Haveron appointed Larne boss as Rooney takes up new role

Haveron served as Rooney's assistant during his brief period in charge

Gary Haveron has been appointed as Larne's new head coach in a restructure which has moved Nathan Rooney into the role of head of football.

Rooney was brought in from Gibraltar side Bruno's Magpies to replace Tiernan Lynch as head coach after he departed for Derry City just three weeks ago.

The move comes after it was confirmed that Rooney is unable to officially lead Larne in their Uefa Conference League games as he does not yet have the required licence.

In a statement explaining the restructure, Larne chief executive Niall Curneen said: "At the time of his appointment, Nathan believed his previous application to enrol on a Pro Licence, curtailed by Covid-19, allowed him to satisfy the European licensing requirements in the UK.

"He currently has a number of applications pending to enrol in this process and we will review our structures if and when this comes about."

Mitchell departs Inver Park

Englishman Rooney, 35, officially managed just two games for the club, a 1-1 Irish Premiership draw against Cliftonville at Inver Park and a 5-0 BetMcLean Cup success against Annagh United.

Rooney's assistant Haveron took charge of Larne's Conference League defeats by Olimpija and Dinamo Minsk.

Haveron spent three years as Carrick manager but lasted just 17 months at the Glens before joining previous boss Lynch's coaching staff in April 2023.

His first game as official head coach will be Larne's final Conference League game at home to Gent on Thursday night.

Larne also confirmed that former midfielder Andy Mitchell has left his role as youth technical director to "take a senior coaching staff role elsewhere".

"He has worked tirelessly to establish a number of structures below first team level which will enable us to continue to grow," Curneen said of Mitchell.

"Our academy and scholarship programme is a huge part of our plans and will continue to be so going forward.

"Our previous manager Tiernan Lynch held the role of manager as well as head of football operations and Nathan will slot into this role of head of football."

Larne are next in action on Thursday evening when they host Belgian side Gent in the last of their Conference League games.