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Jobs4Football meets Conor McGaharan

Jobs4Football spoke to Port Talbot manager, Conor McGaharan, about his first role as first team manager in difficult circumstances at just 26 years of age.

The Welsh club have fallen on hard times in recent years but the committee behind the scenes have been working tirelessly to help the club rebuild itself from the ground up with a new approach, with McGaharan being tasked with being the man to lead the team on the pitch.

Despite taking the job in difficult circumstances, the 26-year-old has not shied away from the challenge and is determined to help the club progress.

He said: “It’s obviously a difficult time for the club, I knew that when I took the job, but I’m looking to help rebuild the club by working with the board and helping to put those foundations back into the club, so I will do my absolute best to help get what was once a big club back into a good position.

“For myself personally it’s been a great first opportunity, and despite what are difficult times I look back on the experience so far with positivity and I hope to get the opportunity to keep working with this club and help create some real change for the future.

“I have seen some improvements, like when we played Pontypridd at the start of the season before my arrival we lost 8-0, but when we played them a couple weeks ago it was 2-0 with one being a penalty. There has been some improvement but it’s about being consistent and working hard because these changes won’t happen overnight, but we need to keep pushing the players to become better.

Despite still being in the early days of his coaching career, McGaharan has obtained a lot of experience in a number of different roles, ranging from development coach to a performance analyst for Newport County, as well as experience working as a coach at both academy and men’s level.

To add to this, the Irish born also has a degree in football coaching and performance and is a student of the game, which can be seen by the big strides he has made in the footballing world in such a short space of time.

“I’m serious about the game, I know what I want from the club and players. Just knowing who you are and what you want from the game is important because then from a coaching perspective you can work on getting people on board with your principles whilst also figuring out what your players know and don’t know, and then you can come up with ways to challenge them and make them better.

“Before you even go near the tactical side of the game I believe you have to create good relationship with those around you and make sure they are happy whilst also making sure your points are clear, because if everyone is on the same page then you are off to a good start.”

Whilst still having a long way to go, McGaharan looks set for a successful career in the sport if his past experiences and willingness to learn and improve are anything to go by.

“I’ve always backed myself because I’ve earnt that right. Everyone makes sacrifices and faces challenges but in my personal life and the challenges I’ve had to deal with to get here along with the education and how serious I am about the game I back myself to say I deserve to be here.

“I want to be better than I am now and so I’m working every day to make sure that happens, and in terms of the future I know I’ll be able to progress in my career once I’ve earnt that right but right now my focus is solely on helping Port Talbot become better.”

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