Glentoran Pursue Cliftonville's Jim Magilton as New Manager

Glentoran have moved quickly in their search for a new manager – and all roads now point towards Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton.

Declan Devine’s departure from the Oval on Monday, after two years in charge and a stuttering start to the season, left the Glens scrambling for a reset. The response has been decisive. Magilton has been identified as the club’s preferred candidate, and a formal approach has already gone in.

On Tuesday night, with Devine gone, assistant managers Paddy McCourt and Tim McCann took temporary charge. It did not bring the bounce Glentoran needed. Irish Premiership leaders Coleraine arrived in east Belfast and left with a win, deepening the sense that change could not wait.

The pressure has now shifted across the city. Magilton, 57, has emerged as the frontrunner, with Glentoran seeking permission to speak to the Cliftonville manager. The timing could hardly be sharper: the two clubs are due to meet at Solitude on Saturday in an Irish Premiership fixture that suddenly carries a storyline far beyond the league table.

Magilton’s stock has risen sharply since he walked into Cliftonville in 2023 to replace Paddy McLaughlin. A year later he delivered what many at Solitude had almost stopped believing they would see again – the Irish Cup. That triumph ended a 45-year wait for the trophy and stamped his name firmly into the club’s modern history.

His impact has not stopped there. With previous roles at Ipswich Town, the Irish FA, Dundalk and Melbourne Victory, Magilton arrived with a broad coaching CV and has backed it up with silverware. He guided the Reds to the 2025 BetMcLean Cup, beating Glentoran in the final, a result that still stings around the Oval.

Two months later, though, came a reminder of how thin the margins remain. Cliftonville reached another Irish Cup final under Magilton but lost out to Dungannon Swifts, a missed chance that keeps hunger levels high.

Now Glentoran want the man who has been inflicting damage on them from the opposite dugout. Saturday at Solitude was already a significant fixture. If talks progress, it could feel like an audition for the next chapter of the Glens’ season.