Joe Brolly

[BennyHarp]

Maybe McGeeney meant that because Joe clearly knows the best way to prepare teams and can easily point out every other managers failings that he is a wasted talent in terms of management because he hasn't had the balls to step up put himself forward for an intercounty panel himself! In that respect his indepth knowledge of intercounty management is clearly wasted.

I doubt if Brolly's career would allow him enough time off to be an inter county manager or selector. M'lud wouldn't be terribly impressed, if Brolly had to scarper in the middle of a trial, as he had an U21 game to attend, or he had to prep for a trip to Croke Park.

That'll be the reason then!

[Beffs]

It may be, or it may not be. I just think its unfair to accuse someone of lacking the balls/bottle to be an inter county manager, without knowing what may be preventing them from being one. Some people have lives, careers, family obligations etc, that prevent them from being able to dedicate the time necessary for the job. 

[BennyHarp]

It may be, or it may not be. I just think its unfair to accuse someone of lacking the balls/bottle to be an inter county manager, without knowing what may be preventing them from being one. Some people have lives, careers, family obligations etc, that prevent them from being able to dedicate the time necessary for the job.

Yep I agree it would unfair to criticise Joe as he is always very sensitive to the personal circumstances of others in his media ramblings. Hopefully some day when his personal circumstances change he can take an underperforming Derry to the AI title and show Geezer what it takes to turn your home county around.

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

I also see it posted again here that he bankrupted Kildare. In my opinion a manager cannot do this. If a county cannot afford something it is up to the finance committee to ensure the money is not spent. Proper systems need to be in place to control spending. The manager should not be able to authorise spending. I do not know what the finances in Kildare were like but if they did struggle financially the problem would extend further that the team manager.

He was spending more than what was coming in up until 2011 but Kildare were also hindered hugely by the development of Hawkfield. If anything he was a top class fund raiser for the county.
There was also poor financial practices at county board level as can be seen in the the incredible increase in gate receipts ever since a ticketing system has been introduced for club games.

Overall I'd agree with much of what Donnelly's Hollow states about his reign in Kildare, for some of the mistakes he made (e.g. SJ, Alan Barry being put in charge of the U21's, Carew's ill advised media briefings and a few others) overall most Kildare people with a bit of common sense would agree that he did a good job. Not too many Kildare managers in history you can say that about.

[Beffs]

It may be, or it may not be. I just think its unfair to accuse someone of lacking the balls/bottle to be an inter county manager, without knowing what may be preventing them from being one. Some people have lives, careers, family obligations etc, that prevent them from being able to dedicate the time necessary for the job.

Yep I agree it would unfair to criticise Joe as he is always very sensitive to the personal circumstances of others in his media ramblings. Hopefully some day when his personal circumstances change he can take an underperforming Derry to the AI title and show Kieran what it takes to turn your home county around.

Ah, but two wrongs don't make a right, as your Mammy used to tell you. Brolly is bang out of order with all the personal digs that he makes. I am not going to lower myself to his level, by getting in personal digs of my own.

[general_lee]

As an Armagh man I am pleased to read that summary. At the minute I feel he is at a crossroads with Armagh. He was unlucky in that he took over Armagh when they had their best run in quite a while in the championship. Division 3 football really hindered development for the championship. He has also lost key players in Caolan Rafferty, Aaron Kernan and Jamie Clarke through (probably) no fault of his own. There have also been bad injuries to McKeever, Donaghy and Dyas. In many respects he has been trying to develop a new team with very few experienced heads to help guide them. In the league Armagh were awful against Meath and Laois and never turned up against a fairly good Cavan team. Things turned too late but signs of improvement are there. In this respect playing Division 3 next year could be a disaster next year. The championship performances this year may decide if Brolly has a point or not.

I also see it posted again here that he bankrupted Kildare. In my opinion a manager cannot do this. If a county cannot afford something it is up to the finance committee to ensure the money is not spent. Proper systems need to be in place to control spending. The manager should not be able to authorise spending. I do not know what the finances in Kildare were like but if they did struggle financially the problem would extend further that the team manager.

I'd agree with that. McGeeney gets a he'll of a lot of flak in Armagh when people fail to realise we have a very limited squad. Even if Armagh had a full deck to chose from, barring a Down 2010/Tyrone 2015  draw they'd be doing well to reach an AI QF this year. We don't have the same strength in depth that other counties have so even in the league this year a lot of stop gaps were put in and only towards the end did we see some improvement. This of course goes way over the head of some of the drama Queens that follow the team and you only need to read the county website forum to see the outrageous nature of some of the comments eg "worst performance ever seen on a football field" etc just because they got a tanking. Division 3 is a step in the wrong direction but not the end of the world; I'd expect it to be another temporary stay. McGeeney has brought in a lot of youth into the side, not sure he's the type of man you want giving fellas their first chance but then again it is what it is for now, I'm happy enough so long as we don't see a repeat of Donegal/Galway from last year

[Main Street]

The article is pretty much spot on but I would have difficulty in believing a Derry man shouted for Tyrone ever.

Maybe it was Joe doing it to wind up Spillane and smelly Colm

Of course there's good will from most Ulster folk towards Tyrone in the circumstance of an AI final.

It's just some  Tyronies don't have the grace to recognise or acknowledge the good will gesture.

Unbelievable! You have a serious problem! 🙈

problem??
I'm not the pervert stalker from Tyrone.

Ive been recognising the contribution from Monaghan for a long time, the flags, bunting and receptions are all very welcome. Then in return we send you a few coaching personnel

Its a good relationship, kind of like a dog and his master... you eat the scraps from our table and in return your worship the ground we walk on.

I'll have you know, I once gave the clenched fist of victory salute outside Riverdale hotel Ballybay  to a car load of Tyronies passing by, returning from Croke Park August '86,
late evening.

[twohands!!!]

It is such a shame that Brolly personalizes things to the degree that he does. I just switch off when he does that. I imagine others do too. Why some former players find it very hard to succeed as managers is a fascinating subject. It deserves proper exploration. Brolly is just not capable of doing it, without getting the cheap digs in, which detracts a lot from the over all points he is trying to make.

To turn it around - who was the worst footballer to be a great manager?
Have there been any decent managers who were godawful footballers?

[naka]

As an Armagh man I am pleased to read that summary. At the minute I feel he is at a crossroads with Armagh. He was unlucky in that he took over Armagh when they had their best run in quite a while in the championship. Division 3 football really hindered development for the championship. He has also lost key players in Caolan Rafferty, Aaron Kernan and Jamie Clarke through (probably) no fault of his own. There have also been bad injuries to McKeever, Donaghy and Dyas. In many respects he has been trying to develop a new team with very few experienced heads to help guide them. In the league Armagh were awful against Meath and Laois and never turned up against a fairly good Cavan team. Things turned too late but signs of improvement are there. In this respect playing Division 3 next year could be a disaster next year. The championship performances this year may decide if Brolly has a point or not.

I also see it posted again here that he bankrupted Kildare. In my opinion a manager cannot do this. If a county cannot afford something it is up to the finance committee to ensure the money is not spent. Proper systems need to be in place to control spending. The manager should not be able to authorise spending. I do not know what the finances in Kildare were like but if they did struggle financially the problem would extend further that the team manager.

I'd agree with that. McGeeney gets a he'll of a lot of flak in Armagh when people fail to realise we have a very limited squad. Even if Armagh had a full deck to chose from, barring a Down 2010/Tyrone 2015  draw they'd be doing well to reach an AI QF this year. We don't have the same strength in depth that other counties have so even in the league this year a lot of stop gaps were put in and only towards the end did we see some improvement. This of course goes way over the head of some of the drama Queens that follow the team and you only need to read the county website forum to see the outrageous nature of some of the comments eg "worst performance ever seen on a football field" etc just because they got a tanking. Division 3 is a step in the wrong direction but not the end of the world; I'd expect it to be another temporary stay. McGeeney has brought in a lot of youth into the side, not sure he's the type of man you want giving fellas their first chance but then again it is what it is for now, I'm happy enough so long as we don't see a repeat of Donegal/Galway from last year

A hatchet job by Brolly
Have been at all Armagh games over the past number of years
We have had some turn over in playing staff
I would say that at last we seem to have a style and youth playing for the team
As long as we don't have a disaster in Cavan
I would say we are heading in the right direction

[omaghjoe]

Yeah it seems like he even knows what people are thinking now

Physic Powers on top of everything else eh? Is there no end to this mans talent.

[macdanger2]

Maybe McGeeney meant that because Joe clearly knows the best way to prepare teams and can easily point out every other managers failings that he is a wasted talent in terms of management because he hasn't had the balls to step up put himself forward for an intercounty panel himself! In that respect his indepth knowledge of intercounty management is clearly wasted.

Agreed. None of himself, O'Rourke & Spillane, not one of them have managed at any decent level and between them they haven't played intercounty in ~70 years. Time to send the three of the them on their merry way

[smelmoth]

As an Armagh man I am pleased to read that summary. At the minute I feel he is at a crossroads with Armagh. He was unlucky in that he took over Armagh when they had their best run in quite a while in the championship. Division 3 football really hindered development for the championship. He has also lost key players in Caolan Rafferty, Aaron Kernan and Jamie Clarke through (probably) no fault of his own. There have also been bad injuries to McKeever, Donaghy and Dyas. In many respects he has been trying to develop a new team with very few experienced heads to help guide them. In the league Armagh were awful against Meath and Laois and never turned up against a fairly good Cavan team. Things turned too late but signs of improvement are there. In this respect playing Division 3 next year could be a disaster next year. The championship performances this year may decide if Brolly has a point or not.

I also see it posted again here that he bankrupted Kildare. In my opinion a manager cannot do this. If a county cannot afford something it is up to the finance committee to ensure the money is not spent. Proper systems need to be in place to control spending. The manager should not be able to authorise spending. I do not know what the finances in Kildare were like but if they did struggle financially the problem would extend further that the team manager.

I'd agree with that. McGeeney gets a he'll of a lot of flak in Armagh when people fail to realise we have a very limited squad. Even if Armagh had a full deck to chose from, barring a Down 2010/Tyrone 2015  draw they'd be doing well to reach an AI QF this year. We don't have the same strength in depth that other counties have so even in the league this year a lot of stop gaps were put in and only towards the end did we see some improvement. This of course goes way over the head of some of the drama Queens that follow the team and you only need to read the county website forum to see the outrageous nature of some of the comments eg "worst performance ever seen on a football field" etc just because they got a tanking. Division 3 is a step in the wrong direction but not the end of the world; I'd expect it to be another temporary stay. McGeeney has brought in a lot of youth into the side, not sure he's the type of man you want giving fellas their first chance but then again it is what it is for now, I'm happy enough so long as we don't see a repeat of Donegal/Galway from last year

We do have the strength in depth to register a score in the second half in Navan.
We do have the strength to beat a very poor Laois team. We certainly have the strength in depth to put some sort of performance against them.
We have the strength in depth to have the basics of a kick out strategy in the first half of a league season
We have the strength in depth to batten down the hatches to limit the damage against Cavan
We have the strength in depth to put up a score against Fermanagh
We have the strength in depth to survive in Division 2
We have the strength in depth to have an attacking plan.

Its doubtful yet that we have passed the last test, certainly against packed defences but we have definitively failed all the other tests. Added to this bloody problem of taking off the forward who is making the run instead of the player who is mis-hitting or failing to hit at the all the pass. 

Measured against the best we do not have the resources but we are under-performing with our current resources. The idea that we don't have the resources should not be allowed to deflect attention from the real problems in Armagh football and with the current management.

[smelmoth]

Maybe McGeeney meant that because Joe clearly knows the best way to prepare teams and can easily point out every other managers failings that he is a wasted talent in terms of management because he hasn't had the balls to step up put himself forward for an intercounty panel himself! In that respect his indepth knowledge of intercounty management is clearly wasted.

Agreed. None of himself, O'Rourke & Spillane, not one of them have managed at any decent level and between them they haven't played intercounty in ~70 years. Time to send the three of the them on their merry way

We seem very keen to throw managerial jobs at individuals based upon their playing careers. But less so with media roles.

Brolly is the best writer on the game at the moment.

[macdanger2]

Maybe McGeeney meant that because Joe clearly knows the best way to prepare teams and can easily point out every other managers failings that he is a wasted talent in terms of management because he hasn't had the balls to step up put himself forward for an intercounty panel himself! In that respect his indepth knowledge of intercounty management is clearly wasted.

Agreed. None of himself, O'Rourke & Spillane, not one of them have managed at any decent level and between them they haven't played intercounty in ~70 years. Time to send the three of the them on their merry way

We seem very keen to throw managerial jobs at individuals based upon their playing careers. But less so with media roles.

Brolly is the best writer on the game at the moment.

Point taken - they'd probably be sh*te managers as well. I think it's valid to point out that they speak / write about something they have never done; as you say managing and playing are completely different

Brolly is the best writer on the game? Is that you Joe? You'd find more insight on hoganstand ffs

[ThroughTheLaces]

I'm sure everybody knows at this stage that the vast majority of Joe's columns can be taken with a pinch of salt.  However if you look hard enough, remove the anecdotes and condensed his article into one or two paragraphs, most of the time he does have a valid point. He prefers the dramatics in his delivery, but for me hits the nail on the head more often than not.