Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley is surprised he won’t see the familiar face of John Caulfield in the opposing dugout at Tallaght Stadium tonight.
Bradley believes ex-Cork City manager Caulfield, who parted company with the Leesiders at the start of the month, deserved more of a chance to turn fortunes around at Turner’s Cross given what he had done for the club.
“I was surprised by that, I thought he could have been given more time,” said Bradley.
“I thought he earned that for what he had done over the years he was there. We know football can be very fickle and things change quickly but I thought what John had done since he went in – over four or five seasons – had been brilliant.
“He had them up there every year, winning leagues and cups.
“Yes, they had a bad start but I was surprised to see him go so quickly.”
Cork have won three of their four games under interim boss John Cotter, with a home defeat to champions Dundalk their one setback.
Despite their poor start to the season, Bradley remains very wary of the talent City have have.
He added: “They’ve many really good players. They haven’t had the best start to the season obviously. I think people forget a lot of that team won the double not so long ago.
“They’ve shown they’re good enough to go anywhere in the country and win a game.
“They know how to do that. Tonight will be no different as they will fancy themselves coming up here.
“We’ve got to be ready for the best Cork that’s there and respect that.”
Something that didn’t really surprise Bradley was Trevor Clarke not making Stephen Kenny’s Ireland under-21 squad for the upcoming Toulon tournament.
“Trevor has been good, but I still feel there is more to come from him,” said Bradley of the winger who suffered a bad knee injury last year.
He added: “He’s not far off it.”
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