The Past
A massive weekend lies ahead for the Blues.
Nine games with just six points on the board means the side are bottom of the table as they begin the second series of games.
Drogheda United provide the opposition on Saturday in a repeat of the season opener - a game which Waterford lost 1 nil at United Park.
A late Cameron Evans own goal was enough to end the game without a point.
The Change
The past week has rung the change at the RSC.
Kevin Sheedy and Mike Newell are no longer in charge, having parted ways with the club "by mutual consent."
Operations Manager for the club Tony Burke has said that "It's a results business and unfortunately they're not going our way - we have to do better. We have the move on, the results aren't good enough".
— Waterford FC (@WaterfordFCie) May 5, 2021
For the time being, Blues Academy boss Mike Geoghegan will take charge of the team while a new manager is found.
Geoghegan has confirmed that Brian Murphy will make his return to the team, with a view towards playing a more attractive style of football.
"My first conversation was with Brian to see where he thought where he was. The style of play I want to play will dictate - maybe an experienced goalkeeper. Even though Paul has done brilliantly the last five matches - it just dictates maybe a goalkeeper that comes in, has been there and is prepared to take a risk on decisions knowing that it won't go against him because he's been around the block."
The Now
The stark reality is that the team have an uphill battle to reach where they were last year. At the end of the 2019/2020 campaign, the talk was around a fight for European qualifiers. This year, the conversation has turned to avoiding relegation - despite it still being early in the season.
Geoghegan has said that those kind of thoughts are far too premature at this stage - "I was down there in the First Division because Sean who was helping me coach this morning [my son] played for Kildare County down in the RSC in the dark old day when I was down there among 300 people and it wasn't a very pleasant experience.
"It does [relegation] - it affects your budget, it cuts back everything and sometimes the fear is if you go back down, you won't come up, but I think it's very premature to talk about that. I think a good result on Saturday and whatever new management team is going to come in gives everyone a boost."
"We can see up to fifth place there's not a big gap between the teams. So two or three wins gets us into mid-table you know"
The Future
Responsibilities with the first team are to be short-lived for Geoghegan, who plans to help the senior team for the moment, but then make his return to affairs at the academy.
He is quick to remind people that the negativity which comes with poor results and off-field issues aren't always a fair reflection of the unseen work that goes in day-to-day.
"I'd be very positive about football here. I know people sometimes say, 'Oh the club is this and the club is that'. The club has everything it needs to be successful."
"Get the right management team and get the first team successful. Everyone will judge the club about the first team, but it doesn't mean in the background, there's not an awful lot of good things being done in terms of training structure and facilities that we have to use."
"So we just need to get that first, because the results is what counts to the fans"
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