Trebor Mahtal departed the 12th club on his EuroTrip adventure as he stood down as manager of Norway’s Molde FK having wrapped up the Eliteserien title. That meant the Zambian manager had now won titles in Greece, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden and Norway as he went in search of a new challenge at the start of 2045.
Mahtal was more than happy to take some time away from the game and wait for the right opportunity. However, just 10 days after his resignation, Irish side Shamrock Rovers offered an interview offer, asked for staff changes and made an offer within five days. Depressingly, within that time, Molde had already sold star players Munoz (who’d been worth at least £60m), Nordhagen and Glik to Saudi for just £16m combined, which proves the AI is dreadful at transfers!
Mahtal had been hoping to move away from the summer football leagues. But on 16 January 2045, Mahtal popped on a short flight from Oslo down to Dublin because he was the new manager of Shamrock Rovers. who gave him an £8,500 wage rise to £18,500 per week.
Who Are Shamrock Rovers?
Shamrock Rovers FC is a professional club based in Tallaght, south Dublin. It’s the most successful club in the Republic of Ireland with a record 35 titles, 15 of which have been won during this 22-year save – including the last seven. It was founded way back in 1899 and won its first league title at the first attempt in 1923. The club initially wore green and white stripes until 1926, when it adopted the hoops it wears to this day and inspired the nickname The Hoops.
Shamrock play at the 10,000-capacity Tallaght Stadium, which was built in 2009, and has solid infrastructure of 19 youth recruitment, 16 junior coaching and 14 training and youth facilities. It has fierce local rivalry with Bohemians, against whom it plays the Dublin Derby, and additional local rivalries with St. Pat’s Athletic and Shelbourne. Mahtal’s new side has a £9.6m bank balance and a transfer budget of £9.8m but a £23m bank loan that’s being paid off for the next 10 years.
The best player at Shamrock is left winger Donovan Hyde, who has no left foot and was bizarrely on the loan list when Mahtal joined, along with goalkeeper Kian Walsh, right back Chris Cresser, Montserrat international attacker Scott Nugent and midfielder Lewis Maxwell. They also had a couple of youth talents in winger Joe Foley and 6ft 6in centre back Aaron Shields. The required formation was pretty obvious to Mahtal, given he had decent full backs, wingers and centre backs, a few solid midfielders and one good striker. He went with a flat 4-3-3 that offered attacking threat but also aimed to be defensively solid.
Back In The Europa League
Mahtal joined Shamrock with the club sitting in an impressive 14th place in the EL league phase, and his reign began with the final two games. The Shamrock fans got their first look at the Zambian as they hosted Nice three days after his appointment. And they were immediately impressed as Nugent and Hyde goals earned a 2-1 win. Shamrock finished the stage with a chastening 5-2 defeat at Olympiacos, which saw them finish in 14th.
That sent them into a playoff round against Celtic. A trip to Glasgow was up first and midfielder Ryan Roberts’ brace had Shamrock set for an impressive draw before Celtic nicked it in the 86th minute. Celtic took the lead against the run of play back in Ireland but Shamrock fired back as winger Mohamed Bundu crossed for Nugent. The visitors were better after the break but Shamrock moved in front as a corner fell to midfielder Mark Carlton to fire home from the edge of the box. They held on to win 2-1 but looked to be tiring through extra time. That was until an inspired half-time substitution saw brilliantly-named striker Jonty Chitty put them in front with his first touch and double his tally with his second! Celtic were shocked and Carlton doubled his tally to seal a famous 5-1 victory.
Shamrock were rewarded with one of the kinder last-16 draws as they took on Lech Poznan. This time they were at home first and a brilliant performance saw another 5-1 win led by Roberts’ brace and another late Chitty strike. Hyde scored twice in a 4-2 defeat in Poland to cruise through 7-5 on aggregate. Another favourable draw followed in the quarter finals as Shamrock faced SK Rapid, who have the 2045 NxGn winner. But they were no match for Mahtal’s charges, who won 2-1 in Vienna through Nugent and Hyde strikes either side of half time then Nugent earned a 1-1 back in Ireland.
It’s fair to say Marseille’s players don’t play too many games when a wayward shot flies into a car park. Yet that was the case as they visited Tallaght Stadium for the first leg of the Europa League semi final. Shamrock started well only for Marseille to take the lead from a corner. However, the hosts were absolutely brilliant after the break and Foley hit the post before Bundu replaced him and grabbed a deserved equaliser. They even out-shot Marseille en route to a superb 1-1.
A much different proposition awaited Shamrock’s players as they took in the 67,354-capacity Stade Velodrome. But they again applied themselves superbly, conceding early but levelling through Roberts’ smart finish. Marseille retook the lead just before the break only for Carlton to immediately equalise again. They played so well after the break but eventually lost out to an 86th-minute direct free kick and a late 4th as Mahtal threw everything at it. The lads were obviously gutted but Mahtal was beyond proud of their heroic efforts. Marseille lost 2-1 to Roma in the Final, but Nugent was the tournament’s second-top scorer with 8 goals in 15 games.
First Taste Of Irish Football
Mahtal’s first taste of domestic Irish football began with silverware as Shamrock lifted the Irish President’s Cup by beating rivals Bohemians 2-0 with extra-time goals by Foley and midfielder and captain Alfie Hunter. They were made huge 1/10 favourites to win the 10-team League Of Ireland Premier Division followed by Bohemians (11/1), Sligo Rovers (25/1) and Cork City and Derry City (33/1). They also have the three favourites for player of the year in Cresser, Hyde and Walsh and the two favourites for young player of the year in midfielders Carlton and Rubén Reyes.
Shamrock started the league brilliantly with a 3-0 win over St. Pat’s, racking up 30 shots and eventually converting them through Maxwell and a Nugent brace. A rotated side went to Sligo three days after beating Celtic and secured a 2-0 win through centre back Russell Bell and Chitty. The first 11 returned and Hyde bagged consecutive hat tricks to down Derry 3-0 away and Waterford 4-0 at home before a rotated team won 2-0 at Shelbourne. The dominant start continued with a 3-0 victory at Dundalk but a rotated side finally lost 2-0 to rivals Bohemians in Mahtal’s 1,100th game in management.
Normal service was resumed as they thrashed Cork 4-0 and St. Pat’s 6-1 away with a Roberts hat trick. Mahtal had to throw in fully rotated teams to manage the European run, which saw a defeat at Cork. But they again returned to smash the league, including Nugent bagging twice in a 5-0 win at Finn Harps and Foley scoring in back-to-back games as they won 4-0 and 3-0 at home to Sligo and Dundalk. And a busy May saw Shamrock play catch up with seven matches, including draws at Bohemians and Sligo, and move four points clear at the top heading into a month-long summer break.
Chasing Irish Domination
Shamrock lost injury-prone star man Donovan Hyde, overpaid right back Chris Cresser and goalkeeper Kian Walsh to Saudi for minimum fee clauses totalling £10m as the transfer window opened. Mahtal headed back to Scandinavia to snap up attacker Johan Tvedberg for £1.1m from Brommapojkarna and goalkeeper Jesper Dylong for £700k from Bodø/Glimt.
Shamrock resumed their league campaign with three consecutive home games and delighted The Hoops as Nugent’s consecutive braces defeated Cork 5-1 and Waterford 3-1 before Hyde followed suit to down St. Pat’s 3-0. That was backed up by going to top-of-the-form-table Derry and eventually winning 2-0 through Bundu’s penalty and Tvadberg’s debut goal.
European qualifiers began in July and slightly affected Shamrock’s domestic form while Bohemians went on a wild 19-game unbeaten streak. And they stretched that to 20 with a surprise 3-0 win at Shamrock, who had Dylong and Nugent on international duty, in early October. That left Shamrock one point clear with six games to play but two in hand on their rivals. They bounced back as Nugent bagged back-to-back braces to beat Shelbourne 3-0 and Derry 2-0.
That put Shamrock within touch of the title ahead of a trip to Finn Harps. Roberts scored twice in the first half to lead a 4-1 win. The next day, Bohemians lost for the first time in four months to hand their rivals an 8th successive title! They broke the league records for most points and goals, racking up 93 points after 30 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats, and scoring 96 and only conceding 23. Nugent equalled the league record for most goals with 24 in 27 and Carlton led the way with 13 assists.
Mahtal’s early days at Shamrock included the Leinster Senior Cup, in which a rotated team breezed into the final to face Bohemians. The two sides played out a poor game and Chitty’s 70th-minute winner was the only highlight before Foley missed a late one-on-one. Bohemians won a 4th successive Leinster Senior Cup! Later in the season, they also entered the Senior Challenge Cup and eased past Pike Rovers, Cockhill Celtic and Cork then beat Derry 5-3 in the semis to tee up yet another final with Bohemians. A livelier game saw Nugent head home on 11 minutes as Shamrock dominated their rivals by 10 shots to one in the first half. They killed the game after the break and Tvedberg rifled in a late second to wrap up a famous quadruple!
A Famous Season In Ireland
Mahtal was getting accustomed to winning trophies but winning a domestic quadruple at Shamrock Rovers surpassed his wildest manager dreams. His Shamrock side wiped the floor with the rest of Ireland, beating unlucky Bohemians in three cup finals and finishing 13 points clear of them.
Nugent was Shamrock’s star man with a new club record 37 goals and 11 assists, but he was pushed very close by Roberts (28 goals and 16 assists), Bundu (17 goals and 22 assists) and Carlton (16 goals and 20 assists). Chitty chipped in with 16 goals, Tvedberg got 9 goals and 8 assists in 28 games and Dylong kept 7 clean sheets in 12 league games.
Having won everything there is to win in Ireland, Mahtal wasn’t about to hang around too long. He was very keen to escape the chaos of summer leagues, which puts teams out of kilter with the rest of Europe. So after two days of wild celebrations on the streets of Dublin, he resigned as manager of Shamrock Rovers. He departs Shamrock after 296 days and a 68-game season, in which he won 49, drew 6 and lost 13 – matching the 72% win ratio he enjoyed at Panathinaikos and Djurgardens – in which his sides scored 184 and conceded 77.
Where would Mahtal end up as he seeked out club number 14 on this EuroTrip adventure? Join us on Wednesday to find out!
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