As the acrimony over Stephen Kenny's switch to Dalymount Park rumbled on yesterday, Longford Town officials confirmed that they intend to seek a High Court injunction this morning preventing their former manager from taking charge of Bohemians for Saturday evening's FAI Cup match between the two clubs.
Within hours of Kenny being officially unveiled at Dalymount, Longford's vice chairman, Jim Hanley, insisted that the matter was far from over and Longford's first course of action will involve an attempt to prevent the switch being completed on the basis that it would contravene the trade secrets legislation.
"He (Kenny) has inside information on our team that no manager could normally have under these circumstances," said Hanley.
"All of our preparations during the past few weeks have been for these two games with Bohemians and Stephen has been central to those preparations. He has the inside track and we view that as being unfair."
The intention, therefore, is to seek an injunction preventing Kenny taking charge until the FA Cup tie is out of the way, whether that is this weekend or the middle of next week when a replay, if required, would take place.
"I wish Stephen all the best," remarked Hanley, "and hope he's successful, but only after the cup tie."
The club also intend, he says, to pursue the issue of compensation with Bohemians, with the figure initially being claimed reported to be in the region of £90,000.
"We've done a lot for Stephen and Stephen has done a lot for us," said Hanley. But added the club feels they should receive compensation for what he claimed was "breach of contract".
At the press conference earlier in the day at Dalymount to confirm his appointment as Pete Mahon's successor, both Kenny and those Bohemians club officials present declined to answer any questions about the current situation, while the man at the centre of the controversy concentrated in his remarks on the enormous task that now faces him at a club that, despite having one of the most costly set-ups in the league lies fourth last in the premier division table.
"There are 20-odd full-time professionals here and in ALSAA the club has access to superb training facilities," he said. "The bottom line is that, without trying to criticise anybody, you would have to ask yourself why we're fourth from bottom.
"The club has certainly been unlucky with injuries, but then we had that at Longford too. There's no real point in saying that you've the best squad in the country and then being ninth in the table, it just doesn't make sense."
Asked about the changes that he might seek at Dalymount, Kenny said he would take some time to assess things before altering anything.
Liam O'Brien, he said, would be asked to stay on but, he warned, he would have "no patience" with players who he suspected of not dedicating themselves completely to the task of hauling the club out of its current difficulties.
"I can't tolerate a lack of professionalism," he said, adding that his longer-term ambition was to make the club the one that every Irish player aspired to playing for, so that it might position itself to make a serious breakthrough in Europe.
Longford, meanwhile, have already held talks with a view to replacing Kenny at Flancare Park. One of those mentioned as a possible successor is Mahon, and he has signalled that he might well be interested in the job.
It appears, however, that the first choice amongst the Longford directors is likely to be Don O'Riordan, whose approach to managing Galway was not all that far from Kenny's in Longford.
The problem? O'Riordan is currently under contract at Sligo Rovers.
