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Thought Down PRO had got slightly better last season, most teams named by Friday evening, but back to the usual this year. Miles behind other county's in term of their social media. Must have zero intention in getting the younger generation in interested in the county teams.

PRO team is a shambles and how they won an award a while back is beyond me.. but then they can only post what they are given/allowed to post. Laverty has the county board by the short and curlys and just does what he wants. Donnelly doing most correspondence in national papers, Morgan in local papers - will the REAL manager that is getting paid a bagful please stand up.

Some very needy people on here.

If soccer people can put up with cup final teams not being named until an hour before the game, surely to f**k nobody needs to see a pretend team for a GAA national league game, two days before throw in.

This is just needy nonsense.

lol they haven't even a link put to buy tickets for the game. There is little effort to promote the sport and the hurlers gets even less. Its a shambles.

I think it's time you offered your services.

I already do it for my own club, no point in volunteering for something if your not going to do it properly.

Complete nonsense. That makes no sense. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about and are victim of jumping on the 'County Board shambles' bandwagon that rolls around every time something no matter how small irks said contingent, rather than any rational informed opinion. No doubt they can only work with the information and timing provided. I would also add, for what possible reason would anyone need to see a team 48 hours before a game? Saturday announcement for Sunday game is and has been the norm. You also obviously don't know what the award was as it had nothing to do with anything digital or social media based so your bewilderment is misguided. How about get behind your county or offer some help instead of being a doom and gloom merchant before a ball is thrown in. I presume you were just leaving for Wicklow writing that post having managed to find a link for tickets.

The timing is right, he leaves the club in rude health playing wise and I wouldn't bet against them winning the PL.

He'll not get involved in coaching for at least a year and then a big club like Real Madrid will be his next stop.

Not so sure if the timing right, I know it was said in the statement he told the club he was leaving in November but is that news that needs to be made public during a title race?

Xabi Alonso the clear favourite to be his replacement.

Timing is right surely.

It will have zero impact on the title race, why would it? People will talk for two weeks perhaps, and then it'll be largely on the back burner. It'll already be on the back burner for the players.

Was sent to clubs

[/quote
I see Johnny's lad is getting started early this year. Name a manager that regularly names a correct starting team. I hate the practice but they are all doing it.

Just because they all do it doesn't make it right. Donegal, Derry, Armagh, Tyrone and Cavan all have panels named. Pick any 15 starters from the 24/28 named - it's fairly straight forward. But yet our county PRO team gets an award... go figure..
[/quote]

Donegal, Derry, Armagh, Tyrone and Cavan all
played on Wednesday night, Down don't play until Saturday. It's fairly straightforward. 

Yer hole. They don't give a rat's ass about the clubs they go into. Yes, they want them to do well when they are there ONLY because it reflects well on them as a manager. A year later when they are at the club up the road, do you really believe they give a second thought to their previous club? Frank Dawson must really care about some amount of clubs!

Thank you for more or less illustrating my point. You are tarring all paid men with the 'Dawson' brush, as you have suggested by naming an individual. However not all paid men would have even been at as many clubs as said individual for a start. Picking an extreme example is never a great gauge.

It would be a sad indictment of a manager and our game if they didn't care about the club when they are managing them! Don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to develop your skill set and reputation while trying to better a team. All within reason.

When you suggest about moving to another club up the road - I think it is illogical and naive to expect any external man to become embroidered in the fabric of a club and somehow become a diehard supporter wanting to volunteer life membership. What I am talking about is wanting to develop a playing squad they have available to them over 2,3,4 years. Have a vested interest in getting the best out of that 22 year old forward who for some reason isn't producing the goods at senior level. And in fact, a lot of the time the reason that this isn't afforded is due to the club, and not the manager. Clubs rarely give a manager 2,3,4 years in the present climate. So clubs have a lot to answer for when the 'merry go round' is mentioned. Digressing slightly, but it all counts.

It is also not logical or realistic to expect all coaches/managers to remain inside their own club 'if they are so good'. For a start, there is only one male senior football team in each club. So everyone can't manage them, and as noted, not everyone will want to either. There is also no doubt that a lot of coaches who are managing at a senior level outside their club, are involved in some capacity at juvenile level within their own club. Whether that be through their own children or otherwise.

The gung ho, back in my day attitude to external managers is ill thought out at times. At times it is 100% correct, and there are mercenaries out there no doubt as alluded to already. But there are a lot of good GAA men putting many many hours in to external clubs (and probably not getting paid for all said hours either from experience!).

The horse has bolted on county managers and club managers are now doing the same. The salaries these individuals receive are obscene, and at the end of the year, very few people get to celebrate with trophies. Invest in facilities and educate your people to coach.

Not every manager who gets paid is a mercenary. There are only so many people within a club who are capable/willing to take their Senior team. What happens when this well drys up for a year or two? You have to get a manager from somewhere. So naturally external appointments are going to happen.

There are absolutely people in it for the 'CV' and the cash, no doubt - and these are the mercenaries. Gone are the days of getting a few quid expenses in some cases. Now it seems to be this is the cost take it or leave it (again in some cases).

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that some paid managers/coaches do actually care about the team they are with, the reputation they are putting on the line themselves, and the development of their own skill set etc. Maybe not all are like this, it would be naive to think so. But similarly, don't tarnish all paid men with the same brush.

didnt know that about them being possibly only team to win 2 in a row , is there then a reason why all counties are not adopting the tyrone method of leagues and championship ?

The Tyrone SFC format of straight knockout football has led to some great games to watch over the years, it might lead to a few more entertaining games in Down but perhaps it would still end up being the same teams in the final anyway as Kilcoo are relentless, and you've a couple of others in the next bracket. A more cynical view is that there might be more money to be made through having more games and a back door system, or group formats as some counties have.

A realistic view is the current championship format is better than straight knockout. What are the advantages of straight knockout? If you think Kilcoo would have won any fewer than they have in the last decade or so, you are mistaken. Current format is far better for players who are asked a hell of a lot more in terms of commitment than yesteryear at club level.

Down football is falling down with coaches who can quickly spot and replicate the more negative sides of Kilcoo's game: how to form a blockade between your 21 and 25. How to endlessly recycle with patience. How to assign man markers who literally do nothing but man mark. How to wind up and leave sky digs on opponents. How to intimidate referees. How to appeal and jostle every county board decision. How to build a cloak of omertà around the team. Etc.

But despite all of their expensive support teams and specialists, and despite all of their infatuation with stupid statistics, and with even stupider GPS data, and despite all of their hours watching, dissecting then foisting the sheer boredom of club football videos upon everyone...... not one manager in the county seems to be able to get a handle on let alone replicate what makes Kilcoo so bloody good.

None of them have found a way to control momentum against Kilcoo; actually none of them have even found a way to negate Kilcoo's control of momentum. None of them seem to be able to stop Kane kicking the ball into an unmarked man in the right half back channel, even though this has been his bailout kick out for years. So nobody ever scores twice in a row against them. When teams do force Kilcoo into a mistake, it's almost a given that they'll then retreat and hug the life out of the ball for a couple of mins just to get a breather; the exact opposite of how Kilcoo behave in this situation, where they'll pile forward at multiple angles. When you have the ball and Kilcoo get you where they want you - endlessly recycling on the Kilcoo 45 - it never seems to dawn on anyone that this might be the correct time to load the square and make Kilcoo retreat to match up the numbers, and not just form a line with them across the 45, waiting for the inevitable dispossession.


I'm not saying that Kilcoo aren't better anyhow. They probably are. But by f**k wouldn't it be nice if one team in Down didn't just fall into their traps? Just once?

Management in Down club football is bluffery of the highest order. Absolute bluffery.

Great last line - while everyone can put their own spin on progress - the 'circuit' as its now called, knows no boundaries!

So, what about the managers in Down below Division 1 and the Senior Championship. Those who are trying to progress 'smaller' clubs. Thos who are taking a newly promoted Division 3 team to mid Division 2 finish? Or those who take a team to a first IFC title in over 20 years? Surely they are not all bluffers. I usually agree with a lot of what you say Wobbler, but it seems you have disdain towards any 'modern coach'. Perhaps the challenging pack (to Kilcoo) are indeed wasting time, effort and money on management setups, but surely there is good work going on further down the chain?

Apparently match is off

Bizarrely, just two minutes ago Down's FB page has put up a post promoting the game. Have they found a very late replacement or has someone forgotten to notify the social media team?

Bizarrely? Or to clarify that the match was going ahead due to the amount of rumours suggesting otherwise? Like this one!!

Any word of a change to the Minor management team. Surely they won't get another year. They were destroyed in every single game this year.

Always interesting to hear this point of view. What work has been going on at club level to improve these players? After all, that is where they spend 80% of their time.

Meenagh is an excellent choice, but our current retinue now matches McGeeney's background team.GAA clubs and county boards are paying out vast amounts to coaches who pocket more money than the average Joe Soap does in a working week.
We are grateful to the kind benefactors in the county who contribute a lot of money to our county teams. However, wouldn't setting up a centre of excellence be a better use of the funds? Our facilities lag well behind those in Derry, Tyrone, and Louth.
We will get a few days in Croker if we achieve a quick victory, but we are not planning for the future, and we wonder why our youth teams perform so poorly. Facilities are a major factor in this, and it would be fantastic if we had a headquarters to bring everything together.
We are all breaking the main ethos of the GAA and if we do not pull the reigns in then I wouldn't like to see our association in 30 years. And I understand the horse has bolted but we need some sort of reset. As custodians of this great organisation, we need to take our heads of the sand and plan for the future and not quick fixes.

You'll maybe head to the launch of the 23-26 Strategic Plan and hear a bit more about what you have brought up.

Tread very carefully folks. A lot of people believe what they want when it comes to this sort of thing. Serious rumours and allegations.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0M5qnengrA8ztv9cV2rKpktBv9p5Wn6wz5SN6Abdtjx3oKAEKvDtdukfVENhCXdC2l&id=100057505095491

Down LGFA have mad a balls of that

I was just reading that this morning. Is it a case of two sides to every story? I can't imagine an oversight of an administrative error on the Down LGFA's side requiring a vote from participating clubs. And why the participating clubs would then vote them out on the back of a board error.

I recall in, I believe 2011 (although could have been 2010), the CB forgot to include Tullylish in the [men's] Senior Championship draw as an amalgamated team took part (ASK Lecale). The draw was simply redone a few days later.

I can't see how this couldn't have been done in this case.

I think there may be more to this story than is being told. Although if everything Saval say is true then the word 'shambles' comes to mind.

The whole Senior/Intermediate LGFA Championship structure this season has unfortunately been a bit of a farce and grossly unfair to clubs who up until last week were not actually sure what Championship they were going to be playing in where some were concerned.

One of the biggest issues was the format that was passed earlier in the year allowed for Senior clubs to play Intermediate and thus if the Senior club won the Intermediate Down would have had no representative in Ulster.

Just not good enough unfortunately. Probably a little more to Saval's story, but I do know there has been serious discontent among clubs about the championship formats for this season.

Watched it in pub in Liverpool ... very quiet first half, different team second! Scousers happy,  place full of mid-afternoon drunks 

Bit like most villages of a Sunday here.

Losing 3 men plus your manager is ill discipline. Nothing else. Carryduff badly missed the boat.