With the dust having settled on Friday night's result for the Blues, the reality is now surely starting to hit home for players, fans, and the club ownership as to what lies ahead for the next year.
First Division football is the reward for a back-breaking effort to stay alive in the top flight. UCD were the better team on Friday, and while recent result's didn't go to plan, it wasn't for the lack of trying from the Blues charges.
Off-field matters in the buildup had "a massive effect on us" according to goalkeeper Brian Murphy. Sacking the manager who had been so instrumental in the fight for survival poses its own questions of the club's owner.
Bircham spoke on TalkSport this week to address the dismissal saying "We was really up for it, confidence flying, and then - I'm going to disappoint people, but nothing major happened. It was a text conversation with the owner. I disagreed with him - which I do 98% of the time, and he suspended me for my head not being in the right place. Anyone who knows me, my heads not in the right place most of the time. That's why I'm so good at my job because you need to be"
The club's owner Richard Forrest who had been vocal and active on social media since taking over the club is yet to release any statement or comment since the final result of the season, but prior to the match had said "Last leauge game off season,, what a club,people off Waterford hav been amazing,,, whatever happens I will be here next season building a club to take us to the next level,, regardless where we end up,, hope most off yous will be with us with ur club, #sleepinggiant"
Speaking on WLR's post-game analysis at Richmond Park, former Blues caretaker boss Franny Rockett spoke of his frustrations watching the off-field problems take a hold of on-field performances.
"On tonight's perform UCD were outstanding. The type of football they played, you can only give them all the credit in the world; the individuals, players, collective; fantastic. For our lads, you just have to commend them for what they've done. They've dragged themselves back into a position to put themselves in contention to try and stay in this division but we got to ask ourselves questions lads. Where are we as a club? Where are we as a club? Come on. Academy manager not talking to the manager. Players? Are they coming through? Aren't they coming through? Who suffers at the end of it? It's the club, it's the team on the pitch. Fella's heads need to be knocked together here. People need to walk away because as far as I'm concerned, it's a disgrace that this club is gone down - an absolute disgrace. Fellas should be ashamed of themselves."
In what was a sad night for the club, it was also a sad night for one of the greatest stalwarts of football in the county. Matt Keane who has been broadcasting for over four decades for WLR took part in his final broadcast for the station but was unfortunately left wanting with the result.
"When you look back at the entirety of the season, we were playing catch-up for about three months over the managerial situation we had at the start of the season. Marc Bircham came in and did his level best despite covid and that. Then we had the extraordinary stuff that went on this week. It's a sad, sad night for Waterford. Got up in 2017, and the man beside me Franny Rockett played a pivotal role in that, and here we are tonight on what is a bitterly, bitterly sad night. It's hard to believe it. I've been reporting for 40 years; this is my last night. Never in God's name did I think I'd be watching my beloved Waterford team getting relegated. It's not right."
While the players who turned out in the Blue jersey this year were left to lick their wounds and wonder what might have been, anger grew amongst the traveling support in Richmond Park. Richard Forrest had been welcomed with open arms by the fans when he bought the club. A breath of fresh air was needed and it was delivered by Forrest who could be seen on match nights amongst the fans banging a drum and waving a blue and white flag.
That goodwill that had been built up between the fanbase and the owner seems to have dissipated following the sacking of Bircham on the eve of such a crucial game for the club - just take a look on Twitter to see what I'm talking about.
Having taken charge of the Blues last year under the previous ownership, Rockett is well placed to give an opinion on how board room discussions can affect the team's performance. While his services were no longer required at the RSC at the end of last season, he did preside over a really positive spell for the team who were challenging for a European playoff place on the final day of the season.
"We're here, we supported the club all our lives. When people come in, they don't understand how much it means to us. There are people in Australia, Spain, in factories listening to this. Their kids don't want to be going to watch their team in the first division. They want to be going to the premier division. We've starved them of that. It's an absolute joke. I don't know what to say."
"I know. I was there last year. I saw it firsthand. Everyone knows the goings-on last year. Pivotal games and you have people talking to players who shouldn't be anywhere near them. It's scandalous. It's a disgrace. I'm fuming over it."
Spending his last year with Cobh Ramblers, Rockett has more than enough experience of the first division and what it entails. The Tramore native knows that a club like Waterford FC, with the resources they have at hand, should not be dealing with relegation.
The RSC is a stadium better than a lot of what's on offer around the country. The training facilities at Carriganore are among the very best in the country. With the correct structure, signings, and guidance the Blues are a team who can most definitely be challenging at the top end of the table once again. He also notes that the bluster leading into the playoff match would have been hugely detrimental to the players.
"I think there needs to be some kind of analysis done on the club. I don't know who's going to do it. I don't know where we go from here. Is the chairman going to back us? We need to bounce back quickly here. I think he owes us one after the goings-on of the last week. I think he needs to come out on the record and state that he's going to back us and get us back into the Premier Division. The goings-on in the last week, we needed to be giving the players energy and we took energy from the players. We were legless at the end of the game. We were headless at the end of the game. The players were spent. We needed to try and provide them with some kind of energy or source of inspiration coming into this game. Instead, they were fighting fires all week mentally and physically."
While calling for an analysis of the club and how to move on from this demotion, the former Blues player points out that with the best intention in the world, some elements of the club's management could be better.
He makes the point of losing managers like Alan Reynolds and now Marc Bircham. Managers who were clearly good for the club and able to move it in the right direction, but for one reason or another, disputes can't be settled behind closed doors - ultimately leaving the team to suffer as a result.
"In any walk of life and in any business you look for the best in class. You had Marc Bircham, he was flying it. You had Alan Reynolds before that. Alan Reynolds is in the Irish U21 management. He's gone and put teams together with Shelbourne; they're just after winning the first division. He'll probably end up going somewhere else now in the country. He'll build teams. If you give him a clear four years, like Marc Bircham, and don't disturb him. Leave him to do his job. But the problem is lads, there are lads who are involved in this club, who have more of a say, and are not best in class, they shouldn't be anywhere near this club."
"It's a shame. Heads need to be banged together here. I don't think there are any secrets down in Waterford. Everybody knows what's going on. There's no shame. There needs to be shame. Be accountable. If you've done something wrong, why stay here?"
"Richie Forrest needs to come out - Mitch Cowling, whoever it is, needs to come out and say look, we're backing them and they need to go on record to say that; because we deserve that much."
You can listen back to the full post-game analysis with Matt, Franny, and Ray Scott here.
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