the league last season as being very competitive. Any of the teams playing could beat each other. He says that this is why he harped back to the cup as Dundalk beat Pat's and Bohs last season in the league. They were there to be beaten.

This was where Dundalk lost a huge chance this year. Dundalk's name was on the cup until they went to Galway. John says he was sure Dundalk would beat Galway as there is a gap between the Premier and First division.

Dundalk sadly never showed that gap as the attitude was all wrong. When Dundalk finally woke up in the Galway game, they were four nil down.

John says that any successful team he was ever involved with, that only one or two changes were needed. But Steohen O'Donnell was making changes all over the place for almost every game.

This was the stand out reason why Dundalk failed last season. The one thing that gives players confidence as the season progresses is to be able to play with each other. They get to know each other's style of play. If you go left then the other knows to go right.

That was simply never happening with last year's team as they were never together. Giving the goals away so easily as Dundalk did in their unsettled team was like a dagger into the heart.

Dundalk giving so much away so easily at the back showed how good a keeper Nathan Shepherd was, as he was always busy. He got plenty to do.

Nathan Shepherd saved Dundalk so many times. John remembers when Bohemians were an amateur team in the 1960's.

You could see them being beaten by a considerable amount. Yet it would have been much worse, but for the fact that they had a top class keeper who took off great saves.

Nathan Shepherd stood out for Dundalk last season. But there is no doubt that he was rattled as well because he never knew who his defenders were going to be from one week to the next.

A goalkeeper makes a back four and a back four makes a keeper. If you do not have an understanding between the back four and the keeper you have nothing going for you.

Last year's player recruitment raised many questions. John says the early bird always catches the worm. Dundalk were late to the table getting their platers. Dundalk got players almost nobody seemed to want.

John emphasised he meant no disrespect to these players. But some of the players brought in were not any better than could be got elsewhere.

Stephen O'Donnell was left in an almost impossible position as he did not even have a chance to see the new players in friendlies as they were brought in so late.

O'Donnell was also very unlucky with the injuries his side sustained. There were two things wrong with the injuries. It was down to either the pitch or the players fitness.

John says Dundalk had so many injuries. He says he was very sure that it was not fitness that caused the injuries. It was, he says, the pitch.

You only have to look at Derry City who had as many injuries as Dundalk. The common thread was that both clubs have exactly the same type of pitch.

John says the pitch made Stephen O'Donnell's job almost impossible last season. He wanted to emphasise that he really admires the Dundalk boss. He was keen to stress that he believes in O'Donnell as manager and boss.

He is a passionate man who wants to do well for Dundalk FC and also the town. Stephen O'Donnell is the man for the job according to John. But sadly he adds, that a lot of people do not believe this, O'Donnell's hands were tied so much last season that he could not get the settled team out.

Dundalk just simply did not have the right players when the key ones were out injured.

Europe was so disappointing. Dundalk just about got past Bruno's.

They should have got past KA easily enough. But they did not. Instead they were well beaten. In the first leg against KA, Dundalk went looking for goals. But they were caught badly after 10 minutes and gave one away.

The defence was terrible in that first leg. As they did so many times in the season, Dundalk shot themselves so easily in the foot by giving away the early goal in Iceland.

Dundalk did this so many times last season that there was no recovery and they were beaten. A good team needs a good back four and a good goalkeeper.

If you have weaknesses through the spine of the team, then you have a problem. Dundalk had serious weaknesses through the spine of the team last season. Dundalk had so many players trying to fill in so many places that simply did not suit them. This again caused serious difficulties.

Dundalk were very good when every player knew the position they were playing in. The last time this happened was the last home game of the season against Bohemians when Dundalk won 2-0. None of the players were out of position. They knew where they had to play.

This was why Dundalk got the win. Andy Boyle returning to the defence has made such a big difference. The team won five out of their last six games as a result.

This was what John meant by getting a solid team together and players knowing how to play their positions. If players know their role, then it leads to better understanding among the team. But O'Donnell was forced to play so many players out of position the team just never clicked.

When the season ends, this is normally the busiest time for a manager. He is looking toward the following season. A manager can only go with a wallet of notes to sign a particular player. These would be good players.

If you go with a wallet of coins the manager comes back with a player seriously lacking in ability. John raises the question, does the manager know what type of a wallet he will have to sign players. The answer is no.

Negotiations with players out of contract at the club or with those he wants to bring to Dundalk are on hold until the issue of further investment in the club is sorted or if there is going to be a take over.

John says that everyone in Dundalk is in the dark over what is happening at the top level of the club. This is the owners and what their plans are about investing in the club for next season. John stressed the owners must get everybody on board over Christmas that the new season can not come quick enough.

Instead of this supporters are dreading the outlook for the club because nobody knows what's happening.

John says the communication with the club between local media and the owners has been non-existent. He says all he knows about the issues at the top are who owns the club.

He says they should be coming on to his programme on Dundalk FM. They should also be speaking to the other local media outlets.

John says the media are the preachers. They are the ones trying to get the message across. He says the media are not doing it for themselves. They are doing it for the good of the club.

The media should be taken into the confidence of the club that if they are going to do anything good for Dundalk FC we are the messengers. He says at the moment we are not because we know nothing.

Speaking about the departure of Pat Hoban John says that if it was for financial reasons he would rather have Pat Hoban any day rather than bringing in three bad players to replace him. He says three bad players will be paid.

Letting Pat Hoban go does not say much about the ambitions of the club. John says he was a captain of the club and a proud Dundalk man at the present time. He says it annoys him intensely that there is no comment coming from the club at all. He says there seems to be no pathway coming from the owners as regards better times. He says all he wants to do is to get a chance to do better than last year.

Finally the death took place of Miah Dernnehy, the great Cork Hibernians striker from the early 1970's. He is only one of three players to score three goals in a FAI cup final. David McMillan is one of the other two.

Dennehy played in England as well. This includes Notts Forest. The famous Clough arrived at the Forest after Miah. He called each player into his office individually. When he met Miah, he told him that Irishmen can not play football.

Miah went on to play for a number of UK teams including Bristol Rovers and Walsall. Miah played for an all Ireland team against the World Champions Brazil in a friendly in 1972.

The team had to be called a Shamrock Rovers eleven. They could not be called Ireland. even though they were from the 32 counties.

Have a safe week. Please be careful out there.