Derry footballer Brendan Rogers says he's looking forward to playing under new Derry manager Paddy Tally, who ended the county's long search for a manager recently.
Derry's pursuit of a replacement for Mickey Harte has been a public and long drawn out affair, involving much speculation and many false dawns, with the county board eventually confirming Tally's appointment last week.
Rogers knows Tally well having made his debut in 2015 when he was part of Brian McIver's set-up, describing him as a 'very clued-in manager' who he's excited to play under.
"He's such a clued in manager," Rogers said, "it's very exciting to have someone like that about and he's probably learned a lot since the last time he's been over us so I'm definitely excited about what he has to bring."
"To get the top managers, they're difficult to get so I'm sure there was a lot of work going on behind the scenes," he says of the delay in appointing a manager.
"Getting Paddy Tally away from the lure of Kerry, the fact that he's seen something in us is very positive as well. Sometimes these things take time, but we got the right man eventually."
Rory Gallagher was also linked with a return to the Derry job and while that didn't come to pass, Rogers hailed Gallagher for his impact on the Derry team during his tenure.
"I would say a lot of the players who played under him would have quite an affection for what he's done for us," said the Slaughtneil man at the launch of the AIB Goal Mile.
"He brought us from Division Four up and he's won a couple of Ulster titles so to say there's not a love for how he's coached us and the impression that he's left on us...that's something to be said.
He said Gallagher has 'one of the best IQs' he's experienced in football, but also acknowledged that the Derry county board have 'Derry's best interests at heart.'
"In terms of who gets selected as manager and stuff, that's out of our control. Would he have coached us very well again?
"Absolutely, he has one of the best IQs in football that I've ever experienced but look, the executive do their thing.
"They look after that side of things. They're Derry people with Derry's interests in heart and we'll row in behind whatever decision they make.
"They opted to go for Paddy Tally and we just will have to move on with that, and just be thankful that we got to experience someone like Rory, and learn from him.
"That's a part as well that's given us a platform for Paddy to build on and hopefully that makes us better moving forward."
