WATCH: Shiels - "I really want Coleraine to win the league."
Latest BetMcLean Football show features Ex-Bannsiders' boss as guest
Last updated 11th Apr 2018
Former Coleraine manager Kenny Shiels is backing the Bannsiders to win the Danske Bank Premiership.
Oran Kearney’s side are currently second, with only goal difference keeping Crusaders on top.
Shiels, the current Derry City boss, said there were parallels between what has been happening this year and how the 1997 season panned out.
He was speaking during our latest BetMcLean Football show which is now available to view on Cool FM’s Facebook page (see link below).
"I was manager of Coleraine and we were five points ahead of Crusaders,” he said.
“We were out of the Irish Cup, while Crusaders were still in the Cup. Now, it's the other way around. We had two or three one-all draws and everything was going against us the way it's maybe happening to Crusaders now. “
Shiels who has also managed in Scotland with Kilmarnock, said his heart was very much at the Showgrounds.
“I really want Coleraine to win the league not just because of my family connections but because that was my club growing up as a child,” he said.
Asked if he could see Derry City back in the NIFL one day, Shiels said: “It would be great.
“It would be great for the Irish League - but why would Derry go from full-time to part-time? The inroads that we've made into it the professional game have been great.
"But I feel there are mixed views on it - I could be wrong - but it's not something we speak about every day. Certainly, I've a lot of good memories from the Irish League, and the travel would be so much easier."
On the differences in quality between NIFL and the League of Ireland, he added:
“Well it (LOI) would need to be better because it's full-time.
“So it's only logical that it would be at a different level in terms of the intensity of the game and the way it's played. If the Irish League was full-time then it would be a different debate. But it's impossible for the Irish League to be at the same level as a full-time league."
Also on today’s show is former Linfield and Rangers player Lee Feeney, who is currently manager of Banbridge Rangers.