Will you please provide a summary of how it transpired?
Waiting for the trademark one word replyâŚ
âŚânoâ.
We were approached co-incidentally enough by a group of four players (captain, vice-captain and two most senior players). They told us Fagan wasnât up to the job. We had a quiet word in his ear and he did the honourable thing and walked.
Those players were dirty rotten devious cunts.
Basically, I was prevailed upon by the club chairman to manage a bunch of players who were in some decline. A team that had once shown much promise. The promise had ebbed, but the egos and expectation remained.
I had been a keen student of sports psychology and management techniques and determined to put these to good effect to give the team a psychological edge that would make up for their diminishing physical powers.
I cut down on the physical training because I thought they wouldnât be able for it and introduced concepts like diet, yoga and an increased emphasis on skills training.
It didnât go down well. I was treated like a medieval heretic. Results began to falter. I was copied in by accident on an email that the team captain had circulated to his cronies, that was less than complimentary. I responded with a lack of some grace and that was that.
Thatâs about the size of it.
?
?
Yes
Its absolutely amazing that doing the right thing, both with your experience and good practice and with honesty can be throw back by players.
Players are fucking clueless. And the worst ones are the ones who won something 10 years ago and believe its the only approach.
I admitted an error this year and told the team it cost us 2 league points in a one point loss. There was alot of surprise but the young lads seemed to take it well and you could see they were buying in.
I got a call that night from an older player saying he thought it was weak management (and he threw in a few of the lads agree) and i shouldnât be admitting mistakes. I found out since he had said this in another smaller group whatsapp to 9/10 players. Not something i agree with obviously and i wanted to also take a bit of pressure off what on the day was 2/3rds an u21 team.
While iâd say i lost one or two or maybe more over it, they completely lost me. I could see they were looking for the excuses already.
Players are fickle. Their hostory of previous coaching is very important to know. No matter how shit they were, if you change too much theyâll react at the sight of one loss. You could be flying, but it can turn very quickly.
Gaa is a cunt of a sport to be involved in these days. If i could get a gig with one of those protestant sports iâd be gone in a flash.
Post the cuntâs name up here and weâll lash him up on the COTY thread.
In all seriousness though, it is a thankless gig.
So the common theme is that the lads who arenât cut out for management think everything is the players fault?
No i think the consensus is lads who have never managed or played as adults havenât a bulls notion whats going on.
Ah ya, you donât get into it for thanks. But its just funny when some lad tells you your whole approach, based on years of experience, education and teachings from far higher qualified people is a total waste of time.
Alot of people play decent levels of sport for status, and when things go wrong those people want to seperate themselves from it. You actually get ised to it and see it coming.
What you say is true though. I saw that with several coaches over the years. One team i was with got decent press coverage. We won the first 6 games of the season and were flying. Every interview was about âweâ and what âwe have been working onâ (as in its all the great management and training weâre doing). As soon as we lost a game it was âthe players didnât seem up to it todayâ âtheyâ became the common word then
Thats a bluffer.
There hasnât been a post here for 2 hours.
BUMP.
I noticed that JJ Doyle used the word âtheyâ repeatedly in his post All Ireland fiasco interviews.
Trying to remove themselves from the defeat or performance.
As a coach i never get too bothered about a defeat even if people try to pick small decisions here or there as a stick to beat you with.
However when a team completely under performs you have to question yourself and how you hadnât them prepared.
Where can I watch Lucas Moura playing for Brazil?
Rio?