I’M GOING NOWHERE

The drop is looming for the Whites following a 1-0 loss to Donegal Celtic on Easter Tuesday, leaving the Distillery manager looking for ways out of their seemingly fatal quandry.

“I’m not going to walk away from the job,” he said. “I want to be there next season no matter what happens.

“Distillery are a great club with loyal fans and good people around the place. I want to bring them success because they deserve it.

“When I joined the club there was only one player on the books. Everyone else was out of contract while seven or eight players had joined other clubs, plus our budget was cut in half.

“I honestly thought that we could improve our position with what we had and by blooding though a few of the younger players, but it looks like it’s going to be another rebuilding job.”

McCann was also scathing of his players following their lacklustre performance in their biggest game of the season.

“We didn’t turn up, which was particularly disappointing considering the performance in the game against Portadown,” McCann said.

“It’s absolutely soul destroying. I’ve been in the game for 20 years. I’ve lost league titles on the last day and lost Irish Cup final and this honestly is the darkest day of my career.

“You almost feel helpless. You expect your team to go out and perform but then they show up with no passion and no fight. I’ve learnt a lot about my players over the last week.”

It is still possible for Distillery to stay up, but McCann is of the belief that survival is out of their hands now.

“We can do it but it’s going to be very difficult. We have 12 points to play for and we need to win every game and rely on other teams doing us favours,” he said.