Fenlon vows to stay strong
Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon has insisted he will not be hounded out of football despite believing he has been unfairly treated by the eircom League and FAI.
Fenlon was banned from the touchline for the last two games after a FAI Appeal Board dismissed his appeal against the ban and he may be further punished after breaking the terms of his suspension by overseeing the warm down by his players in last week’s 2-1 defeat by Bohemians and doing a live interview for RTÉ before Monday night’s clash with Cork City.
“These are the same people who told me that if we didn’t do an interview before the Setanta Cup final (when Fenlon was ill), the club would be heavily fined, now they’re saying that I’ll get in trouble for being interviewed,” he said.
“I feel that you’ve got people running the League who saw what happened to me with UEFA last year and what happened to Jose Mourinho this year and have maybe got a brainwave.”
But Fenlon insists that his treatment will not make him follow in the path of Pat Byrne who walked away from League football after receiving a touchline ban in 2000.
“It’s getting to the stage when you wonder is it worth the hassle because I want to do what I’m well paid to do and that’s unfair on the people who employ me.
“But if there’s one thing people won't do to me is make me turn away from what I’ve done to this club. The amount of people who have taken pleasure in our three defeats has galvanised me a little bit.”
