From his accent, it’s clear where he was born and bred. But, who exactly is Ian Foster and what has he become? We have decided to take a closer look at Oriel Park’s newest arrival. Perhaps the best place to start is with something he may not even know about himself. By accepting the club’s call to replace Sean Connor, Foster has become Dundalk’s 37th different manager (including caretakers) in their 83-year league history, and he will be the 31st to lead them into top-flight battle when the season kicks off next March. If you count every managerial change, he is 43rd overall, thanks largely to Tommy Connolly’s six separate spells in charge.

Player/manager?
He is the first Englishman to lead the Lilywhites since Edwin Charles May took charge for the final ten games of the 1996/97 campaign, after the departure of Scottish-born player/manager John Hewitt which left Connolly in temporary charge for a fourth time. That was to be the full length of May’s tenure, his eight league games yielding just two wins, although he oversaw the playoff victory over Waterford United at the end of the season, the signing of one Jeff McNamara proving priceless. Speaking of player/managers, Foster insists he will not be doubling up despite his tender age of 33. "I’ll see what the squad is like," he joked. "I’m coming in to manage. We’ll see if I get a squad number, but no." However, if he did, he would be the ninth to do so, the most recent being Paul Curran in May 2004.

McLaughlin resemblance
While Curran and other (relatively) recent managers, including Dermot Keely, John Hewitt and Jim Gannon, were in their 30s when they first held the hot-seat, Foster is the club’s third youngest ever manager, after Alan Fox (30), who took over in 1966, and Fran Brennan (32), appointed in 1972. While perhaps not as colourful a player, Dundalk’s new boss certainly strikes a resemblance with Jim McLaughlin, who remains the club’s most successful ever manager, when he first took charge of the Lilywhites back in 1974. McLaughlin had a short spell as a player/coach with Swansea City in 1972, at the age of 32 – just five months older than when Foster arrived at Galway United in a similar capacity under Jeff Kenna in April 2008. In November 1974, McLaughlin was appointed as Dundalk’s chief at the age of 33 years and 11 months. Foster just turned 33 last month. McLaughlin, for the record, went on to win three league titles, three FAI Cups and two League Cups at Oriel Park.

Liverpool lad
Now, more about Foster’s personal road which has led him to Dundalk. Born on Merseyside on 11 November 1976, Foster, a striker, joined Liverpool’s Centre of Excellence when he was just ten years old and stayed there until he was 20, a period during which he was an England schoolboy international. After leaving Liverpool, he soon signed for Hereford United, and three years there were followed by a short stint at Cumbria-based club Barrow. Then he moved to Kidderminster Harriers for the first time in August 1999 when he was signed by Liverpool legend Jan Molby, and he helped fire them to the Conference National title in his opening season. The 5ft6 frontman was regularly hit by injuries, but when he did play he was expected to be on the score-sheet – he was the club’s top scorer with ten goals in 2001/02. At the end of the following season, he was released by the Harriers as they made cuts due to financial constraints.

Early retirement
Foster switched to Conference club Chester City on a free transfer for the following campaign, with chairman Stephen Vaughan stating at the time, “when (Foster) became available we moved heaven and earth to persuade him that his future should be at Chester.” It was a season which ended with another Conference National winners’ medal thanks to a haul of 92 points. However, he had actually left The Seals in midseason as he returned to Kidderminster on-loan in February 2004, a move which was later made permanent. A Harriers website remarks, “he blotted his copy book when he was sent off for throwing a punch at Efe Sodje during the Huddersfield game on Easter Monday 2004.” After leaving Kidderminster in May 2005, he had short spells at Forest Green and Nuneaton Boro over an 11-month period, before numerous injuries put an end to his career in May 2006, at the age of just 29. In total for Kidderminster, he scored 50 goals in 170 appearances. Foster, interestingly, studied sports therapy at college and is a qualified physio. During his studies, he passed the FA Diploma Course in the Treatment & Management of Injuries in 2004, and he returned to the Harriers as a physio following his retirement from playing.

Ireland arrival
He remained there for two years before making the move to Galway to become assistant manager to Kenna, who was also at Aggborough before the call from Ireland came following the departure of Tony Cousins from Terryland Park. The pair combined to eventually save the Tribesman from the drop as they defeated UCD on the final day of the season – their fourth win in five games – to secure a ninth-placed finish. During the year, Foster had been forced out of retirement as Galway's wafer-thin squad reached crisis point. Within two months of the season’s end, he was preparing to cut his management teeth after being installed as boss following Kenna’s decision to leave for Saint Patrick’s Athletic. A honeymoon period saw him win his first two league games, the second against Dundalk, and go unbeaten in his first five before being downed by Bohemians. Galway – who only had one scoreless draw in 41 competitive outings last season – went on to challenge Dundalk for fifth place for long periods but in the end had to settle for eighth, two points behind the Lilywhites, despite losing three times in four meetings with Connor’s side. Galway, incidentally, had an identical home record (7-3-8) to their Louth rivals.

Foster on form
Off the field, Foster’s honesty and forthright answers in interviews was noted throughout the season, but he has already shown that he has a witty side too, just a few hours into life as a Lilywhite. In recent seasons, John Gill gave us “pressure is for tyres”, after a poor start to his life at the helm, and later, “a pat on the back is only eighteen inches away from a kick in the arse”, after a marked upturn in fortunes. Connor last December compared his unveiling as Dundalk manager to the beginning of romance. “It's like the first time you go out with a girlfriend, everything is positive and everything is rosy, and all you can do is work on that relationship and try to develop it.” While that hope for a long-term relationship may not have come to pass, it seems that his successor certainly won’t lack for memorable quotes, as Foster opened his account with form that we certainly hope continues. Speaking on the pressures of taking charge of one of the biggest and oldest clubs in the League of Ireland, Foster insisted that that was why he was in the business of football management. “I’ve played for some decent clubs where if you don’t do well fans get on your back,” he went on to add. “If you do well, they love you. Football is a fickle world, I know all about that. If I’m not doing well, I’ll shop in Newry.” Welcome aboard Ian!