Messages

You have to agree with BrickTamlin , we as a county constantly trot out our past successes and failures as a panacea for our current predicament , success for this county is not a yearly guarantee ,we rely on good underage teams to mature and stay mostly together .Our biggest problem is the failure to capitalise on the meagre success we have had in the past, and that failure lies with the county executive.We now have a new manager who we should all get behind, there are new faces in the squad who we should support and have patience with, there have been good times in the past and some dire moments so the answer is patience , we have the talent , hopefully the new structures will encourage this talent to flourish and the success will follow,but that is only an opinion.

Sam exactly what are you going on about, my opinion is Benny as an inter county footballer is over, he was good , very good but everyone no matter how good they are ,stop sometime and his time to stop is now.For you to bring in Sean og  and distant anniversaries is in many ways very dis respectful but you are entitled ,as am I to voice your opinion, but tell me this in what way will Benny best serve his county , on the field or behind the scenes as a mentor and coach, unless you live in the twilight zone I think the answer is pretty obvious.

Said it before , Benny is finished as an inter county footballer, he has a lot going on to fully concentrate on county football with his coaching career , his writing and his new career as a bar owner. On top of those he has the hopes and expectations of some of the down support and contributors on here, sorry lads if he has any cop on he will walk away and content himself with the role of coach/mentor and not as a down player

Right let's get this sorted, sack the management , get rid of all the new faces and start again , given that our previous manager was given 8 months I'd say Eamonn has over stayed his welcome , now that's the sort if posts I'm reading on this forum or that's what all the negative comments are leading to, Eamonn Burns and his staff know that their task in making us a more successful side is going to take time and lads time is key, and patience from genuine Down supporters is of equal importance , let's give him a chance , I know that sometimes watching county games is painful and it seems players don't give a damn but the opposite is true, players don't take the field to deliberately play bad , so unless you have a constructive point to make or a good point to make about a game or incident it's better to say nothing.

Kerry Gaels how good are St Mary's Cahericriveen

Prediction time , Benny may come back to the county, he will be used as an impact sub , he will fail miserably and people will remember him for that and not for the wonderful performances he gave us , take a bit of advice from an old player , enjoy your club football and retire from the county scene with dignity and pride, certainly get involved with the coaching and monitoring of young talent , you deserve all the accolades but don't give the begrudgers cause to run you down.

But that's the point no one other than the executive members involved knew about the non refundable deposit, those executive members went against legal advice in making such a deposit.The same members didn't inform the county board, had they done so it wouldn't have occurred as there are enough gifted businessmen and women in Down football to ensure such folly wouldn't occur.
Sack those executive members as they failed Down Gaels and I would hazard a guess that some of the same executive members are failed business people themselves and are hardly the calibre we need to steer us out of this mess.In order to achieve success on the field we need the proper administrative structures in place and the right people to be part of these structures.
It will be some achievement to rid the county of 1.4 million of debt payable by 10k each month for 17yrs , set up a centre of excellence and get Sam to come up again and see the mountains of Mourne, I wait more in hope than anticipation.

The use of the English language isn't the topic here but if it's your field of expertise why not  create a new topic for discussion.

Interesting points made about secretary, let me add , there's no doubting he works hard but sometimes it's better to work smarter not harder , he doesn't delegate so gets little help , he likes to have control of everything Down does that make him a bad , no just a control junkie,we have a few things wrong at present , it's incomprehensible that we have several still on the executive that presided over the Burren bridge fiasco, they should be asked to leave, we have a high profile county player who delighted in rubbishing his beloved county in the local newry newspaper, again he should be asked to choose, paper or county he can't ride two horses at the same time, why wasn't Croke park not advised what was going down with Burrenbridge deal, apparently they were pulled in when the extent of the loss was revealed-a mess , and finally what's the feeling regarding the proposal which was voted down to let the executive have sole control in appointing all county managers, thankfully it was defeated but it leaves me questioning the motive and finally as an east down Gael why did we as a county fund the erection of lights in the Abbey , presently the minors are training in Ballykinlar , why did we as a county not upgrade those lights, maybe to sensible

Sorry fellow Down fanatics, bringingBenny back is not the answer,yes he would be great as a selector but not back training , not for me what purpose does it serve , he's done his bit , I would rather be remembering him for all the right reasons, his skill, his power , his finishing, I don't want to be present when fickle fans start to verbally abuse him and be assured it will happen,we must look to the future , let's see how we get on in the league, it's going to be hard but it's going to be interesting but let's see a new team start to make their way, we as a county can't rely on the same players year in year out , and let's play with flair not defensively minded , it doesn't suit our players

Like Tyson I would love to know who the top midfielders in Down are and the match against Longstone was a farce due to the timing , however on the issue of whether Dan returns to the county should be left to Dan and any pressure from social media etc should stop as it serves no purpose and might be a negative factor in his final decision, I don't think he will back

Bringing Dan back might be answer but have a notion he won't come back , I believe there's more to his decision not to play last year , he is obviously enjoying his football now with his club than he has recently with Down , if he did come back it might only paper over the cracks , we need a starting point and we have it now with out Dan and Benny, let's see how it pans out who knows there might be a couple of teenagers ready to break onto the scene as did Benny against Antrim and Dan against Tyrone , well I'm praying

Congrats to all who won awards last night watched all these players each are very good Robbie White is a potential Down player Dan as we know is busy at the moment but in all honestly it is unfair to pose the question to him about returning to Down , it's time for the next crop of young players like Robbie and the lad Harrison to step forward , it's a new chapter in Down football , I wish nothing but the best to all involved , can't wait to see the likes of Kerry and Dublin against the red and black so onward and upward , it will not be easy but it will be interesting

Listen here ye prize doughnot i havent been on here before but i can see you have been with your negative retoric and mighterier than thou attitude , as i have said before would it not be nice to debate team selections, attittudes to current football rules, etc but dont come with destructive comment which you delight in come with a viable alternative which might tax your grey matter and stimulate constructive debate Mr Rosskar

Now that Eamonn has selected his back room team what about giving him the chance to show what he can produce, all I read is negativity from so called down supporters , let's get behind our team and stop all the whinging , and I'm not on the county executive  nor part of any management team but having played for this county it pains and saddens me to read some of the posts on this forum and other social media sites so unless you have constructive and meaningful posts stay quiet