'I stand by it': Ruaidhri Higgins has no regrets over his comments on the Northern Ireland Football Fund
Coleraine boss Ruaidhri Higgins says he has no regrets about his comments on the Northern Ireland Football Fund – a week on after the North-West club were unsuccessful in their bid.
Higgins expressed his dismay that not only Coleraine – but clubs in the North West – failed to obtain funding via the Department for Communities, labelling it as “a f*****g disgrace.”
He cited Institute, who lost their home at Drumahoe due to funding in 2017, as the biggest losers as they were absent from the list of 20 who have progressed to the next stage.
When asked if he still felt the same way about the decision, Higgins replied: “I stand by everything that came out of my mouth.
"We had just come off the training pitch and I had heard the decisions or whatever way you want to call it, so I was obviously annoyed, but I stand by absolutely everything that was said.
"I just think common sense should have played a part in it. Yes, we can all fill in big fancy applications and it costs a lot of money and I listened to Glentoran talk about how much money they put into their application but not everybody has that luxury where they can do that and Institute certainly don't.
"I know they put as much money as they could into it but whether an application is fantastic or whether it's not fantastic, there has to be a wee bit of common sense.
"They talk about it wasn't based on geography and it was based on need...then nobody needs it more than Institute and Ards.
"Obviously I made the comment about the North West and I stand by it but Ards can feel extremely hard done by and not a penny went to them.
"People will say it wasn't geographical but you have to understand why people from this part of the world would feel that it had a part to play.”
Whilst there was disappointment off the pitch for Coleraine – there is certainly joy on it as the Bannsiders find themselves second in the Premiership table.
Their unbeaten run will be put to the test on Friday night as they welcome Glentoran to the Ballycastle Road.
"I would like to think it’ll be two teams that will play on the front foot,” he added.
"If you look at Declan Devine teams, more often than not, they're high pressing teams so you would imagine that it'll be an entertaining game, two teams going at it.
"We know how we want to go about it, we know how we want to play. I can take indifferent results as it's part of the game but as long as the players give absolutely everything, we're brave and courageous about how we go about it.
"If you get a setback along the way, so be it, but once the players give everything of themselves and trust in what they do, then there'll be no issues from my end.”
Higgins is set to come up against a familiar face as Pat Hoban is set to lead the line for Glentoran – a player he previously managed at Derry City.
"What I would say about Pat is, yes, a hell of a player, but an absolutely brilliant professional as well,” he continued.
"Every day he conducts himself properly, trains properly, eats well.
"He does a lot of work in the gym, as you can probably tell. Pat's not got anything to prove to anybody. For me, his numbers and his record speak for itself.”