Liam Neeson- The Portadown Adventure

Ronnie Mcfall has today departed Portadown after a staggering 27 years in charge after taking over in 1986.

The decision was reportedly made by Ronnie himself, who had decided that a break was needed after devoting much of his life to the club. He is the longest serving manager in the club's history and won 23 trophies in his time including 4 league titles the last of which was in 2002.

The club announced on their twitter page this evening that he would be leaving with immediate effect, and thanked him for all he has done for the club.

"Ronnie Mcfall will today end his 27 year reign over Portadown with immediate effect. He has had the biggest impact on the club's history and everyone associated with the club would like to extend our thanks to him."

Portadown have not yet discussed who could replace him but a decision is expected within a week. Portadown finished runners up in the league last year, with Northern Irish giant Linfield claiming the title.

Nice start good luck

Good luck

All I know about Portadown is that Matty Burrows scored a wonder goal against them. This means it'll be interesting, so I'll be following!

Thanks everyone, and yes Louis that goal was unbelievable!

Liam Neeson has sensationally been chosen to replace club legend Ronnie Mcfall as manager of Portadown. The 61 year old takes charge of Portadown just 2 weeks before their first qualifying round of the Europa League against Belarus side Gomel.

Liam Neeson has made a career for himself in the acting business, but the Northern Irish born star says that football, and Portadown were always close to his heart.

"I have finished with acting now and wanted to pursue a new challenge. I have always kept an eye on how Portadown were getting on and I want to break the dominance that the likes of Glentoran and Linfield have enjoyed. It's going to be difficult but with some patience and a bit of luck, hopefully It will come good."

Neeson will take charge of his first game with an away trip to Gomel, who finished 3rd in Belarusian league, while his side finished runners up to Linfield.

Liam Neeson began life as a football manager with an away trip to Belarusian side Gomel and despite losing the first leg by a single goal, a second leg finish from Gary Twigg brought the match to penalties. After 6 successful penalties from Neeson's men, Gomel put their final one over the bar to give Portadown a memorable victory.

A tougher test against Icelandic side IBV proved too much. The home leg seen Chris Casement give his side the initiative before his strike was soon cancelled out. A week later Portadown were unable to produce a similar performance, slumping to a 3-1 defeat and exiting the competition.

Liam Neeson however was happy with his side's European adventure, saying that a club of that size did well to make it as far as they did with a limited budget.

Title of first post should've been - Ronnie Mc-Fall from grace!

August



After a decent season in Europe, Liam Neeson's Portadown began their league campaign with a 2-1 away win at Glenavon. Gary Twigg managed to get his first goal for the club in a positive first show for the club.

Another victory soon followed against Ballinamallard Utd. Twigg again showed his eye for goal netting twice in a comfortable win. The first big game of the season came in the shape of Glentoran and a very late strike from young midfielder Sammy Stewart earned Neeson's side a point.

However the month would end on a sour note with a 1-0 defeat to Coleraine. With many big names rested for the following game against title rivals Linfield, Coleraine took full advantage and secured a memorable win.

September



September proved to be a great month for Liam Neeson's men. The month began with a draw against league giants Linfield, a result that looked to satisfy both camps.

Three league wins followed in September including a win against title hopefuls Cliftonville. Portadown also progressed in the cup with a huge 8-0 win over lower league side Bangor.

October



Another strong month for Portadown even though it began with a poor performance against Ballymena Utd, who made sure that Liam Neeson's men would record their second defeat of the season.

League Wins against rock bottom Distillery and Crusaders followed before they were held at home by Glenavon. Finally another victory completed the month against Crusaders in the cup.

A great start to the league but unlucky in the Europa League but c'mon it is not the end the world

2013-08-14 12:04#127935 wellsy1498 : A great start to the league but unlucky in the Europa League but c'mon it is not the end the world

Cheers bud

Portadown boss Liam Neeson has expressed his desire to win trophies with Portadown, and break the clubs baron run of 11 years without a league title.

The former movie star was speaking at a local charity day that aimed at keeping kids of the street by setting up a street league. The Northern Irish native believes his squad are hungry for success.

"Clearly Ronnie Mcfall (former manager) had a great impact on the club, but we still haven't won the league for a long time. We have started well and if we can win the games we have been drawing we will be right up there.

We have progressed through the early rounds of the cup so I do expect to have some silverware come the end of the season. Teams such as Linfield, Glentoran and Coleraine will all be up there so it will be difficult. added Neeson. Let's just take it a game at a time"

Neeson has enjoyed a successful start to his tenure at Portadown, guiding his team through the early cup rounds and positioned second in the league.

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A month with many big games for Portadown which would have a big impact on their league season.
Liam Neeson would have wanted slightly more points than what his side achieved this month.

A home defeat to Glentoran was first on the cards. Despite dominating for 90 minutes, Portadown failed to take their chances unlike their opponents.

3 days later another disappointing result as Ballinamallard Utd managed a last gasp equaliser to ensure that Neeson's men would drop a further 2 points.

Back to back wins against Coleraine and Cliftonville followed before the biggest game of the season so far against Linfield took place.

Linfield had found their form and were unbeaten in 12 games, a league record. Just like the Glentoran game, Portadown dominated possession and efforts on goal. Late in the second half Linfield were reduced to 10 men. However even with everything seemingly going their way, Portadown conceded a soft goal 10mins from time and were unable to get back into the game. The result leaves Linfield with a suitable 9 point gap at the top.

Speaking in his post-game conference Portadown manager Liam Neeson believes his side showed that they were the better footballing team, following their 1-0 defeat to Linfield.

Portadown were statistically the better team and although eventually losing the game, Neeson has taken a lot of positives from the match.

"We showed that we are able to play possession football, we knocked the ball around with pace and looked comfortable throughout the game. Everyone thought Linfield would beat us easily but the gap between the two teams is not as big as people think, we were by far the better team."

"There is 9 points between both teams but we will get stronger as the season goes on. The lads are determined to challenge for the the title and it's something we owe the fans."

Liam Neeson has been in charge of Portadown for 4 months, having taken over from club legend Ronnie Mcfall.

Liam Neeson plays fm pretty incredible Ive never been in the Irish League because I know Linfield dominate it usually, not a bad start though and from what ive read pretty unlucky too