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What's the story with Benny. 1 minute its reported he is coming back to Down now he says he isn't. 
County board looking like idiots again.
Best of luck to Benny he owes Down football nothing. He gave his all for long enough.

Tweeting in the early hours of the morning that he is sticking with Mayobridge next year

Maybe having a few pints after closing time.

I hear the PSNI will be investigating some of the personal abuse levelled at some of the Co Board Officials on social media. While I think that's a bit heavy handed there are some real pricks on here and elsewhere online going overboard on their nasty abuse of certain individuals on the Co Board.

+1 ,although a certain amount criticism is usually deserved.

No problem with criticism at all. I do it myself and I do it face to face and at convention. Personal abuse is wrong especially behind the keyboard.

Well aren't you great?Face to face at Convention-whooppe wow! We all know the problem in Down in regard to any future progress.Conventions are just a box ticking exercise in accepting the woeful dirergard of the proper way by accepting the "down way".5Sams,say what you think instead of what people would like you to think!!

This development squad system makes no sense to me. surely instead of one person being put in charge of all the levels it should be  a progressive thing. You select the man you want to be managing the minors in 3-4 years. He focuses on the U14 & U15 squad. Next year his remit takes in the U14, U15 & U16, then U14, U15, U16 & U17. Either at this point or next year he takes over the minor management role and at the same time a new mentor is brought in to focus on U14 following the same path as the guy above.

This would develop the players with the coach, they would have focus on shared objectives. The mentor would have time to make mistakes and learn from them with the same group of players and hopefully arrive at minor championship level with a fully "Developed" squad and footballing approach.

He would have 2-3 years at minor level before ideally moving on to U21 then senior county involvement bringing much of his players through and leaving the opportunity for his following successor.

This would provide a continuity for manager/squad relationship, continuity in succession for our county managers, and continuity in philosophy as one developing manager co-operates and overlaps with the other.

Well written thoughts. Would anyone of sound mind disagree with any of this?

Never mind the who's supporting who in all of this but we're once more the laughing stock of the GAA world.

Can anyone post Danny's comments. Don't  have the paper from Wednesday but would be interesting reading.

http://www.irishnews.com/sport/2015/07/01/news/down-are-a-county-in-mourning-155423/

Quote from BarryBreensBandage

"I suppose I think that is why we are always left wringing our hands at poor Down performances. Alright we have to wait for our glory, but when it comes along it really is a game changer.
It was 23 years between 68 and 91; it is now 21 years since 94, with a glimmer of hope in 2010."

I think that is optimistic to say the least, In the 23 years between 68 and 91, we were at least contenders,challenging for Ulster titles and we were a force in the League in the eighties. In the 21 years since 94 we have not won an Ulster, or even really been fancied to win one.

I think there is something systematically wrong with Down football at the minute and I don't think our manager can take too much of the blame for the problems at the moment.

I would agree that he could have managed the older players better and invited some of them to join the squad in the spring. They had put years of service in for Down and I can't imagine any of the current squad begrudging these stalwarts a return to the team after their winter breaks. However, whilst it might have got us past Wexford, I think it would have papered over the cracks. Legend that Benny was and is, we saw from his last season with Down, that the best we could hope for was half a game at most. Ambrose is not nearly the player he was, because he has suffered injuries that would have ended many a career. We know Clarke has health problems. One would hope Dan could make a return, but he has a lot of commitments.

There are some good ideas being mentioned. The championship modelled on the Kerry system should be given another chance and more effort put in to make it work. We obviously need to work on youth development, but for me the most pressing change needs to be a return to the league and championship that existed up to the wins in 91 and 94.

The move back to a ten team division is welcome and about time, but we should get rid of the starred system and stick with the two up and two down. Championship should be a straight knock out. When you played a league match through the 80s and early 90s every match was crucial. A run of early loses and you were in serious bother. Each match was a real test and you always had your best 15 out on the field and other players improved playing against the county players. The atmosphere was better, the stakes higher and the matches far more competitive. In my opinion there are too many dead rubbers now and as a consequence of a poor league, we now don't produce the players we did, or at least not enough of them.

91 and 94 did not come out of nowhere. Some of the Burren lads would tell you some of the toughest games they had in their glory days were in Down. Pete McGrath was able to leave Bundy Mason and Shorty Trainor out of his squad and at various stages he he did not start Gerrard Deegan and Ciaran McCabe. That in itself gives an indication of the strength of Down football at the time.

I accept under the old system the latter third of the season had it share of dead rubbers, but there were less frequent than now and usually occurred in September when the season was winding down. I also accept the league was put in hold when Down was doing well and that annoyed some. Indeed, I was in favour of the starred system for that reason, but I now believe we killed the goose that layed the golden egg.

If we want a strong Down team, lets start by having a strong league and championship, where every (or at least the majority) of games played are competitive and meaningfull.

Divisions 1&2 are 12 team leagues next year.

 Dismal,disappointing,disastrous Down. Depressing,demoralising,dreadful Down. I could go on but after all the hype of getting promoted,we mess up. A re-run of Westmeath's brief stay in DIv 1 and the statistic of no Ulster title in 22 years. Where has it all gone wrong?  The previous mention of the "Down Way" is definitely not the way.

Possibly. But id hope not.

The "poor" Derry lad went down holding his face and he had a tattoo-says it all really.

 Bookies have Derry as 8/11 Fav's and Down at 11/8.  Tempting price on Down.

  Looking at the Derry Club Board and there seems to be plenty
of CCC issues going on. Any County player involvement that could
help Down if they get suspended?

Any word of anybody called into the county panel to replace Mallon and Donnelly? Obviously anyone called in now would hardly be in contention for Derry game, but could be for fixtures after that game.

Lets hope they are USFC fixtures rather than qualifiers.

  No analysis this week  from some  of our more deep thinking posters such as Mourne Rover,Mid Down Gael,
Dubh Driocht, 5 Sams,etc ? as opposed to the drivel written since Sunday's defeat.

  Quite pathetic all this.Should we not be looking forward for a day out in Dublin?

I don't see how I am on the wind up.  I am trying to engage in conversation on the current performances of the Down team and don't agree with a few of MR points and so have responded to them, does that mean I am on the wind up?

Keep on winding. I think a few of these boys fancy  themselves as some sort of expert analysts or journalists who get paid to write rubbish.

Under wee James we reached the division 2 final as well the division 1 final as well as reaching an all Ireland quarter final and well as the last 12 twice. I'd say all of James years apart from his last were better than anything produced by Ross.

I also think we should be aiming for better than one off performances against the better teams and wining two games in the back door!!

When did we get to a Div 1 Final?