Declan Devine brands Glentoran’s European play-off performance as ‘feeble’ and like an ‘Under-10s’ match

The former Bohemians manager, who was parachuted in to replace Warren Feeney in March, admitted the club has lost its identity and he’ll be sitting down over the next few days to ‘plot the future’.

It could mean some of the players that performed so poorly against the Bannsiders may have played their last game for the club.

Devine found it hard to stomach how his team surrendered so tamely in a match of such high stakes, but there will be no European football – or lucrative prize money – for the east Belfast club for next season.

“It was a feeble performance,” he lamented. “The goals we gave away were stuff you wouldn’t see at an Under-10 match at Mallusk on a Saturday morning – to perform in the manner we did, was disappointing.

“It’s easy to come out (after half-time) when you are two-nil down and have a rattle. That’s the easy part; Coleraine dropped off, but we didn’t do enough to even compete never mind win the game.

“Every football club in every country in the world needs as much European prize money as they can get, but we haven’t lifted a finger over the last number of games to try and get it. That is a sad reflection on this great club.”

Devine could now face a rebuild, stating: “I still have great hopes because there are a lot of good people at the club.

“There are people working extremely hard, but the playing side of things needs a reset. The team needs a style, and it needs an identity. At the minute, we haven’t got that.

“We will sit down this week and discuss the way forward. Some players haven’t helped themselves in terms of their future at the club. We needed to qualify for Europe for people to keep their jobs, that’s the bottom line.

“Every club is struggling to survive and keep its head above water. On the back of our performance, it could be a long summer for some people.

“I’ve had defeats in my career, and I’ve lost big games, but I was standing out there (in the dugout) with 15 minutes to go and it was sore. We can’t let any team waltz into this famous old stadium, knowing that we will hand them the game.”

Devine admits the hard work starts now.

“It’s a crucial summer coming up for everyone,” he added. “We need to find an identity; we need people who is going to fight with all their lives for the club.

“We have some good young players coming through, as we seen in Saturday (against Crusaders). This was too big a game for them. I couldn’t afford to put them in to take the disappointment of not getting to Europe.

“I have a clear identity and where I want to go...the club and the board have a clear identity of where they want to go as well. But I don’t mind admitting I’m still digesting one of the softest defeats I’ve ever felt.”