‘It's very difficult to sack a player, but not a manager’ – Stephen Bradley’s sympathy for axed Saints boss

But Rovers boss Stephen Bradley says the human element of a managerial sacking is overlooked as he fears there’s no safety net for a coach who loses his job.

Bradley’s former team-mate Sean O’Connor will take interim charge of Pat’s for Friday’s derby away to Rovers as FAI Cup-winning boss Jon Daly was sacked on Tuesday, less than six months after he delivered that trophy.

That was the third managerial casualty of the Premier Division season following earlier dismissals for Declan Devine and Stephen O’Donnell and Bradley has sympathy for his former counterpart Daly.

League of Ireland Premier Division preview - 10th May

"It's the world we live in with social media and the pressures that come with that. If you open yourself up to that and listen to that, it can become really intense. People want results yesterday. I don't know what St Pat's expectations were at the start of the year, was the plan to go win the league?,” Bradley said today of that local clash as they look to improve following Monday’s loss at home to Waterford.

"It's very often that managers are not protected in their contracts. It's very, very difficult to sack a football player and rightly so as their contact protects them, but a lot of time that's not the case for a manager and people forget that.

"I understand that people have a reaction to league tables and results and have emotions. The world we live in today, people want results yesterday, in terms of social media. Everyone has a voice and you understand that, but the human element is there is a man out of work. You don't know anything about his [Daly] contract situation but a lot of the time in this country, the managers aren't protected by their contracts and you can't forget that when you're speaking about any manager.

“He's a family man with a family to support and bills to pay. That's not a reason to keep someone in a job, I'm not saying that, but there has to be a human aspect as well and understand that he's only human. Hopefully he is protected in his contract but a large majority of time in Ireland that is not the case,” added Bradley.

Bradley's medical staff will be busy in the lead-up to the Pat’s game as they assess their injury victims. Neil Farrugia, Jack Byrne and Markus Poom, who were all absent in recent weeks/months are back involved but Byrne and Farrugia are not yet ready to start, despite sub appearances.

Rory Gaffney, Graham Burke and Darragh Burns will be assessed ahead of kickoff on Friday but Aaron McEneff, Sean Hoare, Lee Grace, Gary O’Neill and Richie Towell need more time.