Fenlon move may hinge on compensation deal

LEAGUE OF IRELAND:BOHEMIANS HAVE confirmed they have given permission to their manager, Pat Fenlon, to hold talks with Dundee United about a move to the Scottish Premier League outfit and the Scottish club are keen to open formal negotiations with the Dubliner. However, it is not yet clear whether the issue of how much compensation will have to be paid to the League of Ireland champions will scupper any deal.

Dundee United officials faxed their counterparts in Dublin yesterday to request permission to approach Fenlon and that was granted but Bohemians made it clear the club would expect a “substantial” payment in the event their manager decides to move on.

Fenlon has apparently told his employers he would not contemplate any move unless Bohemians were happy. He has denied any meeting has taken place to date and suggested there is little point in proceeding with the matter himself until the two clubs have reached an agreement.

In Scotland, however, it seems United chairman Peter Thompson has firmly set his sights on Fenlon as Craig Levein’s replacement and the expectation there is an attempt to sit down with the 40-year-old former Shelbourne boss will be made today.

It is not clear, however, whether the basis for any sort of deal can be hammered out until the matter of compensation is agreed and it is reported United have already been put off two other potential candidates – Hamilton’s Billy Reid and Derek McInnes of St Johnstone – because of the sort of sums their current employers were seeking, believed in at least one case to be roughly equal to the €280,000 United received from the Scottish Football Association when Levein took on the Scotland job.

Bohemians club secretary Gerry Conway declined to say yesterday how much the Dublin outfit would seek but was adamant it would have to go at least some of the way towards addressing the scale of the loss involved.

“The bottom line is that Dundee United have to decide whether they want the best manager available or a cheap alternative to Craig Levein,” he said.

“If they want the best manager then they have to be prepared to pay for him. If they want the cheap alternative then I don’t think Pat’s going to want to be that and Bohemian Football Club certainly won’t accept him going on that basis.

“Really, whatever compensation we receive is not going to actually compensate us for losing Pat, if he goes we lose. But the reality is that you sometimes have to put a figure on these things that is reasonable and we have done that, taking into account the fact he has won almost €1.2 million in prize money during the last two years, has a further three years to go on his contract and has agreed terms with a number of the players for the coming year, some of whom agreed to sign because they believed they would be playing for Pat.

“But if they’ve been deterred by the level of compensation sought by a couple of other Scottish clubs then I’d suspect that they are going to be deterred by the level of compensation that we look for because we are very ambitious and only see ourselves progressing under Pat. We’re not in this to make money, we’re in it to win trophies and under Pat we’ve won four of them in the last two years.”

FAI officials, meanwhile, have insisted this year’s Setanta Sports Cup can continue despite the likely loss of Derry City due their financial crisis and reorganisation into a new club.

Linfield chairman Jim Kerr had suggested the competition was “dead in the water” as a result of City’s problems but a meeting of the organising committee will be held over the coming week or so and it is hoped a formula can agreed with all of the participants to carry on.

Dundalk manager Ian Foster has brought in his former Chester City and Kidderminster Harriers team-mate Wayne Hatswell to work with him as player-coach at Oriel Park.

And former Derry City and Limerick striker Stephen O’Flynn has signed for League Two outfit Northampton Town until the end of the English season after impressing on a trial there.