Ali Pour admits he was 'surprised' by backlash after Warren Feeney's appointment as Glentoran manager

The former Northern Ireland international was named as new Glens boss shortly after Rodney McAree’s resignation from The Oval hot-seat to take on more responsibility with Dungannon United Youth and ultimately took charge of Dungannon Swifts.

Feeney’s arrival was met with widespread condemnation, largely due to his previous association with bitter city rivals Linfield, who he started his managerial career with in 2014 after succeeding David Jeffrey at Windsor Park.

The 42-year-old guided the Blues to a second-placed finish in his only full season and also has previous Irish League experience having managed Ards in 2019.

He does have links to Glentoran with his father, Warren Sr, playing over 200 times for the club while son George is currently in the academy.

"I was surprised - I wasn't expecting that much of a backlash,” said Pour. “You always have a few fans on social media who can be quite toxic at times, but this was a lot bigger than I was expecting.

"He deserves a chance, don't we all? The fans have to get behind him, encourage him and hopefully the results speak for themselves."

Pour says he played very little role in the decision-making process that brought Feeney to the club but gave the board free rein to pick who they deemed to be the best person for the job.

"I can't micro manage a football team - that's why the board and Paul (Millar) are there,” he added. “What I said was get the best person we can get.

"Don't think about how much it costs just get the best replacement possible because we have a very important few weeks ahead.

"We have to make sure we do well in Europe. Warren has been chosen and I was very supportive of that."

The British-Iranian businessman, who took over in 2019, was ‘quite shocked’ when McAree announced his decision to step down.

McAree replaced Mick McDermott earlier this year and steadied the ship brilliantly, ultimately achieving his main objective of qualifying for European football next season following a 2-0 play-off victory over Cliftonville.

"It wasn't part of the plan,” said Pour. “It's important to state that Rodney was brought in to replace Mick - that's why we brought him in.

"If you look back a few years ago, Mick was never meant to be the manager forever but the plan was that he would stay for three to five years then go upstairs and Rodney would take over.

"Obviously things have changed. When Rodney was promoted he seemed very happy and we were all very happy as well - the results were very good.

"I was quite shocked when he left to be honest because it seemed quite sudden.

"To go to a smaller team, you're in Europe, all of these things, then suddenly to go to the Swifts I was quite shocked to be honest.

"The issue was then what do we do? Do you replace him straight away and bring in an interim manager? This was discussed and we felt that bringing an interim manager in at a time like this wouldn't work.

"We needed someone full-time committed to Glentoran and a criteria was set out and Warren matched everything and got the job."