GAA Managerial Merrygoround Thread

Allen made many masterful calls from the sideline in his last All Ireland semi final.

No his skills are man management though. And he was part of a set up that gave players control thru empowerment. Think he lacked a bit tactically alright.

Stephen Rochford’s backroom team will apparently be Tony McEntee, Donie Buckley, Maurice Horan and Barry Solan.

Decent enough article by Kieran Shannon here.

Barry is an alright sort.

Given @caoimhaoin blamed Mayo management for this year’s exit and @Nembo_Kid a critic of Tony McEntee, will they finally find some common ground next year?

:pray:

2 Likes

I wouldn’t say I’m a critic of McEntee, just that his reputation is exalted on the basis of his work thus far.

He also shit himself when offered the Down job.

How can Mayo afford that backroom team?

The GAA should be doing an audit of all county boards’ finances.

2 Likes

The GAA?

One of the big 4 should pal - and charge big time for it too.

I’d rule at pwc as they would have independence issues.

Revenue might have a bit of craic out of it too.

Barry Solan lives in London.

Donie Buckley is no issue, he is a coach and considers himself as such. He likes the role and i would say is one of the smarter individuals around with the way he has developed himself.

But McEntee, Rochford & Horan are all managers. Thats where you can reach issues, alot of personality and ego there. How much ego will be the determining factor. Also Solan is believed to be quite stoic and McEntee is known to be distrustful of S&C.

I’m all for having selectors in there who contribute and have a role, its critical in fact. But that looks like a dangerous mix. Could be wrong but “toi many cheifs” is what jumps out at me.

However if all these individuals are good tole players and keep the ego in check then its arguably one of the most experienced/qualified managements i have ever seen.

What seems to happen these days is the county boards only cover basic expenses. This will largely be driven by local business and money from New York.

A Mayo relative informed me yesterday that Gavin Duffy* was going to be involved.

  • The rugby gimp, as opposed to the Dragons Den one

Also, Maurice Horan lives in Kerry. A lot of miles to be racked up there.

1 Like

Ya they are all long travellers really.

You have to wonder about these “dream ticket” management teams. It can leave the players thinking that management can solve anything but it can also undermine the head guy easily enough too.

2 of the best management members i ever worked with hardly played the game and never coached. But they were brilliant analysts and had a very unique and cold perspective.

You keep saying that. All he did was say no.

Why did he say no?

Who knows. Who cares.

He didn’t see himself making them hugely better. I don’t anyone could make a huge difference to be honest. They have limited talent.

Its prudent not to take every job thrown at you.

What a stupid comment

He turned down a job to manage a county team with a decent(ish) recent pedigree and his jobs since have been as club manager in Dublin and now as no.2 with Mayo.

I don’t think we need say much more than he shit himself. I don’t think too many people would have envisaged Malachy O’Rourke doing what he did with Monaghan when he took over or Peter McGrath doing what he did with Fermanagh, particularly on the back of a raft of retirements.

Improving Down and bringing them to a much more competitive level both provincially and nationally would be a challenging job for McEntee, Down wanted him to try and do that and McEntee shit his togs and took the safety net of a club job in Dublin. He took a lower profile job because he thought it would be a bigger safety net for his reputation - didn’t work out too well for him though.

1 Like

Why would anyone want to manage Down?