Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley's record and first ever Euro starting 11 as he prepares for game 42 in Europe
Europa League progress is what Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley is focusing on this week.
As he prepares for the 42nd European match of his managerial career, Stephen Bradley will draw on the experiences of his previous 41 in his bid to break the half-century before this year is out.
Group stage progress would take him over the 50-game mark and onto 51.
It’s an odd number because his first game in charge of Shamrock Rovers was their second leg against Finnish side RoPS in 2016, when he stepped in as interim boss after Pat Fenlon’s departure.
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Stephen Kenny will take charge of games 49 and 50 in Europe over the next week.
Yet he will be overtaken by Bradley if St Pat’s don’t progress past Azeri side Sabah and Rovers make it to the group stages.
Both managers now have vast experience at this level, although Bradley has been quicker to accumulate it.
The Hoops boss knows it will stand to him when Rovers face a talented Celje side in the Europa League on Thursday night in Slovenia and next week in Tallaght.
A win over the two legs would guarantee European group stage football in the Europa Conference League at a minimum.
Looking back over his history in European football, Bradley pointed to the lessons learned over the past eight years.
“I think you know you have to adjust when you go away from home, especially against the good teams, you have to adjust and give them the respect they deserve,” he said.
“I think you learn that as you go. We have been good at that. At times you get done by a bit of quality and that’s high-level football, that’s what happens.
“But I think we have learned how and when to manage games and, like I said, you have got to respect the teams you are playing against.
“They have some really good quality. Hopefully we’ll see all that tomorrow night.”
His players have also learned on the job in continental competition, with his experienced squad racking up appearances across all competitions and, two years ago, in the Conference League group stages.
“You obviously need that in games like this, where at times you are going to have to manage the game,” said Bradley.
“You need your experience, you need your knowhow, and as a group we have picked up a lot of that along the way.
“We have picked up from good experiences and bad experiences, but you pick up that knowhow along the way and we’ve got that.
“We are definitely going to need that tomorrow night at different parts of the game.”
Bradley’s record in Europe is impressive. In 41 games to date, he has won 13, drawn eight and lost 20.
This is his first time coming up against Slovenian opposition. So far he has faced teams from Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia (twice), Estonia, Finland (twice), Hungary (twice), Iceland (twice), Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Norway (x3), Slovakia and Sweden (twice).
The team he is in charge of now is very different to the one that he led out against RoPS as a rookie manager eight years ago, when he was promoted from his academy role to the first-team.
That starting-11 was: Craig Hyland, Simon Madden, Rob Cornwall, Sean Heaney, Patrick Cregg, Gary McCabe, Killian Brennan, Gavin Brennan, Brandon Meile, Gary Shaw and Dean Clarke.
Trevor Clarke, Sean Boyd and Aaron Dobbs came off the bench, while Stephen McPhail, one third of Rovers’ management trio alongside Bradley and Glenn Cronin, was an unused sub.
Clarke, the only player from Bradley’s first European game who is set to feature in his 42nd, was 18 at the time, and was three years away from a spell in England with Rotherham and Bristol Rovers.
The topic of experience was also raised yesterday with Rovers’ Estonia international Markus Poom, who played group stage football with Flora Tallinn in 2021 when they eliminated Rovers at the Conference League play-off stage.
“I learnt a lot in every game played in Europe that year and tried to take it with me,” said the midfielder.
“It was a big step up from the Estonian league to the group stage so when I saw Rovers had done that the following year, I knew this could be a good place to further my development.
“I want to play as big a part as I can in the European games.”
Do Rovers belong at a group stage level?
“We will see,” Poom replied. “The results don’t lie at the end of the day and that’s what you base yourself off.
“I think we are close, but time will tell. But yeah, I think the squad is at a good place right now, we are all really focused and determined to make the group stages, and we’ll go game-by-game.”
STEPHEN BRADLEY’S EURO RECORD
2016:
- 1-1 v RoPS (Finland - Europa League)
2017:
- 1-0, 1-0 v Stjarnan (Norway - EL)
- 2-3, 0-2 v Mlada Boleslav (Czech - EL)
2018:
- 0-1, 1-1 (aet) v AIK (Sweden - EL)
2019:
- 2-1, 2-2 v Brann (Norway - EL)
- 2-1, 1-3 (aet) v Apollon Limassol (Cyprus - EL)
2020:
- 2-2 (12-11 pens) v Ilves (Finland - EL)
- 0-2 AC Milan (Italy - EL)
2021
- 2-1, 0-2 Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia - Champions League)
- 1-0, 2-0 Teuta (Albania - Europa Conference League)
- 0-1, 2-4 Flora Tallinn (Estonia - ECL)
2022:
- 3-0, 0-0 Hibernians (Malta - CL)
- 2-1, 0-3 Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria - CL)
- 3-1, 2-1 Shkupi (Macedonia - EL)
- 1-0, 0-4 Ferencvaros (Hungary - EL)
- 1-1, 0-3 Gent (Belgium - ECL)
- 0-2, 0-3 Molde (Norway - ECL)
- 0-0, 0-1 Djurgarden (Sweden - ECL)
2023:
- 0-1, 1-2 Breidablik (Iceland - CL)
- 0-2, 0-4 Ferencvaros (Hungary - ECL)
2024:
- 2-1, 0-0 Vikingur (Iceland - CL)
- 0-2, 2-4 Sparta Prague (Czech - CL)
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