Alan Mathews (born 27 June 1965) is a former Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. He is currently technical director at

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

Coaching career

Following a stint as assistant at Shelbourne, Alan Mathews became Longford manager in the summer of 2002. He went on to become the most successful manager in Longford Town's history, delivering their first senior trophy with a 2–0 win over St. Patrick's in the 2003 FAI Cup Final at Lansdowne Road. Longford retained it the following year, completing the double of the FAI Cup and League Cup. He was named Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland "Personality of the Year" in 2003. Mathews left Longford Town in 2007, and replaced Damien Richardson as Cork City manager on 10 January 2008. In his only season, the club won the

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from the Republic of ...

for the first time, despite entering examinership through the courts and losing several key players. Nevertheless, on 9 December 2008, the club announced that Mathews would no longer remain as manager, citing financial constraints as the primary reason for his leaving. After surviving examinership themselves, Drogheda United unveiled Mathews as their new manager for the 2009 Premier Division season. He guided Drogheda United to Premier Division safety in his first season but following a poor start to Drogheda's 2010 season Mathews resigned as their manager on 17 May 2010. Mathews made a swift return to the game on 12 July 2010 when he was announced as the new manager of his former club Shelbourne. In the 2011 season he gained promotion with Shels and reached the

2011 FAI Cup Final The 2011 Ford FAI Cup Final was the 88th final of the FAI Cup, the oldest domestic football competition in Ireland. The match took place on 6 November 2011 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin for the second consecutive year. The two clubs contesting the 20 ...

. On 16 May 2013, Mathews resigned as Shelbourne manager with the club bottom of

Airtricity League The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

with just one win from thirteen games. On 10 January 2014 he was appointed manager of

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

with Barry O'Connor as his assistant. He left his role in April 2015 citing off-the-field issues at Bray concerning the non-payment of wages to players and coaching staff. On 15 May 2015 Mathews was appointed as manager of Athlone Town FC. He resigned as their manager on 17 June 2016. Once again off-the-field club financial struggles prompted his departure. After two months out of the game, Mathews returned to the helm at Longford Town on 19 August 2016 following the resignation of

Tony Cousins Tony Cousins (born 25 August 1969 in The Liberties) is an Irish football coach and former player. He is head coach of Shamrock Rovers U17's. Cousins was involved in full-time football from the age of sixteen when he joined English club Chel ...

. Despite having more than two months remaining in the season, Mathews was unable to steer Longford clear of relegation with the midland's side dropping to the First Division for the 2017 season. Following a disappointing series of results which left Longford struggling in mid table, Mathews parted company with the club by mutual consent on 27 May 2017. In January 2020 it was confirmed, that Mathews had been appointed as a part of the backroom staff at

, the club he had been involved in for a few years as a board member.ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC ADD ALAN MATHEWS TO COACHING TICKET
otbsports.com, 11 January 2020

Honours

Player

* Shamrock Rovers Young Player of the Year (1): 1986–87

Manager

;Longford Town *

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

(2): 2003,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

* League of Ireland Cup (1):

*SWAI Personality of the Year (1): 2003 ;Cork City *

(1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* Munster Senior Cup (1): 2007–08 ;Shelbourne * Leinster Senior Cup (1): 2010

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Alan 1965 births Living people Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Republic of Ireland football managers Longford Town F.C. managers Cork City F.C. managers Drogheda United F.C. managers Shelbourne F.C. managers Bray Wanderers F.C. managers Athlone Town A.F.C. managers League of Ireland managers St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Galway United F.C. (1937–2011) players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Kilkenny City A.F.C. players Longford Town F.C. players League of Ireland players St James's Gate F.C. players Association footballers not categorized by position Association footballers from County Dublin