Former Cliftonville coach sympathises with 'nightmare' Jim Magilton position after player exits

Magilton masterminded the Reds’ first Irish Cup triumph in 45 years after celebrating success during the 2023/24 season and also led the North Belfast club to League Cup glory, but has constantly been battling against the departure of star talent.

Only three players who started in the Irish Cup final against Linfield – Rory Hale, Jonny Addis and Conor Pepper – remain at Solitude.

Magilton has had to consistently rebuild Cliftonville’s squad, losing defensive duo Odhran Casey and Jack Keaney this month, and that task may get more difficult after Toronto Investment Group (TIG) withdrew their proposed takeover bid.

Small, who spent the majority of his playing career at Solitude before moving onto the coaching staff, feels Magilton has been placed in a difficult position and insists constant turnover is the worst situation for any manager.

"It must be a nightmare,” said Small. “Even going back to my own situation as a manager, you're only as good as recruitment and the players you have at your disposal.

"The players Cliftonville have lost since Jim has been there would definitely challenge for a league title. They've some players now who are a couple of seasons older and you can't play week in, week out anymore.

"The whole dynamic and difficulty of recruitment and continually having to rebrand the way you play because you're bringing in different players...managers love the ability to bring in good players and then add one or two.

"Oran Kearney was saying he would love to get to that stage at Ballymena, and he's 100% right.

"It's a nightmare coming into transfer windows and you're losing three, four, five players and you're trying to replace their quality, character and build new relationships.

"That doesn't happen overnight, a player doesn't come in and you suddenly have this great relationship, you need to build it.

"Having to do that constantly must be a nightmare for the management team. The nature of recruitment is that no matter how good you are at it, you'll always get one or two wrong now and again and that's why it's so difficult."

After members approved TIG’s takeover bid in April, it appeared Cliftonville were set to become the Premiership’s fifth full-time team, but that has now collapsed.

Operating on a part-time basis undoubtedly makes it more difficult to attract top players and Small feels a cash injection at Cliftonville would help them remain competitive.

"Cliftonville is a members club and never had the riches that the likes of Linfield would have had over the years,” added Small. “Look at Linfield, they are now struggling to keep pace with the investment at Coleraine and Larne.

"If it's not investment, then Cliftonville need people to be really forward-thinking and have full-time employees who have a sole purpose of generating income and sponsorship, but even that might not be enough in itself.

"Investment can sometimes look like a quick fix or magic wand, but certainly Cliftonville could do with some sort of injection of income from somewhere, and investment is the trendy way that's happening now."