Earlier reports suggested he and his assistant departed, however the club have since dismissed those rumours.
Former Republic of Ireland international was appointed Waterford United manager at the end of 2020, bringing in Premier League winner Mike Newell as his assistant. The role marked his first full-time senior managerial role having previously coached underage football at Everton and Al-Shabab FC, as well as being assistant manager at Hartlepool United and Tranmere Rovers – the latter of which included a short stint as caretaker manager.
However, it now appears that his time at the club may be coming to an end. The Waterford News and Star reported earlier that Waterford United had begun a search for a new management team after Kevin Sheedy and Mike Newell left the club.
However, Waterford United have since denied those rumours as reported by WLR FM, claiming that Sheedy and Newell are in fact still at the club. The same report suggested that the pair are understood to have been involved in a row during training this morning which seen them leave the ground, but they haven’t resigned as of yet.
Their time at the club hasn’t exactly gone to plan, losing five of their six league games in charge. If their tenure at the club is to end soon, nobody can say it wasn’t eventful, though.
Mike Newell, in particular, has caused quite the stir since entering the League of Ireland. He’s only took charge for three games and been sent off in two of them.
The first sending off occurred on Waterford’s first match of the season, where he was sent off for his part in an argument with Drogheda United midfielder Gary Deegan.
He was also sent off on Tuesday, when Pat’s beat Waterford, for an even more bizarre reason. He got into a heated argument (at least on his side) with an official over a player’s socks. More specifically, how one of the Pat’s players had cut their socks leaving the colour white to be shown.
Controversy has seemingly followed Newell throughout his career – at least in management, anyways.
In one of many incidents, he made sexist comments directed towards female assistant referee Amy Fearn following a match between his Luton Town side and Queens Park Rangers.
“She should not be here,” he started off by saying.
“I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.
“We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing.
“It is absolutely beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women, then we are in trouble.
“It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems.
“It is tokenism, for the politically correct idiots.”
Waterford United find themselves second bottom of the league after six games, collecting just one solitary win. Just below them in Derry City, who have two draws to their name an no wins. They sacked their manager, Declan Devine, earlier today.
Waterford United’s next game comes against Longford Town on Saturday.
