Jeff Kenna has set his sights on silverware after being presented as the new St Patrick’s Athletic manager today.
The former Republic of Ireland international left his position as Galway United boss earlier this week and quickly signed a one-year-deal with the Inchicore club, with former Derby County player Paul Peschisolido now confirmed as his assistant.
Kenna has doubts over what he wants to achieve.
‘My ambition is to win something with Pat’s. It would be foolish to say we are going to go on and win the league but we are definitely going to be competing for silverware.’
Peschisolido takes up his first ever coaching role. Kenna explained his relationship with the ex-Canada player.
‘We formed a solid friendship when we played at Derby together - we used to travel to and from training together.
‘He’s a lively character who gets on well with the players. He brings a lot of new ideas and doesn't just agree for the sake of it.
‘I think he has the potential to be a great coach.’
Peschisolido believes the League of Ireland is a great place to starting his coaching career.
‘We talked a lot at Derby about the way we would do things if we ever had the chance of working at a club together.
‘When I got the call from Jeff I jumped at the chance of working with him and St Pat’s - it’s a great opportunity to put some of those plans into action.
He added: ‘I’d been hearing good things about the League of Ireland last season from Jeff, I saw a few matches on television and I had seen for myself how well some of the players from the league have done over in the UK.
‘The league here probably doesn’t get enough credit.’
Next on the agenda for Kenna is organising a pre-season campaign and putting together a squad after several departures. With Pat’s operating as a part-time club and wages being cut significantly for any new signings, it could prove a difficult task.
‘We will need to bring in players but they will have to adjust to the wage scale restrictions that are in place here at the club.
‘Even with these restrictions, there are a lot of players out there at the moment looking for clubs and with Pat’s competing across five competitions it is still a very exciting proposition for any player.
‘I expect to be back on the phone to players this afternoon and realistically we would be looking at the players based here in Ireland.’
