James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[moysider]

Rightly or wrongly there was definitely an opinion out there that the national media were pushing Lyons in a kind of 'wasn't good enough for Dublin but he'd do for a backwater like Mayo' kind of way. They knew about the Dublin money being put up to fund a manager and were maybe inclined to support Lyons because of his media background and the Dublin links.

The only thing I particularly noticed was that the Indo led with the story on Thursday's back page after the announcement Wednesday night but the headline was 'Mayo No to Lyons' with a picture of Lyons but no mention of Horan in the headline and no photo of him. So either they were so sure Lyons was going to get it they had the space left vacant with a picture of Lyons ready to go or else they thought that Lyons not getting it was a bigger story than Horan being chosen. Either way i thought it was a bit strange.

Nailed it Kosmo. f**k it that was probably it. He wont do for Dublin but who do Mayo think  they are if they don't appoint him. And I remember looking at it but didn't take it that bit further. I stopped paying my subscription for the rag and now I know why. You re spot on. The story was Lyons not getting the job rather than..... Thank God we didn't go down the Lyons road. I'm sure he s a lovely man but what an agenda he would have brought along through no fault of his own. We dodged a bullet there. This is getting better and better. I m finally feeling good about us again.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

fck the Indo the pricks.

[parkoncrokie]

Mayo panel 2010
Barry Moran, Aidan O'Shea, Ronan McGarrity, David Clarke, Tom Cunniffe, Alan Dillon, Peadar Gardiner, Pat Harte, Chris Barrett, Ger Cafferkey, Kieran Conroy, Keith Higgins, Trevor Howley, Aidan Kilcoyne, Kevin McLoughlin, Conor Mortimer, Trevor Mortimer, Kenneth O'Malley, Liam O'Malley, Billy Joe Padden, Seamus O'Shea, Tom Parsons, Mark Ronaldson, Donal Vaughan, Andy Moran, Neil Douglas, Alan Freeman, Alan Feeney, Enda Varley, Shane Nally.

Of that panel, R&GS how many do you expect to survive ??
I think sweeping changes could be made although it could take a season or two for a proper clear out.

At a glance... I reckon up to 8-12 could get the chop or at least will have to fight hard for their survival.

Not sure how many will be cut. I'd see some of the fringe players go. Maybe BJP, Peader and Trev had bad seasons this yr by their own standards. Tbh that squad will be the backbone of the new one. Clarke, Caff, Higgins, Vaughan, McLoughlin, Dillon, C Mort, McG, O'Se x2, Freeman will probably be starters or very close again this yr although maybe not in positions they are at present

Of your list of the backbone of the team kevmy, I think even a couple of those could be in trouble.

Which of the ones named would you expect to see dropped from the panel, out of interest?

I agree not all of them might not start especially if some of the guys currently outside the panel come in and do very well.

Drop, Mc Garraty / Parsons/ trevor/ billy joe/// and  use conor a sub for starters..

[Lar Naparka]

Nailed it Kosmo. f**k it that was probably it. He wont do for Dublin but who do Mayo think  they are if they don't appoint him. And I remember looking at it but didn't take it that bit further. I stopped paying my subscription for the rag and now I know why. You re spot on. The story was Lyons not getting the job rather than..... Thank God we didn't go down the Lyons road. I'm sure he s a lovely man but what an agenda he would have brought along through no fault of his own. We dodged a bullet there. This is getting better and better. I m finally feeling good about us again.

I'd also go along with Cosmo. The Indo was playing it with a view to selling papers and Tommy certainly had a higher nationwide profile than James. If they had headlined Horan's appointment, the likely reaction from most readers from outside Mayo would have been, "James who..."
I was never too bothered by the hype as the process meandered along to its final conclusion; the media were out to sell papers or boost listenership figures or whatever. Mayo people wanted a manager and the Indo and the likes wanted to make money out of the proceedings. That's understandable enough, I suppose.
Did anyone take note as the saga unfolded that no canvassing of grass roots feelings was carried out by any of those who kept coming out with the banner headlines?
All those with a say in the appointment are old enough to remember James in his prime and have a great grá for him as a result. He's proved to be a shrewd pundit with an exceptionally analytical brain and the fact that Ballintubber has made it to the county final couldn't have come at a more opportune time.
As you say, Tommy would have brought some agenda with him; Likewise with Micko and Sir John also if he had got a third bite at the cherry.
The fact that James was the unanimous choice of the selection committee, the CB and the club delegates would indicate to me that he was perceived to be the candidate best equipped to do the job.
Unlike McStay, I don't think that an anti- Dublin or anti anything bias cold have been a factor in the way James came out on top.
Justice was done and was seen to be done.

[IolarCoisCuain]

That interview was in the Times boys, not the Indo. There's a difference.

[southsidejohnny]

Andy Moran. Conor and Trevor Mortimor, McGarrity, Clarke, Liam O Malley, Gardiner, Dillon,  and BJP were on the 2004 panel/team that got whitwashed by Kerry, they were around again in 2006 along with Keith Higgins, Barry Moran, Pat Harte, and Howley. Throw in the league final loss to Donegal in 2007 and the pasting to Cork recently and tell me how many more chances does that particular group desreve.
Patently most of them are scarred from defeats such as the above listed along with various Minor and U21 losses as well. My hope is that Horan will remove most of them from the panel and do it quickly. My personal preference for the lads to say would be Barry Moran, Clarke, Howley (corner back), and thats it. The rest wont get better but they will stop other lads coming through. I would like to see Michael Conroy get a proper run along with Jason Gibbons.
Time for the boots to do the talking and not the T shirts.

[the Deel Rover]

Andy Moran. Conor and Trevor Mortimor, McGarrity, Clarke, Liam O Malley, Gardiner, Dillon,  and BJP were on the 2004 panel/team that got whitwashed by Kerry, they were around again in 2006 along with Keith Higgins, Barry Moran, Pat Harte, and Howley. Throw in the league final loss to Donegal in 2007 and the pasting to Cork recently and tell me how many more chances does that particular group desreve.
Patently most of them are scarred from defeats such as the above listed along with various Minor and U21 losses as well. My hope is that Horan will remove most of them from the panel and do it quickly. My personal preference for the lads to say would be Barry Moran, Clarke, Howley (corner back), and thats it. The rest wont get better but they will stop other lads coming through. I would like to see Michael Conroy get a proper run along with Jason Gibbons.
Time for the boots to do the talking and not the T shirts.

a bit drastic there Southside

[lynchbhoy]

Andy Moran. Conor and Trevor Mortimor, McGarrity, Clarke, Liam O Malley, Gardiner, Dillon,  and BJP were on the 2004 panel/team that got whitwashed by Kerry, they were around again in 2006 along with Keith Higgins, Barry Moran, Pat Harte, and Howley. Throw in the league final loss to Donegal in 2007 and the pasting to Cork recently and tell me how many more chances does that particular group desreve.
Patently most of them are scarred from defeats such as the above listed along with various Minor and U21 losses as well. My hope is that Horan will remove most of them from the panel and do it quickly. My personal preference for the lads to say would be Barry Moran, Clarke, Howley (corner back), and thats it. The rest wont get better but they will stop other lads coming through. I would like to see Michael Conroy get a proper run along with Jason Gibbons.
Time for the boots to do the talking and not the T shirts.

I think that Cork 2010 AI champs should prove to you that you should persist if players are good enough and those youmentioned mostly are !
imo

[southsidejohnny]

Hi Deel Rover, not really. We need to look to the future, many of those lads were tried and not up to the big day. We need leaders and "bullies" of a footballing type. The present crop lack that. Time is the one comodity that James Horan has for a while.
We look to Aiden O Shea. This will be his third senior campaign. He needs a bit of muscle and leadership around him. Young  Aiden Walsh of Cork is only 19 and he has his All-Ireland medal. Age should not be the sole criteria. In truth I know what most of the current Mayo panel will do, we have seen them long enough to make up our minds. I also know what they cannot do. Time for change and cut our losses.

[imtommygunn]

Your team weren't good enough though that is not to say that some individuals on it weren't good enough.

Keith Higgins and Alan Dillon are excellent players. Higgins needed to stem the tide in the big games and Dillon wouldn't have been getting supply. There are a few boys in there perhaps not cutting it but some of them are.

[rosnarun]

. there is an old sayin about journalism not knowing the difference betweern a bicycle crash and an earthquake
and that  is certainly true of  a lot of mayo fans .
when listing player to be written off the reason given was  losses in an all Ireland final against the team of the decade not losing to rubbish like longford and sligo when in a well regulated championship Mayo should not even have to play. being DIV 3 and 4 teams.
in football terms thats a disaster, losing finals is just a disappointing end to a great year

[Shrewdness]

As a Rossie looking in at this thread, it has made fascinating reading as every candidate was analysed and discussed.
Mayo have now got their man, and there seems to be unanimous welcome on this thread for James Horan.

But, let's change the focus a little bit, and focus on the player's at his disposal. How do ye Mayo lads feel about the likely panel of players that will be available?

I was talking to a Mayo supporter in Ballaghaderreen yesterday, and whilst he welcomed Horan's appointment, he reckons that he will have his work cut out for him because he reckons that '''Mayo's squad of the last 12 months is the worst they've had in 15 years'''.

I should mention that this man never misses a Mayo game. He reckons that many of them are past it, and said that a lot of the younger players still have it all to prove, and he was quite pessimistic about the 'undiscovered' talent in Mayo.

Would his views be shared by many people in Mayo football? 

[IolarCoisCuain]

As a Rossie looking in at this thread, it has made fascinating reading as every candidate was analysed and discussed.
Mayo have now got their man, and there seems to be unanimous welcome on this thread for James Horan.

But, let's change the focus a little bit, and focus on the player's at his disposal. How do ye Mayo lads feel about the likely panel of players that will be available?

I was talking to a Mayo supporter in Ballaghaderreen yesterday, and whilst he welcomed Horan's appointment, he reckons that he will have his work cut out for him because he reckons that '''Mayo's squad of the last 12 months is the worst they've had in 15 years'''.

I should mention that this man never misses a Mayo game. He reckons that many of them are past it, and said that a lot of the younger players still have it all to prove, and he was quite pessimistic about the 'undiscovered' talent in Mayo.

Would his views be shared by many people in Mayo football?

In my time on this Board I've seen diametrically opposed views for every single Mayo player bar Keith Higgins. Most people seem to respect Higgins. But for every person who thinks Ciarán McDonald was God's gift to football you'll find someone else to say he was a bum and a punk. Same for them all.

So I'd say that your friend's view is widely shared in Mayo. And if he said that Mayo could surprise a lot of people next September you'd find a lot of people who think that too. That's who we are.

[moysider]

Andy Moran. Conor and Trevor Mortimor, McGarrity, Clarke, Liam O Malley, Gardiner, Dillon,  and BJP were on the 2004 panel/team that got whitwashed by Kerry, they were around again in 2006 along with Keith Higgins, Barry Moran, Pat Harte, and Howley. Throw in the league final loss to Donegal in 2007 and the pasting to Cork recently and tell me how many more chances does that particular group desreve.
Patently most of them are scarred from defeats such as the above listed along with various Minor and U21 losses as well. My hope is that Horan will remove most of them from the panel and do it quickly. My personal preference for the lads to say would be Barry Moran, Clarke, Howley (corner back), and thats it. The rest wont get better but they will stop other lads coming through. I would like to see Michael Conroy get a proper run along with Jason Gibbons.
Time for the boots to do the talking and not the T shirts.

Its very hard to argue with you johnny. I even went as far as to say the panel should have been disolved after the exit from the championship just to draw a line under the last 4 years.
I expect changes but some of those players may yet have a role to play. In the past no. of years the team was badly prepared, selected and set up. There was no evidence of coaching, no shape and tactically we were clueless. In other words we were a rabble. Under new management that know their game a lot of those players may well have a lot too offer still. We ll see. However I would suspect that anybody that doesn't have the stomach for it will be left behind with little fuss.

I hopes he brings his own panel to the NY game if he is let. I suppose he can't play lads in this that lined out for the colleges in the competition earlier? What line up would ye like to see?

[Lar Naparka]

As a Rossie looking in at this thread, it has made fascinating reading as every candidate was analysed and discussed.
Mayo have now got their man, and there seems to be unanimous welcome on this thread for James Horan.

But, let's change the focus a little bit, and focus on the player's at his disposal. How do ye Mayo lads feel about the likely panel of players that will be available?

I was talking to a Mayo supporter in Ballaghaderreen yesterday, and whilst he welcomed Horan's appointment, he reckons that he will have his work cut out for him because he reckons that '''Mayo's squad of the last 12 months is the worst they've had in 15 years'''.

I should mention that this man never misses a Mayo game. He reckons that many of them are past it, and said that a lot of the younger players still have it all to prove, and he was quite pessimistic about the 'undiscovered' talent in Mayo.

Would his views be shared by many people in Mayo football?

Well, not by me anyway.
As I see it, we'll need to wait and give the new man a chance to assess things before we have an inkling of the true situation. You friend is right that last year's squad was the worst we had in the last 15 years. You could add in the 15 before that also!
But the last 4 years marked the most bizarre period in Mayo football that I've ever seen and I've been following Mayo football for more than 50 years. 
This particular season was without doubt the worst of the 4 under O'Mahony's managership. However, I think the players can't be held totally responsible for what happened and none of them played to his full potential.
It's pointless raking over old ground here so it's best to concentrate on the future and what it may hold.
I wouldn't write off any of the lads who played under John O'Mahony. This year, like the three that went before, was an aberration. All of them underperformed.
I guess there are some who may call it a day and others who might lose their places to newcomers but I would expect to see the majority of them being in contention for places when James gets his show up and running.