New Era For Newcastle United

RTE FAI Cup Final Review:


On the Third of November two clubs went head to head at The Aviva Stadium for the Ford FAI Cup Final. They were Shamrock Rovers and Derry City. It was a great atmosphere with an attendance of 11,753. At the 27th minute Rovers Attacking Midfielder Julien Valero got the Rovers an early lead. Later on Derry Goalkeeper Gerard Doherty fumbled the save to cause an own goal in the 44th minute. That was a very exciting first half and that was about it. During the second half both teams had a few good opportunities to score but nothing happened. With this victory Shamrock Rovers have won a record 25 FAI Cups. This is Manager Ben Olsen's fourth trophy this season.


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Derry City FC 0-2 Shamrock Rovers FC




Man of the Match: Rhys Taylor, GK

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News

Manager Ben Olsen will hold an end of the year press conference on November 13th at 2:30 P.M. All members of the media are welcomed to attend.

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My Thoughts

It has been a hell of a season for me here in Dublin. Our quad is the most amazing achievement in my career in football. I had signed a contract extension until the end of 2016 but I am having doubts if I should stay or go? This club can still achieve more and I want to be part of a club that can surprise many in Europe. My main issue with the club is our owner Mr. Roache. He is a good person but he is not a good owner in my opinion. What really caused the rift was that he did not give me an offer until the end of the season. He knew damn well that I deserved a new contract in September. My other issue is he is very suborn when it comes to money. I know we have money but he will not let me spend any on transfers thus making me just sign free transfers. Don't get me wrong Free Transfers are great but if we want to go far in Europe we need better players.

The other day I was going through my FIFA.com account to see what jobs are avalable. I noticed two that caught my eye. One was Aberdeen of Scotland and the other was German Champions Borussia Dortmund. I know I probably have no chance in hell with these jobs, but I said what the hell why not. I sent my resume to both clubs via the job opening section. Lets see what happens.

In a few days i have the end of the year press conference and I can not wait to meet with the media once again. A few days later I will be heading back to America to spend the winter holidays with the family.

End of Season Press Conference.

Press Officer: Welcome all to the end of season press conference.

RTE: Congratulations Ben on a successful season.

BO: Thank you!! It was a blast.

J: What was your favourite part of the season?

BO: I would say the end of the FAI Cup because we completed the Quad.

J: Who was your player of the season?

BO: Even with his injury it has to be Mark Quigley.


FAIPO: Mr. Olsen have you heard who won the League of Ireland manager of the Year?

BO: No??

FAIPO: You did!!!

BO: Woah what??? This is awesome. I am soooo thankful.

J: There are rumors that you have applied to a few jobs in other parts of Europe is this true??

BO: I don't want to lie so it is a yes. There were a few things with the upper management that really made me want to leave. I honestly have no intention to leave SRFC I kind of wanted to see what would happen and I got rejected.

J: So what you are saying is that you and Johnathan Roach do not have a good relationship?

BO: No I am not saying that what I said was we have had our differences in visions of the club. We have been working together more and things are better.

J: What are your plans in the upcoming transfer window?

BO: Sign quality players that would be a great fit in the Rovers family.

J: What are your offseason plans??

BO: Well in a few days I am flying back to America to see family and hang out during the winter holiday. I will be back in Dublin around the second week of January to get the preason underway.

Press Officer: Well thank you journalist for coming out today we here at SRFC appreciate you taking time out to talk with Ben.

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2013 Football Association of Ireland Year in Review

2013 has been an amazing yer for all who have been involved with Irish Football. We got to see domestic club Shamrock Rovers winning a quad and their 18th LoI title. In the First Division Waterford United will be promoted to the premier division causing UCD to be relegated. Also a big congratulations to Giovanni Trapattoni and the Mens Senior squad for qualifying for The 2014 World Cup in Brazil. You boys will do the Island proud.

2013 League of Ireland Table




Winners
League of Ireland Premier Division: Shamrock Rovers
League of Ireland First Division: Waterford United
FAI Cup: Shamrock Rovers
EA Sports Cup: Shamrock Rovers
Setanta Sports Cup: Shamrock Rovers

Awards
League of Ireland Premier Division Goalkeeper of the year: Gerard Doherty Derry City
League of Ireland Premier Division Golden Boot: Rory Patterson Derry City
Irish Personality of the Year: Colin Healy Cork City
League of Ireland Premier Division Goal of the Season: Dominic Foley Limerick FC
League of Ireland Premier Division Manager of the Season: Ben Olsen Shamrock Rovers
League of Ireland Premier Division Young Player of the Year: Karl Sheppard Shamrock Rovers

COYBIG

To be honest, it's a bit light in text. Every month or so, you have a press conference with a bit of text, but there's not much of a story. You did excellently to win the quad, though.

To be fair, I'm almost certain the reason you A) didn't get an immediate contract renewal and B.) don't have a transfer budget is because your finances aren't spectacular. Europe changes that, but not until you get into the group stage.

I was lucky with Hajduk because we were in a position to qualify for the Group Stage of the CL after only one season. Well... 3

2013-08-31 22:14#132667 tbendis : To be honest, it's a bit light in text. Every month or so, you have a press conference with a bit of text, but there's not much of a story. You did excellently to win the quad, though.

To be fair, I'm almost certain the reason you A) didn't get an immediate contract renewal and B.) don't have a transfer budget is because your finances aren't spectacular. Europe changes that, but not until you get into the group stage.

I was lucky with Hajduk because we were in a position to qualify for the Group Stage of the CL after only one season. Well... 3

Thanks!! I am planning on writing a ton more. You could say this was just a warm up and with defense of a quad and Europe there will be a lot more. I am looking forward to share next season.

The flight back to Dublin and offseason happenings

Flying back to Dublin was totally awesome. The flight was not as long as it felt when first coming to SRFC. I knew by the time we were over the Mid Atlantic that this job was for me.

My offseason back home in America was great. Got to see friends and family and just relax from a crazy season. The best thing was my former club DC United won their 5th MLS Championship.I am very proud of the franchise that gave me my first professional contract and the start to my managing career. Hopefully they can repeat and soon we are able to play a friendly against them.

Things might have looked bad if you read reports from the media but it was not true. By mid break I stopped trying to find a new job and am committed to SRFC. The reason for this is Mr. Roache came to a compromise by giving me $3 Million for resigning a few players and adding a few free transfers. Thanks to one of my scouts I was able to find a few quality players in France. My biggest capture though might be last years Golden Ball winner Rory Patterson off of a free transfer. Yes that is right Derry were idiots by not resigning him.

During the week of Christmas when Mr. Roache gave me the present of more money to use he also told me that we are getting new uniforms suppliers after the 2014 season. We will be going Adidas starting in 2015 until the end of 2020. This right there excites me since I have been wearing Adidas all my life.

2014 will be a continuation of our clubs greatest season. I am looking to defend all four trophies and advance in Champions League. Failure is not an option.

Oh I forgot to mention that Fox Sports in America will be filming our club this season. I can not wait to help expose this magnificent club to the masses. This show will be 20x better than Being Liverpool!

Let The Preseason Begin!!!!

Today second year Manager Ben Olsen has officially began training camp. The boys old and new arrived at Tallaght earlier this morning. Today they will be going through health and fitness exams to see if they are ready for the year. This is a special season for The Hoops as they get a chance to defend all four competitions they won last year. Also they will get a chance to play in The UEFA Champions League in July. There are two major announcements that we would like to announce to the public. The first is starting in the 2015 season the club will be equipped by Adidas. The second big piece of news is that American Sports Network Fox Sports will be showing webisodes about our 2014 season. You will see weekly updates from players and coaches. Ben Olsen will be writing a blog for the show.
In the next few days we will be releasing our season guide. It will cover the new transfers and the preseason friendly information.


Good luck boys Rovers nation is behind you.

2014 Shamrock Rovers

The preseason friendlies kick off on January 25th and will end February 24th. Here is the preseson schedule. Shamrock has some interesting competition coming to Dublin. Two major European Clubs reserve squads will be facing The Rovers First Team.




Transfers
This has been a very exciting and active time for Shamrock. Coach Ben Olsen was able to add a bunch of new faces that should energize the fanbase. The Hoops add Airtricity League Golden Boot Winner Rory Patterson. This will be a nice boost to the attack. Sadly a few key players from last season will no longer be apart of the squa. Notable transfers out include Conor Powell. At this time Coach Olsen is happy with the squad and is no longer looking to add to the squad.



The 2014 Season kicks off against Dundalk on February 28th at home. Tickets for individual league matches go on sale January 23rd.

It is nice to see you followed Timmy advices and you have a very promising story
Keep it up m8.

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Welcome to the first edition of our coverage of Shamrock Rovers Football Club. In this edition we will be covering everything and anything about how this show will work. It will vary from week to week on the amount of content being provided due to what is going on with the club.

Shamrock Rovers are a professional football club located in Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1901 they are considered the most successful Irish Club. The Hoops play at the beautiful 7500 all seater Tallaght Community Stadium that was built in 2009. Some of their achievements include 18 League of Ireland Premier Division Titles, 25 FAI Cups, 2 EA Sports League of Ireland Cups and 2 Setanta Sports Cups. During the 2013 season SRFC won the Irish Quad for the first time.

For our show we will be doing several things. One will be a monthly blog set up by Manager Ben Olsen. He will discuss whatever he feels like and help show the world what it is like managing SRFC. Another interesting thing we will bring to the fan is called five-a-sides. These are a series of five questions hat players and coaches will answer. The next thing that will be available is Fox Soccer and SRFC have came to an agreement to broadcast their matches in Europe this season. For more information about the club and to get the content please go to www.foxsoccer.com/srfcfiles
Our first episode will be out sometime in Mid-March but look to see Ben's Blog in the comming weeks.

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Ben's Blog
25/2/14
Man I can not tell you all enough how excited I am for this. Having Fox Soccer follow us this season is such an honor. I hope this will give Irish Football some more exposure. Many who are reading this probably don't know that our season runs from March until October. I am not sure why but I feel it is like in America where soccer is not popular and in order to survive they need to play the majority of the season when non major sporting events go on. The preseason was very successful because we won every match, even against FC Bayern II and The PSG Reserves.

managing this club is an honor and I promise to keep with the club until the board gets sick and tired of me haha. Things with Chairman Johnathan Roache are much better. This will help with the positive attitude needed to bring success to Rovers Nation once again.

The transfer deadline day has passed on the 17th. We feel that all the best players have signed with the club and are now ready to compete. The best signing I was avble to pull was 28 year old English Defender Dean Moxley from Crystal Palace. He signed a free transfer. Dean told me that the reason he signed with us is because he sees something special develop. Moxley will complete the transfer on July 1st.

We are ready to start our defense of the league title on February 28th. I invite all to our match that evening.

Talk to you all soon!!

Ben Olsen
Manager of SRFC

Final Preseaon news and notes

It has been an exciting preseason for The Rovers. The club won all eight of their friendlies including two major upsets. They beat FC Bayern II by a score of 2-0 and PSG Reserves 3-2. Other notable matches include a 7-2 win against UCD and a 4-0 win against Phonexi FC.




The 2014 Setants Sports Cup Quarter Final Draw has Shamrock faceing Northern Irish side Linfield. The first match will be on 11/3/14 at home. Tickets go on sale at the first of the month.


SRFC also announced who the 2014 Captain and Vice Captain are
Captain: Ken Oman


Vie Captain: Stephen Rice



Here are the squad numbers:



In other news Manager Ben Olsen has announced a new edition to the coaching staff. German International Oliver Kahn has signed as the Director of Football Operations.

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Remember fans our first match of the 2014 Airtircity League is on the 28th of February home against Dundalk.

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Welcome to the first episode of The Rover Files.

On March 15th one day after The Rovers 1-0 win over rivals Bohemians. Coach Olsen is in his office reviewing match reports from the last three matches so he can plan for the upcoming second leg SSC match against Linfield. As he is looking over it he notices that new signing Lewis Toshney has been making really stupid mistakes. During the run of matches between 2/28-3/11 he had received a yellow card in each match and causing penalty kicks for the opposing team. Coach Olsen let us in on the meeting. Here it goes.

BO: Oliver, can you please let Lewis Toshney I need to see him now!
OK: Yes sir we will be right in.
BO: Oliver thanks but you do not need to be here.
OK: Yes I do it is my responsibility since I signed him so I should be blamed too.
BO: Well that is great of you and I appreciate your honesty. You can hangout.
Lewis Toshney walks in
LT: Yes coach you need to see me?
BO: Yes I do. I was looking over the last three match reports and I see a very disturbing trend.
LT: What?
BO: I have noticed in the first three matches that you are the reason we are failing to keep a lead.
LT: WTF does that mean????????????
BO: You keep fucking up in the box causing penalty kicks for the opposing teams.
LT: I am sorry.
BO: No you are not. I am really pissed so are your teammates. You need to watch how you play or leave. I taked with Ken Oman and he thinks you need to sit on the bench a bit and calm down. I agreed.
LT: How dare you criticize my playing you bloody dirty Yank. I am going home and skipping practice.
BO: Ok now you are in trouble. I am fining you € 500 for insubordination.
LT: Fuck off............. Slams door.
BO: Well Oliver that went well.
OK: Yeah I am surprised he acted like that.


Five-A-Sides!!
Welcome to Five-A-Sides a fun question and answer session with Rovers players and staff. For our first edition we talked with Captain Ken Oman.

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FS: How does it feel to be Captain?
KO: it is an honor to be able to be able to wear the captains armband. I am proud that Coach Olsen trust me to lead.
FS: What is your main goal this year?
KO: Win the quad again and try to make the Group Stage in Champions League.
FS: Last song played on Ipod?
KO: Photograph by Def Leopard
FS: Word of advice for youngsters watching.
KO: Work hard and train everyday. keep a well balanced diet and never give up. Sometimes it takes years to achieve your goal but at the end the hard work pays off.

That was our first edition of Five-A-Sides. Next month we will be talking with Director of Football Operations Oliver Kahn.