'That upset me': Irish League manager on club publicity 'which isn’t something I liked at all'

The Reds have been consistently in the headlines this year with a proposed takeover bid by the Toronto Investment Group (TIG) ultimately falling through in January after months of speculation.

In February, Cliftonville confirmed the resignation of chairman Kieran Harding alongside directors David Begley and Adrian Keenan.

Releasing a statement after his decision to stand down, Harding said: "In recent months, we have been subjected to a vicious, abusive and threatening campaign to remove us, for holding others to account, in particular the recent investment proposal from TIG.

"Subsequently, this due diligence has culminated in TIG withdrawing their proposal, and therefore the time has come to step down and avoid any further harm, distress or disrespect."

While those situations rumbled on, Magilton’s full focus remained on collecting positive results with the Solitude outfit reaching the Senior Shield final and a third consecutive Irish Cup semi-final.

Cliftonville lost out on penalties in both and were also defeated via the same method in a BetMcLean Cup quarter-final defeat to Glentoran.

Having missed out on a top-half Premiership position last term, Cliftonville returned this season and are guaranteed to finish fifth following a 1-0 win over Dungannon Swifts on Saturday.

"It has been extremely difficult, on and off (the pitch),” Magilton said on BBC Sportsound. “There were a lot of ‘what ifs?’.

"If you count the Irish Cup final last season, we’ve lost four big games on penalties. We lost the League Cup quarter-final to the Glens, County Antrim Shield final, Irish Cup semi-final – it could have been so different and that picture could have changed again.

"We failed to win a trophy this season, which we didn’t in the two previous seasons.”

When asked if he felt under pressure, Magilton replied: “I feel under pressure every time I step into that dugout because nobody puts more pressure on themselves than me.

"I always want the team to go out and play and win, play with determination and give a good representation of the football club.

"That pressure is always going to be there for me.

"A lot of things have played out publicly which isn’t something I have liked at all. There was a lot of noise around this football club and it wasn’t around football and winning football matches.

"That upset me, but my job is to focus on the players, on results and getting the very best out of the individuals and collectively as a team.”