Itâs more the Brian Kidd scenario. Fanning doesnât have the body of work behind him that Brian Clough has when he hopped from Derby to Leeds.
What has puzzled me from the start about it all is, why what on first glance would appear like a very attractive job, a young team that were possibly a bad wide away from really seizing the initiative and winning the All Ireland Final in 2017, having won an U21 in 2016 did they end up with a managerial novice a little over 12 months later. Well. A novice in terms of the top job.
Are the players seen as troublesome, too much player power, or is it down to the County Board for whatever reason, financial or otherwise?
The initial choice wasnât exactly Jurgen Klopp either. The county board is flat broke and that wonât get any better when they start to redevelop Walsh Park. To get a manager in from Cork or Clare or wherever costs money that we donât have so we are stuck with either having a local or some rube trying to build his cv and therefore prepared to do it on the cheap.
I would also add that the county board is comically incompetent and wouldnât have a notion about how to begin to fundraise
Youâre at nothing without a billionaire sugar daddy bankrolling an inter county hurling team. You wouldnât have a loose few hundred thousand lying around yourself to finance it?
The people of Waterford were very accommodating. Lovely salt of the earth types⌠From the staff in Iceland where I parked outside, the bar people in Kittyâs, the crowd around us, to the few different sets of sound skins that I met walking back to the car.
Caught a bit of Derek on the radio with Marty Morrissey earlier. He did sound very pleased with himself. He was regaling the listeners with tales of the 5-17 that Kevin Moran and Jamie Barron scores from midfield in the 2017
Championship.