Danske Bank Premiership: Glentoran v Portadown (today, 3pm)
GLENTORAN manager Gary Haveron is concerned that his manager of the month award might bring him bad luck.
Haveron, who replaced Alan Kernaghan at the Oval in September, yesterday collected the NIFWA’s manager of the month award for October. The former Carrick Rangers boss, joked: “This award can be a bit of a scud. Recently, when managers have won this award their teams have gone on a bit of a bad run afterward, so I wasn’t sure how to feel when I got the phonecall.
“But on a serious note, it’s a great honour for me to be selected for manager of the month by the writers in my first full month as Glentoran manager.
“Needless to say, I’m collecting it on behalf of my players and my backroom staff, because I have not achieved this on my own. A lot of the changes we’ve made have been quite basic. We’ve lifted the intensity of training and we’ve lifted the level of competition within the squad.
“To win three games on the bounce was great and we’re aiming to make it four against Portadown.”
The Glens will face the Ports at the Oval this afternoon in an intriguing Danske Bank Premiership clash.
The Ports have endured another dreadful week after last Saturday’s 3-1 win over Ards was scrubbed from the record books, after it was discovered the Mid-Ulster club had fielded the suspended Robert Garrett.
The 3-0 reversal means the Ports have returned to minus three points.
Portadown caretaker boss Vinny Arkins is trying to make a positive from a negative by building a siege mentality on the field at Shamrock Park.
“I’ve said to the boys that we have to regroup and move on, but I believe there are people out there that don’t want to see Portadown get out of this difficult period. Certain people want to punish and send us down. It’s up to myself, the players and everyone at the club not to let that happen.”
PORTADOWN have been dealt another significant blow after being fined £1000 for claiming that a payment from the Northern Ireland Football League was late.
The club had told The Portadown Times that they had been unable to pay an earlier fine as a result of the alleged late payment.
The league, however, refuted that completely and imposed the punishment on the Shamrock Park side who had been fined £5,000 and deducted 12 points earlier this season for playing an amateur player.
“After investigation by a commission appointed by the Directors of NIFL, which included the consideration of the written response from the club, NIFL wish to make clear that this statement grossly misrepresented the situation."
