Next Laois football manager

Started by SCFC, July 27, 2017, 08:22:19 AM

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Tony

The appointments over the last few years have been crucial, too Butch. When TOF came in, that was the real time to get an excellent manager - a time when we had a decent squad at a good age bracket to do something of note. 4 years and 3 unsuccessful managers later, it's too late to do anything of note. Justin McNulty had them on the right track, we just needed to refine it. TOF, Lillis and PC have been disasters. Now we're at sea at senior, really. We'll have to focus on underage now. Forget Pete McGrath, that is NOT going to happen. Get the Laois option, someone decent, and focus on underage. Pete M and his team would be ridiculously expensive and for what? We're division 4. We need to transition now and build for the next 5 - 10 years with quality underage coaching and structures. If Pete McGrath arrives, do you think he'll be in Laois in 2022? No way. It's got to be a cheaper Laois man option - we've got to look at the long term now rather than a knee jerk appointment like that.

Gmac

Get Ross in as manager knows who the fakers are ,knows what it takes to be successful and would have respect of everyone in county , what have we got to lose

Butch Cassidy

Good points Tony. Does anyone close to the underage setup know if the structures are in place and we're making improvements? U17s were good this year but we need that consistently over the next 5-10 years like Kildare are doing at minor.

Big urban areas like Portlaoise, Portarlington, Mountmellick and Graigue need to targeted as they are not producing enough senior footballers.

Portlaoise seem to have fallen back at underage with St Paul's, Ballyroan and Portarlington doing well. Why is this?

Giovanni

I wouldn't have thought that Fermanagh have much financial  clout and they were able to afford him. I would be against the idea of going for the cheaper option just because it's cheaper.

I think the idea of going for a Laois manager is right as long as it's not just a shot in the dark. The problem is that it will be a shot in the dark with most of the Laois  candidates being mentioned.

If there is a genuine belief that Chris Conway or Joe Higgins should be given until 2022 (which I doubt), then it seems sensible to have someone like Pete McGrath involved in the short term.

Tony

It's highly unlikely that Pete McGrath would like to manage Laois. Besides, reading the article below, it's hard to see why we would want him anyway. Usually, the players know best as they're working with the manager face to face multiple times a week. Voting him out on a vote of 21 - 9 doesn't say a lot about Fermanagh players confidence in him at all.

http://www.irishnews.com/sport/gaafootball/2017/07/17/news/mcgrath-points-finger-at-players-1085706/

In reality, the only men we can get from outside the county are journeymen, looking for a bit of cash on the side. They have no real passion for Laois. As a division 4 team, we cannot attract anyone decent from outside the county. It's simply not an attractive job for any good manager with a good track record.

It's got to be a passionate Laois man, with a bit of good experience, well respected, and has a plan to take us forward. That's realistically the best we can get. We're not knocking on the doors of the top tier anymore - we have to be realistic about who we can get.

BallyroanAbu

Tony you coming over to the dark side?  Clancy for me hopefully I am right and he can get a tune out of Graigue in this year's championship.  I think he was underrated in Ballyroan and he did a big job down here.  I could be wrong and he could be dreadful with Graigue but I do feel he has an X Factor that few have .  I am sure Don will call me an idiot but we shall see.

Target Man

I don't really care if we go outside or inside, just get whoever we think is best. Selection of outside candidates likely to be limited.

Im surprised John Sugrue is not being mentioned more, seems like the outstanding local candidate to me. The rest of the local candidates seem ,looking purely at results, to be a bit of a gamble. I think Conway would be good, but as with most of others hasnt enough of a record to make him a definite 1st choice for job. Mark Rooney, imo, has as good a record as most mentioned in this thread

If we go outside we need to get it right (easier said than done). Stay away from the Banty/Cribbin/Flanagan circuit of managers. In an ideal world I'd like James Horan but close to 0 chance of that. Someone like Colm Collins (if doesnt go back to Clare) might be an option, he has done a serious job with Clare.

The backroom team will be as important as the manager. County board needs to appoint the right man and back him fully. I see clubs meant to have nominations in by Fri. Seems very rushed, if one was of a suspicious nature one might think there is some sharp practice going on

Tony

I wouldn't complain too much if John Sugrue got the job either. He's based in Laois and is highly regarded. He didn't want the job a couple of years ago after the players looked to get him as manager but who knows, maybe things have changed.

This will be a 3-5 year job for someone to get Laois back to decent standard again, the the incoming manager ought to know that. I wish we had a Laois based man similar to Cian O' Neill in Kildare. He's doing a fantastic job there in fairness. Tactically astute, focus on S&C, progressive, passionate about his own county. Do we have any of that description in Laois? If he's missing one of those key 4 components, he's not going to be successful in the long-term. I fear that we'll get someone the standard of Lillis or TOF to be honest. We haven't made a good appointment since Justin McNulty.

BallyroanAbu

Club Nominations not worth a jot,  they are a PR exercise the appointment completely in the hands of the executive.

Tony

We beat Armagh 3 times last year - Twice in the championship and once in the league. And now here they are a year later looking good for their quarter final appearance after a great performance VS a Kildare team who annihilated us earlier this year.

Keyser Söze

Quote from: Tony on July 29, 2017, 09:13:13 PM
We beat Armagh 3 times last year - Twice in the championship and once in the league. And now here they are a year later looking good for their quarter final appearance after a great performance VS a Kildare team who annihilated us earlier this year.

Bring back Mick Lillis!
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled.......

town1980

Ballyroanabu I agree with you ,,your team was in half the shape last night compared to last year and looked a lot of the time as if yee  didn't no what yer were at? I just see the difference in pat and Clancy,, tonite I seen my own club manager look clueless at times mail struggled,,port should have cleaned out Killeen but tactically were all wrong look a good side with a good manager over them would cause problems, looking forward to the games tmw

Keyser Söze

Quote from: Tony on July 29, 2017, 04:27:13 PM
I wish we had a Laois based man similar to Cian O' Neill in Kildare. He's doing a fantastic job there in fairness. Tactically astute, focus on S&C, progressive, passionate about his own county. Do we have any of that description in Laois?

Interestingly, back in the day (possibly as McNulty's replacement) Cian's name was once proposed on Laoistalk and was derided by several posters.
Even more interestingly I heard his name mentioned in the presence of a relatively influential CB member (probably even more influential now!) and he repeated almost verbatim the reasons from Laoistalk as to why he shouldn't be offered the job!

I'm fairly sure Cian was still with Tipp hurlers at the time & it was wondered would he be interested in going out on his own!
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled.......

on the hop

Quote from: Tony on July 29, 2017, 09:13:13 PM
We beat Armagh 3 times last year - Twice in the championship and once in the league. And now here they are a year later looking good for their quarter final appearance after a great performance VS a Kildare team who annihilated us earlier this year.

Armagh were in superb shape, unreal fitness levels in fairness for both teams. That takes serious commitment but unfortunately we have players not interested in reaching that level

Unison

I think we should take heart from Armagh's unbelievable turnaround during the year and their performance last night. If they can do it, why not Laois? We need to put in place a good regime headed by a dedicated man aided by good coaches. We need to select 20 to 25 players from the county who dont't just want to wear the jersey, but who are committed enough to make sacrifices. Some complain that we do not have good defenders, and this may be true, but surely, with the right coach, good defenders can be produced. And the same goes for other areas on the field.

We can make progress, but we need the right man in charge and a good support system for him and the players. The County Board have failed badly in past, but they must get it right now and find a man who is determined to turn things around for Laois.