Shelbourne have looked like a new club since Damien Duff has taken over at Tolka Park.
The ex Ireland international has helped instil a new confidence around the club that they can compete at the top of the League of Ireland table. Duff has helped bring a number of quality players have joined while others have left which has allowed the team to find those who are loyal to the club.
Duff guided Shels to seventh and an FAI Cup final last season in his first year at the helm, and helped lead them to a fourth place finish this season, and a possible place in Europe should St Pat's beat Bohs in Sunday's FAI Cup Final. Despite the positive end to the season, the club is dealing with a small crisis as Duff’s contract has not yet been renewed even with the Dubliner being quite vocal about his desire to resign with Shelbourne and continue their upward trajectory in the League of Ireland.
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Tensions grew between Duff and the board amid that efforts by the club owners to install a director of football above him which led to delays in offering him a new deal. But on Wednesday there were major developments in the Duff situation: It emegred that Mickey O’Rourke, the co-founder of Setanta Sports and founder of Premier Sports, is set to acquire control of the Drumcondra side from Turkish billionaire Acun Ilicali.
This is the second time the club will change ownership in the last five months after Ilicali, who also owns Hull City, bought a 60 per cent stake in the Reds last June and invested part of an agreed €3m into the club. Under the agreement to relinquish control, there will be no payment made to the media mogul. The return of control from the Turkish billionaire will help ease fears of supporters as it is in the interests of O’Rourke to sign Duff up to another contract, with reports that the two-time Premier League winner is now set to sign a multi-year deal to remain in charge at Tolka Park.
This contract extension would be a massive boost for Shelbourne fans as they can start preparations for next season and it allows Duff to fill the void of places of English bound forward Jack Moylan. Duff spoke to the media on Friday after they secured fourth position with a victory over Drogheda United and spoke about his love for the club, saying: "Shels is my heart and soul
“I’ll be in the Riverside or on the bench next season. Hopefully the club will grow and grow by bringing more quality and good people in. We’ve had five or six months to sort my future out and it hasn’t.
“Shels is a proper club, with the heart and soul back in it, and hopefully we’ll continue to grow. I want to be here but it’s not a night to talk about it because we’ve had all season to get it done and that hasn’t happened. We’ll put it on the back burner because I want to celebrate with the players and staff.”
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