NOEL KING’S managerial career began in November 1985, the same month Eoin Hand’s reign as Ireland boss ended.
And King was as surprised as anyone to be handed an 18-month contract to see him complete 40 years in the dugout.
But he knows that he has his work cut out to ensure it does not end in failure and figures the only way to win people over is to win matches.
At 67, King is the club’s oldest manager but decided against reaching for the ‘age is just a number’ cliché and revealed he has a different view of taking on this pressurised job than his wife Maria.
He said: “Age is not irrelevant. We see people getting sick, people in trouble with their heads, their limbs and their arms — with their everything.
“I’m as hungry as anybody to do this job and, at the moment thank God, I have my health.
“Maria might be worried that if I do this too much that might come against me and my health, I see it the other way, that it will keep me going.”
Criticism of his appointment centres not so much on his age but the fact that he last managed in the men’s League of Ireland with Finn Harps in 2003.
King conceded: “It would be better if I was in the league and knew all the players and managers.
“It doesn’t mean I won’t make an impact. I don’t want to sound like it’s an easy-peasy job. It’s not but I’ve a lot of experience at various different levels.
“The basics are the basics. Young people have different attitudes to when I was young.
“But I haven’t seen a system come in over the last 30 years that I didn’t know about.
“There might be variations but the key thing is getting your players working in the same direction and are comfortable with what you’re doing in matches.”
He has said he has already established a working relationship with Brian Gartland even though the club’s head of football operations was not involved in his appointment after owner Brian Ainscough went on a solo run.
Ainscough and King go back to the 1970s when they were at Home Farm together with the owner offering him a job for which he had not applied.
ROOM FOR CHANGE
Talks are ongoing with first-team coach Liam Burns — who had been in caretaker charge along with Gartland — about his role with King keen to bring in another coach and a goalkeeping guru with John McDonnell in line to join.
He has said there is scope for changes to the squad in the summer window.
The one he inherits features 13 foreign players and King believes bringing them together is a similar challenge to the one he faced in his first job with Derry City when he brought in such players as Pascal Vaudequin, Alex Krstic and Owen Da Gama.
Those names are still revered by a certain generation of Candystripes fans but King’s task at Oriel Park is a more fundamental one — survival.
And he knows that there is more than just Dundalk’s top-flight status on the line.
He said: “I feel any time you’re in a job you’re putting your reputation on the line. The media, youse know that, you’re just waiting for something to crack and break. That’s your job.
“It would be horrendous to finish on a relegation. I’ve signed a deal and my intention is to see it out. If I’m a disaster, I’ll talk to Brian.”
HARSH WELCOME
King — who had been managing Home Farm in the Eastern Women’s Football League since leaving Shelbourne women’s side at the end of last season — is not anticipating a warm welcome for his first game in charge, at home to Bohs.
He said: “I think it will be mixed. I’d be shocked if they start booing because I think anybody that wants the club to do well will say, ‘Give that man a chance’.
“Give him 90 minutes anyway or 45 and see how it goes — or maybe 20 minutes if things went askew — well then that’s what I expect.
“I have a nasty little streak in me too. I think that I’ll probably relish it.”