Irish Side Bohemian FC Welcome Pat Fenlon Back as Director of Football
- The former Bohs midfielder has a storied and successful history with the club
- Pat rejoins the League of Ireland side during an exciting period of growth
Star player, Double-winning manager, now Director of Football – League of Ireland Bohemians know what Pat Fenlon will bring to the table in his new role.
The 53-year-old Football Careers client and former Hibernian manager is back at his former club after ending a five-year stint north of the Irish border with Linfield where he was General Manager.
Bohemians finished sixth in the League of Ireland Premier Division last time out but spirits will have been raised now by the return of a hugely respected figure who won five national championships as a coach with Shelbourne and Bohs.
Pat is back in Dublin where he played as a midfielder for his new employers and won two of those titles and the Double in 2008 in the technical area. Fenlon was also in charge of Bohemians’ last trophy success in the 2010 Setanta Sports Cup and now he will be a key sounding board for boss Declan Devine as they look to recapture former glories.
Pat, who earned Republic of Ireland Under-21 and B honours as a player, smiled:
“I am absolutely delighted to be returning to the club and I am really looking forward to the challenge ahead. I have some really special memories from my previous spells at the club and I want to help make new ones.”
Fenlon was a ground-breaking and courageous player in the often-divided landscape of Irish football. He became the first Dublin Catholic to cross the border and play for Linfield in the North and also made a historic mark as a manager.
With Shelbourne, Pat masterminded a memorable Champions League qualifying run that took them past KR Reykjavik and Hajduk Split before they eventually fell to Spanish giants Deportivo La Coruna.
His excellence in the dugout at Bohemians saw him lured across the water to Hibernian in November 2011 for a tempestuous reign at Easter Road Hibs where – amidst peaks and troughs – it is often forgotten that he led the team to two successive Scottish Cup Finals which they lost to Hearts and then Celtic.
Now all of that experience will be put to work at a club Pat knows inside out and he said:
“It is a really exciting time to be getting back involved with Bohs. There has been a lot of good work done rebuilding the club over the last decade and you can see how much the club has grown in several areas in recent years.”
Pat has spent the last six years operating “upstairs” in clubs as Director of Football at Waterford before he moved on to that GM role at Linfield. Bohemians are getting a rounded professional with a superb CV and Fenlon stressed:
“I feel the foundations here are strong, there is a great atmosphere and affiliation around the club. I believe that we have an opportunity to build on all of that, be stronger again, and bring further success to the club.
“It will be my job to oversee the football operations of the club alongside the board of directors to help get Bohs where we all want to be. Everyone is pulling together to try to push the club on as much as we can and as sustainably as we can, and I can’t wait to be a part of that.”
