Perth in the dark over future of Peak6 in Dundalk ahead of Friday's crunch meeting with Derry City

Dundalk FC head coach Vinny Perth says he is in the dark in relation to the long-term vision of the club’s owners, Peak6, who are rumoured to be on the way out of Oriel Park.

Perth returned to the club less than 12 months after being sacked just over a week ago and has guided Dundalk to four points from the first two matches of his second coming.

A 1-1 draw with Longford Town last Friday was followed by a 1-0 win over Drogheda United on Monday, as The Lilywhites moved up to seventh in the SSE Airtricity League.

Next up for Dundalk is a meeting with Derry City – managed by Ruaidhri Higgins – who travel to Oriel on Friday night in search of their first win at the Louth venue since 2013.

“My role between now and the end of the season is to effectively steady the ship, have the players fighting for the club and the badge and I think they’ve done that in the last two games,” said Perth after Monday’s win in Drogheda.

“There will be challenges, pros and cons. We’ll have some bad nights between now and the end of the season. And, despite all the media speculation, I don’t believe all of it.

“There’s no doubt we have to review where we are. I’m not breaking trade secrets. We have spent like a European and league-winning team and we’re not there at the moment, so we have to cut our cloth to suit, but it’s not slash everything, absolutely not.

“There’s a balance in it all and the better the club do over the next couple of months, maybe the better we do in terms of the rebuild as such, so we’ll see how that plays out.”

With long-serving club captain Chris Shields set to play the last of his 349 games for the club on Friday before moving to Linfield, several other players have been linked away.

Wilfried Zahibo could be on his way out of Oriel, as the club looks to significantly decrease its wage bill, while Patrick McEleney is being tipped for a move to Glentoran. 

“Everything’s up for grabs. Myself and Jim (Magilton) are on the same page, bar one or two, where we’ve different football opinions,” added Perth.

“At the same time, it’s not cut, cut, cut. It’s not like that at all, so if I feel Zahibo can make a difference to the team, I can make that argument to the club. There’s no clear decisions made on anybody.

“If someone wants to make a bid for one of our players and if it’s something of interest and we feel we can bring someone else in to the same quality or better, then we’ll do it.

“But, that’s not the remit I’ve been given that we have to sell players, so beyond that, I just need a little bit of time and the club need a little bit of time to breathe on that one and we’ll announce where we are with it.”

According to Perth, former Valencia midfielder Zahibo returned to Ireland on Wednesday having spent time in quarantine following the international break.

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