The Diva

[orangeman]

AZ is right. Why Micko is a sacred cow is beyond me

Roll of Honour as Player
   Four All-Ireland Senior Football Championships
   Eight National Football League Championships
   Twelve Munster Senior Football Championships
   One Railway Cup
   Three Kerry Senior Football Championship finals with Waterville as player-coach
   Managed Wickow from Div 4 to first win in Croke Park vs Kildare May 2008

Roll of Honour as Player
   Eight All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles
   Three All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship titles
   Six Railway Cup titles
   Two Leinster Senior Football Championship titles with Kildare
   One Leinster Senior Football Championship title with Laois
   One Leinster U21 Football Championship titles with Kildare
   Three Kerry Senior Football Championship finals with Waterville as player-coach

Never understand it myself

Nor me !!! 

[AZOffaly]

Wicklow did not win Sunday's match by diving, time wasting and whinging ! He has brought Wicklow a championship win against Kildare who were playing division 1 football - Wicklow couldn't get out of division 4 -

Correct. They didn't do any of those things to any noticable extent. Credit where credit is due.

Surely he brings more to the game than simply diving, time wasting and whinging ??

Wicklow's greatest ever achievement Possibly !

Of course he does. He is a great manager, I'm not going to be churlish and try and make out he is a bluffer. What I'm saying is he is pretty damn far from being the wide eyed purist from Waterville that the media try and portray him as, and that he plays upon.

[AZOffaly]

Lads ye are missing my point entirely, or else I'm not explaining it very well.

Micko was a great footballer, and is a great manager. No question about it, and you'd be a bit touched to claim otherwise. However, nobody ever questions his motivations, accepting this sort of messianic status without batting an eyelid, or his tactics. He's the greatest manager ever, probably, but he is not some sort of purist raging against the establishment, he is as cynical and as driven as any other manager. But the media choose to give him a free pass on that.

[orangeman]

Wicklow did not win Sunday's match by diving, time wasting and whinging ! He has brought Wicklow a championship win against Kildare who were playing division 1 football - Wicklow couldn't get out of division 4 -

Correct. They didn't do any of those things to any noticable extent. Credit where credit is due.

Surely he brings more to the game than simply diving, time wasting and whinging ??

Wicklow's greatest ever achievement Possibly !

Of course he does. He is a great manager, I'm not going to be churlish and try and make out he is a bluffer. What I'm saying is he is pretty damn far from being the wide eyed purist from Waterville that the media try and portray him as, and that he plays upon.

Is Pillar Caffrey the saint that he appears to be whilst doing TV interviews ?

Is Mickey Harte really that diplomatic and mild mannered ?

Is Banty Mc Eneaney a real gentleman who likes to come across as being so gracious ?

Was Sean Boylan the lovely wee man that was presented to us in post match interviews ?

The list could go on and on ....

We could start a competition here - who is the biggest bluffer of them all ? The best actor ? The most media savy ?

[Dinny Breen]

We could start a competition here - who is the biggest bluffer of them all ? The best actor ? The most media savy ?

The Arse Boxer - Tommy Lyons

[magpie seanie]

North Longford - because he has won all those things do you beleive he should be beyond reproach? You seem to be suggesting that if you achieve enough then you shouldn't be questioned. I'm sure CJH and Bertie would agree.

[Jinxy]

Is Pillar Caffrey the saint that he appears to be whilst doing TV interviews ?

Is Mickey Harte really that diplomatic and mild mannered ?

Is Banty Mc Eneaney a real gentleman who likes to come across as being so gracious ?

Was Sean Boylan the lovely wee man that was presented to us in post match interviews ?

The list could go on and on ....

We could start a competition here - who is the biggest bluffer of them all ? The best actor ? The most media savy ?

No.
No.
No.
YES, AND HOW DARE YOU IMPLY OTHERWISE!

[thejuice]

Are we getting away from the fact that feckin' Celine Dion is playing Croker and not Gaelic games. but I guess its a matter of bums on seats and as can be seen from last week the GAA just doesnt bring in the punters,

[Zapatista]

North Longford - because he has won all those things do you beleive he should be beyond reproach? You seem to be suggesting that if you achieve enough then you shouldn't be questioned. I'm sure CJH and Bertie would agree.

There is something familiar about CJH, Bertie and Micko in the same group

What about this complaint he has about Celine Dion and WestLife? Is he right or just playing the victim of the big bad GAA and the poor little forgotten Wicklow

[INDIANA]

i agree with him, the game should be in croke park, we're too fond of opening croker up for everyone else except ourselves. we won't let club finalists train on the pitch, we won't let weaker counties see the place. why don't we go the whole hog and hand it over to the IRFU and FAI. i still can see the other point though, can't stand the fawning shite breheny writes about micko at times, cringeworthy.

[passedit]

Surely he brings more to the game than simply diving, time wasting and whinging ??

You can add his transfer policy to that list.

[North Longford]

Seanie
You asked why he was a sacred cow..........I gave  possible reasons

And to add to it lads you don't achieve anything without having a bit of what he is being accused of. He's won an awful lot more than anyone else over a much longer timeframe so its much easier to accumulate eamples of the things we don't like about him and his teams.
And as somebody said why should the media just pick Micko to try and expose the myth. Does anybody think Sean Boylan and Mickey Harte for example are the mild manner gents that they come across in the media when they are dealing with all things Meath or Tyrone behind closed doors...

[AZOffaly]

Seanie
You asked why he was a sacred cow..........I gave  possible reasons

And to add to it lads you don't achieve anything without having a bit of what he is being accused of. He's won an awful lot more than anyone else over a much longer timeframe so its much easier to accumulate eamples of the things we don't like about him and his teams.
And as somebody said why should the media just pick Micko to try and expose the myth. Does anybody think Sean Boylan and Mickey Harte for example are the mild manner gents that they come across in the media when they are dealing with all things Meath or Tyrone behind closed doors...

NL, I don't often disagree with you, but I have to on this. Micko plays the media in a way that Mickey Harte and Sean Boylan never did. Boylan was notoriously quiet. Micko has cultivated this image of a carefree, merry old man from Waterville who goes around the country spreading his gospel like one of the old evangelists. He claims to love pure football, slams negative tactics, and all the rest of it.

Nobody is taking away from his record, but I'd just like a bit of balance when they report on him, and stop trying to spoonfeed us this tripe and acting as Mickos personal PR machine. It sickens me, and it sickens a lot of people. I'm not asking the media to 'pick on him'. I'm asking them to stop spouting shite about him.

[ildanach]

lads,
Micko has achieved what he set out to do today. He has deflected the media attention away from wicklow and then they get on with their preparation for the game against laois. Dont be surprised if he makes another statement next week. He did the same thing with laois - it was the paying players statement in the run up to a dublin game a few years back. He is the master "cute hoor" keeping the pressure off the players who are not used of it and lapping it up himself. I admire his zest for the game at 72 and his achievements speak for themselves

[magpie seanie]

I don't think Boylan or Harte are sacred cows and certainly not comparable in the mercenary stakes. O'Dwyer's line about being a sort of football evangelist, spreading the gospel to the poor needy souls of lesser counties and not getting a penny for it really irks and is never challenged.