Derry get Hearts old boy

SOCCER:Former Scotland international John Robertson will watch Derry City's League Cup quarter-final away to Cobh Ramblers this evening before heading north to be unveiled as the club's new manager at lunchtime tomorrow.

The 42-year-old was interviewed yesterday by board members who quickly decided he was the man for the job. The players were informed of the decision last night as, it is believed, was former Sligo Rovers manager Rob McDonald who had been interviewed on Friday when he attended the game against St Patrick's Athletic in Dublin.

The appointment ends the six weeks of uncertainty that had engulfed the Brandywell outfit since Pat Fenlon resigned as manager after just five months in the job. Critically, it comes while the transfer window is open and a couple of weeks before the club faces into the first of its European outings against Armenia's FC Pyunik.

The panel he takes charge of will be boosted by the return from Norway of midfielder Ciarán Martyn but he appears to have no other immediate plans to make signings. "I've watched the team play and I'm aware of the quality that's already in the squad," said Robertson last night, "so the only way I'll be bringing in players is if they are better than what is already there.

"What I will bring is passion to the job. I hope the players and the supporters will reflect that passion and I hope we'll see that between us we'll help to generate a win when I take charge for the first time on Friday night against Sligo Rovers."

A former striker who played for most of his career with Hearts in his native Edinburgh, Robertson has had mixed fortunes to date during his relatively short career in management. Having led Inverness Caledonian Thistle to the Scottish top flight for the first time he took over at Hearts, a club where his success as a player made him an extremely popular choice. He did well, leading the club to two cup semi-finals, some good results in Europe and fifth in the league but became a victim of the club's notoriously fickle owner, Vladimir Romanov.

Since then he has had spells at Ross County and Livingston, the latter of which sacked him in April after a disappointing campaign in the first division.

St Patrick's Athletic have signed midfielder Michael Keane and defender Billy Gibson in addition to Dave Rogers, whose arrival from Derry City had been widely flagged ahead of Friday's league game between the two clubs.

The club's director of football, Brian Kerr said yesterday that because of the club's small first-team squad, the signings were "crucial to our attempts to stay in contention for trophies".

Ahead of their league cup tie with Athlone this evening, Shamrock Rovers have also confirmed the signing of three new players with John Martin, David Tyrell and Ross Moran arriving from Longford, Bray and Cherry Orchard respectively. In addition, Pádraig Amond and John McGuinness have returned to the Dubliners after their loan spells at Kildare County and Kilkenny City.

As part of the deal that brings Martin from Flancare Park, however, Ian Ryan and Jamie Duffy have joined Alan Matthews' side on loan, while Tommy Barrett has been released by the club.

Leon MacSweeney has rejoined Cork City, six years after leaving Turner's Cross in order to move to Leicester City and could be involved in this evening's League Cup game against Bohemians in Dalymount alongside Colin Healy and Gareth Farrelly.

The pair have finally become eligible to play for City after months of sitting on the sidelines due to falling foul of Fifa's transfer regulations. Having played in a couple of friendly games, they successfully came through an under-21 league game on Sunday and Richardson confirmed yesterday he expects them to play at least some part this evening.

"We're just looking forward to playing now," says Farrelly. "We haven't played football for nearly seven months but thankfully all the other stuff is out of the way and we can just crack on with games."

Last night's League of Ireland Premier Division game between Drogheda and Galway at United Park was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.