Sunday Game pundits in County management

[seafoid]

Mc Stay and Dónal Óg didn't blossom this year.
Is it that the real world is harder than throwing out opinions or just the wrong teams?

[Zulu]

Of course it's more difficult to manage than be a pundit. That's why I often wonder about lads who slate a manager for certain things. When lads say things like 'he never solved our problems in the full back line' or 'unearthed a scoring forward or two' I question whether they understand the game at all. Most of the time, managers understand the game as well as most online posters or media pundits. However, finding solutions to the problems you have when you can only pick players from your county base can be an unsolvable problem.

[Jinxy]

It's the difference between someone who gives lectures on a particular industry vs. someone who actually works in that industry.
Both serve a purpose but it would be foolish to assume they can do each others jobs.

[twohands!!!]

Of course it's more difficult to manage than be a pundit. That's why I often wonder about lads who slate a manager for certain things. When lads say things like 'he never solved our problems in the full back line' or 'unearthed a scoring forward or two' I question whether they understand the game at all.

All an analyst has to do is point out what happened or what went wrong.

It's orders of magnitude more difficult to rectify/eliminate problems.

However, finding solutions to the problems you have when you can only pick players from your county base can be an unsolvable problem.

A load of folk seem to forget that unlike most other sports management you can't recruit for intercounty (please no mention of Geezer)

On the flip side I think it's why any GAA manager who falls out with players/has players walk away should be judged very harshly. [Note I use players multiple]

A GAA manager's key skill at club or county is building a team from whoever is available.

[twohands!!!]

It's the difference between someone who gives lectures on a particular industry vs. someone who actually works in that industry.
Both serve a purpose but it would be foolish to assume they can do each others jobs.

Both Horan and McGuinness seem to have done very well in the pundit role since they moved on from management.
Fitzmaurice was fairly decent when he was writing with the Examiner.
I'd imagine Harte and Gavin would be fairly insightful if they opened up as well.
I'd be very shocked if all the top managers weren't able to provide fairly insightful analysis, however with the "top" pundits I wouldn't let the vast majority of them near an underage team.

[Beffs]

Mc Stay and Dónal Óg didn't blossom this year.
Is it that the real world is harder than throwing out opinions or just the wrong teams?

Don't think you can really judge them the same. McStay was the joint Big Kahuna in Roscommon. The buck stopped with him & FO'D equally. Davy Fitz was very much the top dog in Clare. Donal Og, for all his pen waving, alpha maleness on the Sunday Game, played second fiddle to him. He was just another hired gun, in a massively bloated backroom team. (Boy. That is a lot of metaphors.) Until Donal Og becomes an inter county manager and is the one calling the shots, we don't really know what he is capable of.

[moysider]

Of course it's more difficult to manage than be a pundit. That's why I often wonder about lads who slate a manager for certain things. When lads say things like 'he never solved our problems in the full back line' or 'unearthed a scoring forward or two' I question whether they understand the game at all. Most of the time, managers understand the game as well as most online posters or media pundits. However, finding solutions to the problems you have when you can only pick players from your county base can be an unsolvable problem.

Agree. It's easy to point out a problem with a team but fixing it is something else entirely. Easy to see a corner back in trouble or corner forward getting cleaned out and wondering why the manager doesn t make a change. The reality is though that the lads on the bench would not improve what is already there, usually. No point making a change and make things worse.
For all the talk about strength in depth, Dublin and Mayo are depending on about 20 lads each to get the job done. Both, in that 20, are going to bank on players carrying long-term injuries, players off form and physios doing their best to get some important players on the pitch for an impact. Mayo will be trying to get Dillon sorted for 20 mins. and Dublin will be hoping that Flynn will be able to put in a better shift than he has been able to do for a while. That is the reality. Of course tactics and systems are in place but the bottom line is that player quality counts.