Former Rochdale, Celtic, Barnsley, Brighton, Luton Town and Northern Ireland star Paddy McCourt keen to play role in helping deliver success at Glentoran

The 40-year-old enjoyed an extensive playing career across the water, enjoying spells at the likes of Rochdale, Celtic, Barnsley, Brighton & Hove Albion and Luton Town while also representing his country on 18 occasions.

McCourt previously worked with Devine at Derry City where he served as Technical Director and joins a new-look backroom team at The Oval with Tim McCann returning to the club after the departures of John Gregg, who has taken up a similar position at Dungannon Swifts, and Mark Ferguson.

Glentoran are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2023/24 campaign in which they finished fifth in the Premiership before missing out on a spot in European football and McCourt says everybody’s ambition is to get back to winning silverware.

"It wasn't a difficult decision,” he told the club’s media channel. “The fact Declan was manager here and I'd worked with him before made it a lot easier.

"When he first asked me I took a few weeks to think about the logistics of it with living in Donegal, but after speaking to him and Windy (Paul Millar) about the hopes and expectations of the club I was really excited to get involved.

"The expectations from everybody is to make the club successful. Finishing fifth last year is probably under expectations. Declan has had a couple of months to come in, look at the club, has released some players with their time being up here and there's a bit of recruitment to do, but the expectation is to be at the top-end of the league and challenging for league titles and cups."

McCourt retired in 2018 after helping secure Finn Harps’ promotion to the League of Ireland’s Premier Division, which came after a short stay in the Irish League with Glenavon.

He believes having recent playing experience will further help him relate to the changing room and says he’ll have an important role in speaking to the club’s stars.

"It's only five years since I've finished and I've been involved with Derry for most of that time so been around players and dressing rooms,” he added. “It helps that you've had the experience of going through what they'll be going through.

"It's an important part of my job to speak to players and make sure they're feeling part of the group and when you sense some lacking a bit of confidence put your arm around them or when one or two maybe get a wee bit ahead of themselves, because that happens too, you have to be there to say 'calm down, there's a long way to go'.

"A big part of my job is being the buffer between manager and players and it's something I feel I'm good at."