Shaun ‘Wizzy’ Mcowan has re-signed for his tenth season at Finn Harps and is confident that this season can be a fruitful one for the club. 
McGowan has seen plenty of changes in his decade of service at Finn Park, but he is optimistic that the new management team of Ollie Horgan and James Gallagher can bring the good times back to Navenney Street.
McGowan believes it’s a realistic aim to be challenging for one of the play-off spots and believes the group of players currently assembled are more than capable of sustaining a prolonged challenge this season.
McGowan is a fans favourite among the loyal supporters in Ballybofey.
Renowned for his tigerish tackling and desire to win, McGowan is always fully committed to the cause and those traits have endeared him to the Harps faithful over the years.
McGowan acknowledges that last season was a bitter disappointment for all involved with the club, but hopes and believes this year will be a much better one.
“Last season was a massive disappointment, we started the season well, but we let standards slip and ultimately we failed to mount a challenge for the play-offs which was a massive disappointment.
“For example last year we had Optimal Fitness on board then we lost a couple of matches and we stopped availing of the services they provide and that hurt us.
“This year there on-board with us for the full year and that’s a massive coup for the club.
“I do feel with the management staff we have in place and the squad of players that we have we’re more than capable of being in the mix-up for the play-offs.
McGowan found himself in and out of the team last year under Peter Hutton and was also part of the infamous ‘Arranmore Four’ that were banned for playing in a seven a side competition on the island.
McGowan believes that breach of discipline could have been handled better and also believed the club signed far too many players last season, and as a result the rotation policy adopted ultimately affected performances and consistency.
“I don’t really want to go back into that now, it’s been talked about enough but there was inaccuracies reported on that story at the time.
“It had been said we received a warning prior to the competition not to play in it, but we didn’t, we got a text on the Saturday afternoon.
“We were wrong and we let the club down and we accepted our punishment and got on with it.
“What disappointed us was the way it was perceived in the local media that we had just ignored these warnings, we didn’t there hadn’t been any warnings.
“It always kept getting dragged up as a reason we were struggling and that was wrong and unfair.
“One of the problems last year was the number of players signed, it was crazy, it wasn’t feasible and it affected the training hugely, you were restricted in terms of what you could do with the numbers and standards slipped because of it.
“Having that many players signed also affected the consistency of the team as players were constantly given chances in the team and we rarely got the same eleven out regularly.
“We have close knit squad this year with players who genuinely want to do well for the club and will be as professional as they can be for the season ahead.
When quizzed about the decision not to give the manager’s job to his father Sean Snr McGowan didn’t want to be drawn on the matter but did say that also could have been handled better.
“I don’t want to really talk about that, but I do think it could have been handled better, he has been involved with the club for over 40 years and I think he at least deserved a call to be told his application was unsuccessful.
“That goes for the other candidates involved too, I think they should have been informed with a call.
McGowan is looking forward to putting last season behind him and can’t wait for the season to kick off proper on Match the 7th at home to Waterford.
He spent two years away from the club, but one of his main reasons to return to the fold was so his daughter Katie Marie could see him play for Finn Harps.
“That’s what we’re all looking forward to now, we’re working hard and everybody in the squad has kept themselves ticking over in the off season which is good to see.
“We’ll continue to work hard in pre-season and for the season ahead.
“It’s going to be competitive for places but that’s what you want, and I’ve got a good feeling that in the club’s 60th anniversary year that this season will be a very good one.