Fergal McCusker is footballing royalty in Derry, because he is one of the illustrious 1993 team that brought Sam Maguire to the county for the first and only time.
The dynamic defender played a key role during the team’s most successful period in their history, and was only just getting used to watching his county roll back the years and bring back the glory days.
In 2022 and 2023, the Oakleafers lifted the Ulster title and made back to back All-Ireland semi-finals.
The following year they went on to win the Division One title, and filling up the trophy cabinet at Celtic Park was becoming a frequent occurrence.
However, since July 8th, four months ago, Derry have found themselves as the only inter-county team left in the entire country without a manager in place.
Speaking exclusively to The Puke Football Podcast, McCusker admits that the longer the wait goes on, the more frustrated the people of Derry become.
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“It’s a very frustrating thing for all Derry fans at the minute.
“I’m a Glen fan first and a Derry fan second, but I do care about Derry and what happens to them of course, and I just think it is really shambolic what is happening with them at the minute.
“The fact that it hasn’t been sorted, it just must be very, very frustrating for those players, because they really are at the pinnacle of their career, they have been used to really high level management, and high quality management, for the last two or three years.
“So to be in a position where we are in November, and county football will be starting again in January/February and to not have a manager in situ is really, really unfortunate.”
All-Ireland winner and @WattyGrahamsGAA clubman Fergal McCusker joins Lee on the show as they discuss:
- How Glen came from seemingly nowhere to conquer the country 👑
-What went wrong against Newbridge?
- Why they can come again👊
- Why haven't Derry found a manager yet? pic.twitter.com/Q7TsnZtb9u— Lee Costello (@PukeFootballPod) November 2, 2024
As a Watty Graham’s Glen clubman, McCusker has been having the time of his life watching both club and county succeed in recent years.
However with Malachy O’Rourke stepping down as Glen manager to take the Tyrone job, the reigning All-Ireland champions are also in pursuit of a new manager.
“With Glen it is a little different, but we are sort of swimming in the same pool for that claibre of manager as well because you just have to accept that you might never get a Malachy O’Rourke again.
“There might not be a unicorn out there like that in club football, but our players are used to a level as well in terms of the training, the organisation, the strength and conditioning, video analysis, etc it has been at a very professional level.
“So that appointment will be very important to us, but we knew that Malachy was going so it is different, and the timing of it is different, but we hope that we get the right man in and continue the journey.”
With Glen beaming with so much talent, and the age profile of the key players being so young, any manager would jump at the chance to take over the reigning champs.
But with both club and county looking for a top boss to take over, and the clock ticking towards the start of a new season, the selection pool is getting smaller.
You can listen to the full interview with Fergal McCusker for free on The Puke Football Podcast, just click here: The puke Football Podcast with Fergal McCusker
