Westmeath would be the pick of the two, but I’ve a feeling that ego of his feels he deserves a higher profile county. I could see him going down the route of club coaching or club management until next year when more intercounty roles come up. There’ll definitely be pushback within any county that considers him. I have a feeling he’ll be kept at arms length from intercounty roles, a la Simeon Burke and the devilling. Another option would be slipping into someone’s backroom team as coach. Monaghan wouldn’t be a bad bet for his new home.
Only Davy Fitz would be mad enough to make treks of that nature. Davy, and Kieran Donaghy.
He should take over the Dublin ladies team
Good idea, he wouldn’t come into contact with too many women there
Top coach but fellas would want to mind they’re not talking when they should be listening
He he!!
I had a mate from Fermanagh that indicated that he’s gotten endless amounts of slaps in his home county on nights out for this very character defect.
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Not sure to place this article here or in the Galway GAA thread
Seamus Qualter: ‘I’d have liked to have been told to my face’ — coach incensed by Sligo player questionnaire
“Management by WhatsApp, computers is a complete no-no for me. Statisticians, beauticians, every ‘tician’ you can find is hanging around dressing rooms these days and it’s ridiculous, there’s too much of it," Seamus Qualter says.
Seamus Qualter managed Westmeath to Christy Ring Cup success in 2005 and 2007. Picture: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
Wed, 09 Oct, 2024 - 07:15
John Fogarty
Outgoing Sligo hurling head coach Seamus Qualter has condemned an anonymous player questionnaire that found fault with his style.
Galway native Qualter, who managed Westmeath to Christy Ring Cup successes in 2005 and 2007, will not return to assist Sligo manager Stephen Sheil in 2025 after being insulted by some of the responses.
The Turloughmore man was sent a summary of the questionnaire by manager Shiel after a season in which Sligo were relegated from the Christy Ring Cup following five straight defeats having just missed out on winning a Division 3A title. Qualter also questioned how many players contributed to it when he knows of at least four members of the 2024 panel who didn’t.
Seen by the Irish Examiner there is no mention of the number of respondents to the questionnaire. Asked to rank the various management figures as good, okay or poor, Qualter received a good rating from 17.6%, an okay return of 11.8% and a poor marking of 70%.
Nearly two-thirds of them (64.7%) believed manager Shiel and coach Donal O’Brien were good. For Shiel, another 17.6% said he was okay and 17.7% deemed him poor. O’Brien’s okay and poor percentages were 23.5% and 11.8% respectively.
Qualter was mentioned another eight times in the questionnaire. Asked for three things that didn’t work well in 2024, the response listed at the top came: “Disorganised trainings, Qualter, pre-match meetings.”
Under what changes could be made personnel-wise for 2025, the first two replies referred to him: “Qualter took away from the setup, new coach needed” and “goalkeeping coach and remove Qualter”.
Another remark acknowledged “Seamus might have hurling knowledge but offers us nothing in terms of delivering a message to the players.” One comment read: “Remove Seamus as, despite meaning well, he often contradicted other members of management, provided meaningless stories that had very little relevance and sometimes interrupted important psychology drills.”
Other backroom members were also criticised but not to the extent that Qualter was. The experience has left the 57-year-old disheartened. “New-age coaching has gone too politically correct,” he told the Irish Examiner. “Management by WhatsApp, computers is a complete no-no for me.
Statisticians, beauticians, every ‘tician’ you can find is hanging around dressing rooms these days and it’s ridiculous, there’s too much of it.
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“If I can’t read a game, that’s my fault because I don’t know enough about what’s going on. I’ve always gone on my own experience. Players going out and losing games by 20-plus points still believe they’re far better than that and will not face up to the fact that they are not good enough and then they come to the end of the process and somebody is blamed for it.
“That turned out to be because I was the one all year long that told them the truth.
I was the one that advised management who would not listen and knew more. I was the one who backed off in the whole process to learn the new stuff and I don’t buy it, I don’t like it.
Qualter spoke to a couple of Sligo players at Galway SHC quarter-finals in Athenry last Sunday who asked him if he was returning next season. They weren’t aware of the summary and informed him they hadn’t contributed to the questionnaire.
“If there had been a problem with any player, why wasn’t it brought to my attention to address? To give an open forum where players can write whatever they want? I don’t know if 10 or 20 players responded to the poll. I know four or five who haven’t. Is it reflective of the squad as a whole? I don’t know.
“If I was such a problem, I would have liked to have been told to my face by management or whoever. I am probably what they call the old-school trainer.”
Qualter questions how accountable county and club players are nowadays.
“They have to be mollycoddled all of the time. I watched a lot of club games in Galway this year and I see a lot of players looking after themselves thinking they can play for Galway rather than playing for their club.
“That’s the new player nowadays. They want to achieve and it doesn’t matter how they achieve it, once they do. Too much is being provided to the modern player. Sleep, eat, what to eat, when to eat. I’ve read all the WhatsApps. It’s just gone way too much.
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“When will three or four men with an interest in their club be able to stand on the side of a field, make a decision and stick by it and win? No, we have to have possession rates in the middle third of the field, shot selections…”
Qualter, who also guided Roscommon to an U21 B title in 2012, claimed one of the remarks in the questionnaire that Sligo can be a Joe McDonagh Cup team was not being realistic.
He doesn’t mind the criticism of him in the questionnaire being published. Likening it to the “ridiculous” players’ charter in Clarinbridge released last year, he hopes people can make up their own minds. "People know who I am. Thirty years of management and one bad experience. I haven’t had this anywhere else.”
17 players contributed to the survey, Seamus.
While I feel a little for seamus, going to the press and showing them the feedback is cuntishness.
You’re getting paid no doubt, cry me a river.
57, he talks like he’s 87
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While I think those player questionnaires can be dangerous at times depending on how they are worded (basically, you can be locked in to answering in a certain way), he doesn’t come across well in that article at all.
I would say, fair enough, tell the man to his face; I think there’s a certain decency to that.
But he can’t really go out and say that the players are too soft and whinging that they can’t take criticism when the entire article is him doing the exact same thing?
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He seems a bit thin skinned.
A lot to unpack there.
- I’ve never met nor heard of the man before, but he’s clearly an awkward bollox, doing the article proves the players points really
- The manager showed it to him to get rid of him
- Sounds like he was a doddery old bollox around the dressing room
- He is complaining about people being too politically correct, yet when fellas gave out about him he started crying like a baby
Have worked with him in an Intercounty setup - He’s an absolute moron
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The Galwayness oozing out of his big paper mache head.
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A Turlougheen being well able to dish it out but not being able to take it? Colour me shocked!!!
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A thin skinned, pig headed Galway man is a rare thing
In terms of providing feedback himself, it was a case of no Qualter asked, none given.
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Like a lamb to the Qualter
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He looks like he’s had too many Qualter Pounders.