'Not been good enough for a long time': Ex-Glentoran manager outlines what new boss 'needs to do'
Following Declan Devine’s exit, Glentoran are preparing to embark on a new managerial era once again with silverware success remaining the ultimate goal – but a few club legends are clear things need to change for that dream to become reality.
Since The Oval outfit last won the Premiership title in 2008/09, they’ve had 10 different managers with only Eddie Patterson and Mick McDermott enjoying tenures over three years – Devine’s ended at two-and-a-half.
In the same period, ‘Big Two’ rivals Linfield have had three, Ruaidhri Higgins is Coleraine’s sixth, Cliftonville are also on six and Larne five.
Scott Young won three Premiership titles and a hat-trick of Irish Cups during a successful spell as a Glens player and was named as successor to Alan McDonald in March 2010, so knows what the pressure cooker environment is truly like either side of the touchline.
Young enjoyed immediate success, winning the League Cup just weeks after his appointment and also collected a Co Antrim Shield, but his reign was impacted by financial troubles and ultimately ended after Glentoran’s shock Irish Cup exit to Newington in 2012.
The Scottish midfielder, who won 17 trophies across all competitions as a Glens player, has watched on as nine others failed to end the club’s long wait for Gibson Cup glory from the dugout.
Glentoran’s hierarchy will hope their next appointment can prove to be the one capable of delivering, but Young insists previous managers are not solely responsible for shortcomings.
"The manager gets the bullet because it's easier to sack one person than 26,” said Young. “A lot of it's on the manager, but I don't know for how many years now we've all been saying the players need to take a good look at themselves.
"There's a reason why a manager gets sacked – because the players haven't been performing.
"It's a results-based business. The players haven't been performing, haven't been getting results, and that leads to a manager getting the bullet.
"But it's also a situation that whoever the new manager coming in is, he needs to get those players on board, get them playing for each other, get them playing and winning games.
"That's not easy because how many managers have we had now in the last four, five, six, seven years? We haven't got anywhere.
"The players are on good dough and aren’t producing, that's the bottom line.
“You should be judged as a Glentoran player by how many trophies you've won. Life has changed, the world has changed, and Glentoran is not where it used to be regarding trophies won.
"If I'm the owner of a football club and I'm putting that money in, I want success and I will stop at nothing until I get success. Ali's (Pour, owner) not been getting success, that's the reality.
"It's not been good enough for a long, long time and you've a fanbase who have been very, very loyal...young fans have never seen success, never seen league championships.
"The club is still a massive, massive club backed by a wealthy owner and, unfortunately, it's not been good enough.”
One of Pete Batey’s most cherished memories remains lifting the Irish Cup as Glentoran captain after beating Linfield in 2001.
Born in England, Batey retains a special place in his heart for the Glens – a club he made 259 appearances for and returned to as a coach with Tim McCann alongside former team-mate Young.
Batey knows all about the expectation levels at Glentoran – they come with the territory of working for one of Northern Ireland’s biggest clubs – and knows what it’s like when things go wrong.
“There is nobody who wants to win more than the staff,” said Batey. “I'm telling you.
"The pressure involved, you work hard during the week, you see the players put in all the hard work.
"We were involved when Newington beat us in the Irish Cup, and believe me, it is a tough place to be when it ain't going well, it puts years on you.
"You're managing, coaching, in my opinion, one of the biggest clubs in the country.
"You know that when you take it over, but unfortunately in the modern era, everything's amplified ten times as much with social media.”
Curtis Allen is an inductee of Glentoran’s Hall of Fame, an honour earned in 2025 after scoring 110 goals in 236 appearances.
He was present at The Oval for what proved to be Devine’s final game – last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Bangor – and could almost see the players being weighed down by mounting pressure after a dismal season start.
Glentoran owner Ali Pour recently revealed he’s “£5million down” through investing in the club with little reward to show, and Allen feels both he and the fans deserve more.
"There's always been pressure there,” said Allen. “Even when I played and financially we weren't great and expectations were probably slightly less, there was still pressure.
"It's a massive club. When you bring in the full-time aspect and the money that's been spent over the last number of years, the club, the owner and the fans are expecting more than what they're getting at the minute.
"You could see that the players were edgy on Saturday, you could tell there was a certain amount of pressure on them.
"Players are used to pressure but that different type of pressure where they knew they hadn't played well, there was an eerie feeling around the ground at one stage when it was 1-0 and they were struggling to break Bangor down.
"You'd expect Glentoran to step up and say ‘we're the big hitters here’. They huffed and puffed and really didn't create that much of substance to win the game. I think the powers that be were watching on and obviously thought it's time for a change.”