Paul Taylor: 'We’re in a period of change'
Sligo manager Paul Taylor pictured at the launch of the Connacht Senior Football Championship.
By Cian O'Connell
Due to injuries and retirements Paul Taylor has been forced to give youth a fling since assuming the role as Sligo manager.
Division Three of the Allianz Football League proved to be a demanding environment for Sligo, who lost all seven matches.
Relegation was a setback, but it has been a disappointing stint for Sligo with the turnover of players and managers in recent years.
“I think it is," Taylor responds when asked how tricky it is for players to deal with the changes that have happened.
"I think that that has been probably a difficult thing for players too, that management have changed like that so often.
"It’s difficult for new groups, albeit whoever it is, they come in and they start again and they have different ideas and I suppose it depends on what base you’re starting off as well."
Significant work has been carried out at underage and Post Primary level in Sligo. "We would have found this year that we would have had a lot of young players to start with," Taylor admits.
"The average age is only between 21 and 22 years of age so again that takes time. We debuted 12 players in the National League this year.
Sligo manager Paul Taylor is building for the future.
"Seven or eight of them were always constants and in other years you would have had panels where maybe you’d introduce five or six players throughout the whole League for 20 minutes or a half an hour in games and given them a platform for years to come, but that’s the panel we had and that’s where the lads were at.
"It’ll be great experience for them and they’ve got great experience from it albeit some of it is tough experience and it was always tough experience but they’ll gain in confidence from all that too.
"It’s difficult for them as well so it’s probably about keeping everything in place for a number of years and trying to build on that for the future now at the moment."
Will more patience be afforded to former Sligo forward Taylor following several outside managers? "I suppose when I look at that, over the years it has been outside managers," Taylor says.
"I think the last inside manager was back in 2007 maybe. Look, I have to say, the County Board and the support in the county has been great and it has been a great lift to us as a management, the support that has been behind us and the support of the players and the clubs in the county.
"They’re all still 100% behind what we’re trying to do. We didn’t get the results that I felt we would have deserved in cases, but it didn’t happen for us.
"At the same time, look, I think the realisation at the moment is that we’re in a period of change and it’s the third manager in two years as has been said.
"We’re in a period of change and we’re looking to process for a number of years and we’re looking to putting a panel together and building a unit that’s going to be competitive for Sligo football for the next five to 10 years."
