• Position: Coach
• Number: TBC
• Age: 58 (20th September, 1967)

Patrick Dolan is a former football player, manager, and executive. He is a soccer analyst on RTÉ Sport. He writes articles in the Irish Daily Star.

Dolan joined St Pats when the club was in a state of poverty. They were playing in Harold's Cross Stadium while they tried to raise enough funds to return to Richmond Park. As St Pats could not justify his salary purely on footballing grounds, Dolan was employed as Commercial Manager. Within months he had ignited the local business community and new sponsors came on board.

Dolan played in the 1992/93 FAI League Cup Final and his last game was the 1993 FAI Cup semi final at Dundalk on 18 April. As Dolan's injuries got worse he retired from football and was appointed chief executive.

Dolan worked closely with manager Brian Kerr and new chairman Tim O'Flaherty (a respected local businessman), and in December 1993 St Pats returned to Richmond Park.

Over the next 3 years the club went from strength to strength as Dolan's marketing and Kerr's team building saw the Saints win the league title in 1996. In the December of that year Kerr was appointed Director of Coaching by the FAI. Chairman O'Flaherty surprised most with his appointment of Dolan for team manager with most commentators believing that Kerr's assistant Liam Buckley would get the job. In January 1997 Dolan was appointed manager of Pats. At 28 he was the youngest manager in the history of the club.

Buckley resigned in protest but crucially, Dolan kept respected coach Noel O'Reilly on his staff. After a disappointing finish to his first season, Dolan spent relatively large sums on securing the top young Irish players available and signed three of the Ireland team that finished third in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. His large squad won the 1997/98 League championship on the last day of the season as arch rivals Shelbourne lost a 2-point lead. After leading St Pats to a credible performance in the Champions League against Celtic in September 1998 Dolan resigned as manager to concentrate on his new roles as managing director and Director of Football. He had also purchased a major shareholding in the club.

Liam Buckley was persuaded back into the club to take the managerial hot seat. Buckley would lead the Saints to a second straight league title and Dolan continued to work effectively as managing director. The following December Pats lost 3 successive games and despite lying in third position in the league, Buckley was sacked. Dolan was immediately reinstated as team manager but could only steer the club to sixth place.

Early into the 1999/2000 season saw the first cracks in the relationship between Dolan and St Pats fans, as he accused a section of fans of being drunk and overly abusive to a new player, Martin Garrett. Dolan used his match day programme notes to lambaste the Pats travelling fans and, inevitably, the fans hit back. The team finished in fifth position. The following season, acting in his capacity as CEO, Dolan began negotiations with St Francis F.C., with a view to merging. His use of terms like 'Dublin Saints' and 'Pats-Francis' in both his programme notes and his column for national newspaper the Irish Daily Star angered many Pats fans and in a stormy meeting held by the club to announce their plans, many sought his resignation. Backed by staunchly loyal chairman O'Flaherty, Dolan remained in both jobs. Before the end of the season the merger was off but the damage was most certainly done in the eyes of many fans.

The following season saw the Saints improve dramatically on the pitch and they were leading the league when the FAI announced they were deducting 9 points from St Pats total as they played an ineligible player, Paul Marney, for 3 games. St Pats strongly argued it was a clerical error and as Marney had been registered properly they did not seek to gain an advantage. The FAI overturned this decision and re-instated the nine points, much to the annoyance of closest rivals, Shelbourne's chief executive Oliver Byrne. Dolan and Shelbourne manager Dermot Keely traded insults in their competing tabloid columns on a weekly basis. After receiving an anonymous tip off, the league investigated the registration of every St Pats player and found that one, Charles Livingstone Mbabazi, wasn't correct. They deducted fifteen points and St Pats' title challenge lay in tatters. St Pats, again, angrily denied the charges and a leaked report (to the Evening Herald) commissioned by new league CEO Roy Dooney apparently exposed several minor irregularities in player registrations on several teams but was never released. However only St Pats were punished and they would settle for third place in the league. St Pats started the season as they ended the previous one and for the first time progressed in Europe beating HNK Rijeka in the Intertoto Cup. Only an away goals defeat to KAA Gent stopped further progress.

However the levels of performance dropped and a section of the St Pats support openly protested against Dolan, with a "Dolan Out" banner appearing at games. The majority of St Pat's fans had huge appreciation for what Dolan had achieved for the club, and they still do to this day. It took a late winner at home to Cork in St Pats' last home game for Dolan to avoid bringing the team into the relegation playoff. In February 2003, Dolan parted company with St Pats to take the high profile job at Cork City. It left St Pats fans divided with the following season seeing many terrace debates between Pro and Anti Dolan camps.

Previous Clubs: Arsenal (1983-1988), Walsall (1986-1988), St Patrick's Athletic (1987-1988), Hendon (1988-1989), Galway United (1989-1990), Shamrock Rovers (1990-1991), St Patrick's Athletic (1991-1993)

Managerial Career
St Patrick's Athletic (1996-1998), St Patrick's Athletic (1999-2003), Cork City (2003-2005)