James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[moysider]

Thats some hard-hitting stuff in that article Barney... who writes that?

A Dara Calleary backing Ballina man................

What is the point of arguing about something that may or may not have happened during the appointment of Johnno, now that he is gone? It never ceases to amaze me that we are always looking backwards and wonder why our team isn't going forwards. Time to move on and start working towards 2011 not looking back at 2006, 1997, 1996, 1951 etc.

For one thing those same wide boys who set up the Johnno appointment will be pulling strokes to appoint another patsy if they get their way. Another thing is that a lot of people who refused to accept how bad a job Johnno was doing last few years (and even trying to defend his ludicrous rebuilding efforts and shafting of players we needed) are now keeping the head down. If we want to move forward some people need to hold their hands up and say they got that wrong. I see the president of the French Football federation has gone. A few of our top table need to do the same if the next manager is to have any credibility among the football people in the county. If say likes of Connelly or a Holmes is appointed by this lot they ll have zero credibility. Time to clear the decks.

[bucko]

"Time to clear the decks"
Unfortunately, thats not going to happen through this board or the pubs, the only way this can happen is to start it at club level. The question is, is there the will in enough club executives to propose and see through motions to this effect, without such motions or efforts to be ruled out of order at a county convention? Or even to ask the tough questions from the floor of the convention?

[Donegal Danny]

Lads have not reas all the posts but you should consider Eamonn O' Boyle who has managed St Eunan's to 2 senior championships in the last 2 years in Donegal. He stepped down this year. He is a proud Mayo man from Ballina with a few championships to his name with the Stephenites. I think he is friendly with Marty Mc Grath who is supposed to be a very good trainer.

[stephenite]

Thats some hard-hitting stuff in that article Barney... who writes that?

A Dara Calleary backing Ballina man................

No. He s not a Ballina man.

Same fella who started up that Mchalepark.com website I think (that was shite)

[moysider]

Micko for Mayo! Can't see him hanging around in Wicklow for another year.

The county board know that they would be lynched if they unveil that geriatric. They should be looking over their shoulder as it is.

Agree the board should be looking over their shoulder. And they need to be ran before anything new is put in place. But I dont think that Micko should be called anything. Everybody ends up a 'geriatric' if we're lucky enough to live long enough.

Thing about O Dwyer and his methods. They worked and they still work. As far as I know Laois and Kildare had their best success in modern times with his methods. He gave Wicklow a few better days out as well. As regards the great Kerry team he managed. Great players but would they have won as much without their fitness advantage - which like it or lump it was down to running, running, running. Never trust a footballer that complains about running, like you never trust a thin cook. I still cringe aqbout Brian Maloney s interview about how hard the cross country sessions were in Belleek. A certain GB could have been a great player if he embraced running. About 10 years ago there was a national movement of players who wanted all training done with the ball. My hole.  FFS there are men in their 40s/50s and upwards who run and train for marathons and ironmans and go through more punishment than footballer in training, just for the hell of it, to accomplish something. Whingers are no use and Micko sorted them out. American football coaches have been doing similar since the game developed. Who wants it?  Micko was right. 100%. If he cant run he s no good to ye.Dooher s game and Galvin s game is based on running. They cover the ground and then the other ammo kicks in.
A lot of those 70s/80s  kerry lads have had to have hip replacements and stuff, which is sad. So too did others who won nothing. It wasn't the laps that did them. Couldn't believe at the weekend talking about things how few local pitches are being watered during this dry period - and they are moaning about injuries. I remember training/playing on summer pitches where the winter footprints would be fossilised into baked earth ruts for the summer and not a roller or sprinkler in sight. No wonder structural damage was so common. No excuse for that any more. How much does a few lenghts of hose and a few sprinklers cost?

[stephenite]

Who would you go for Moysider - dream appointment. but the only condition is that it has to be someone who is available

[Lar Naparka]

I think there's a story in there somewhere, waiting to be told. Right now, I don't know when it will emerge or even what the story content is going to be but it needs to be told before we can bring closure to the saga of the Second Coming and more importantly, of the Second Going. 
Somehow, sometime between the last two league games against Cork, all threads of communication and of trust between the management and the players seem to have broken down.
How else can one explain the sudden, dramatic slump in form of all but a handful of the players and the obvious disinterest in proceedings and lack of gumption on the part of all of the management team?
Maybe I was conned too easily by Johnno's spin that the older players had lost their bottle- he was to say this some time after the fiasco in Salthill in '07 when he was asked to account for his team's spiritless display on that occasion. In my humble opinion, the meltdown that day was caused by his bizarre team selections and his inability to adapt to Peter Ford's tactical switches at the very start of the game. I had felt there was no sign of mental surrender when the Mayo team began their fight back in the second half. They certainly gave their best but they had left themselves with too much ground to recover and we left Salthill once more with our heads down. There has been little or no reason for feeling anyway upbeat since then.
By the time the game against meath ended last year, I was beginning to agree with O'Mahony; the older players had definitely lost their cojones—no doubt about that.
The lads who tore into Dublin in '06 were now reduced to depending on a 19 year old to take the battle to Meath!
Surely to Christ O'Mahony would now accept the inevitable and get off the pot, I thought but he continued to promise a brighter future for all concerned and once more asked for patience and restraint and trotted out every other effing re under the sun. Throughout the league he seemed to have a clear purpose in mind as he managed to bring on a host of young lads and former second-fiddle players.  O'Mahony himself seemed to mirror his players' improvement as he appeared more slimmer, sharper and actually seemed to take an interest in what was going on out on the field of play—something that had been conspicuously missing since he first put out a championship side back in Salthill.
Besides all that, his selections had ground out  some hard-fought wins in a number of those league games  and all seemed set for a respectable showing, if not an actual win, against Cork.
Then I feel something went terribly wrong.
In the league decider there would have been a stewards' inquiry if the game had been held under the rules of racing as players young and old seemed intent on outdoing  each other as they gave up the struggle.
The game against Sligo confirmed this and it was a case of dead men walking when they faced up to Longford. Now, one or two players may lose their form at any time but when a whole gaggle of them go off the boil together, pertinent questions need to be asked. I fully accept that others here know more about the machinations of the county board and their motives for backing O'Mahony but I also noticed the fact that Feeney and Waldron did not come to his aid when he made a mess of shafting Ciaran McDonald and used the weird excuse that he needed to close his panel on a given date. No other manager in the land stated that he was obliged to finalise his panel so the secretary needed this to calculate players' expenses for government grant purposes and Feeney didn't indicate that he needed O'Mahony to do this either.
John was left isolated and covered himself more in horse manure than glory as he tried to wriggle off this particular hook. Also, when he struck a belligerent note when the question of his re-appointment came up at the end of his second year at the helm, Feeney was quick to eyeball him when he asserted that he had never walked away from anything in his life and it was up to "others" to keep him or sack him. Feeney responded to the implied threat by reiterating the official position and putting the onus back onto O'Mahony to go or to stay. No sign of any old pals' act here or indeed anywhere else I know of.
I bear no malice whatsoever against the man but I do feel that he served the cause of Mayo football better by his departure than by his arrival. I wish him good luck in both meanings of the term.

[moysider]

Who would you go for Moysider - dream appointment. but the only condition is that it has to be someone who is available

I ll have to think about that. These last 4 years have been a nightmare and  I wouldn't trust any appointee of this board. It s easier to say who shouldn't get it than who should. I already feel that there is a push for a quick fix from within. Let s wait and see if there is interest out there. Like Máirtín McHugh sounded in love with Mayo for the last while. There may be others. There has never been a better time to take over a Mayo team. Rock bottom and worse scenario is that it cant get any worse.

Contrary to what some people may think there is no rush with this appointment. Club championship will tell you f**k all - except the best players in the county are still O Neill and Ginger Tiernan. However the board will rush for a quick fix to prevent noise from the clubs. And the clubs are very angry. I expect the board to appoint their man asap before there is an organised swell of resentment. So probably Noel will be wheeled out. Then the clubs will be asked to stump up again. It might not be that simple this year however.There is a genuine resentment in clubs about how bad it all was let go. I cannot see clubs willing to ask members to buy/sell those 100euro tickets in the current environment. I usually bought 3/4 from lads in local clubs.I believed it was money well spent. I wont buy one this year until I see changes.

[ballinaman]

Bang on the money moysider regarding the running....sure I was in my teens training in belleek and the woods and Mayo were down there and i was close to lapping them. Sure have a look at the Westport 5k results down through the years, a number of the county team have raced and haven't broken 20mins FFS....sure the auld lad was tipping 60 and nearly caught one of them 2 years ago.

[blast05]

I wouldn't trust any appointee of this board

No picking on this particular comment but just using it as an example of many ..... who on the board is doing such a disastorous job (examples needed) and how could they do things better ? What should their roles and responsibilities be ?

[brokencrossbar1]

I am not trying to stir it up here but are the Mayo footballers possibly at their level and will not go beyond it no matter who the manager is?  Similar to the England soccer team they are decent footballers in their own right but not good enough to push through to the next level?  I don't know the club scene but what I have seen of the county team over the last few years they can play nice football on any given day but when push comes to shove are simply missing the mental/physical edge to take them to the next level.

[Tubberman]

I am not trying to stir it up here but are the Mayo footballers possibly at their level and will not go beyond it no matter who the manager is?   Similar to the England soccer team they are decent footballers in their own right but not good enough to push through to the next level?  I don't know the club scene but what I have seen of the county team over the last few years they can play nice football on any given day but when push comes to shove are simply missing the mental/physical edge to take them to the next level.

Losing to Longford is our level??
We're not All-Ireland contenders - we know that. That has never been more obvious. That's not what people are expecting.
But we know that we're better than we've done in the last 4 years.

[AbbeySider]

There definitely seems to be some division in the Mayo camp, at more levels than one I might add.

The last day against Longford, most of the old guard remained on the bench, even when things were going badly, and perhaps when we needed a bit of experience. It was a very, very strange move to bring on Parsons, at (5) wing back and leave Gardiner on the sideline. I assumed that their was some sort of bust up, and that Trev, Gardiner and McGarity were all left out of proceedings against Longford. I was sure Gardiner would be in for Howley but JOM went for a mid-fielder to play wing back. Says it all really. As Lar eluded to, this has yet to come out.

But the divisions go straight to the top. You simply need to read the reports by the county secretary and the county chairman last year and you will begin to understand the tension between the Waldron-JOM backers and Feeney who called a spade a spade in his report and burnt bridges it seems with the Fine Gael brigade.

In their annual reports Feeney was first out of the blocks and heavily criticised players and management after the Meath game and rightly so in my book. He called it exactly how everyone saw it and didnt pull any punches. He is totally vindicated after that report but he didnt have the backing of others on the county board, and thus you had the split.

Feeney said in his report that the  county's senior football team of lacked leadership and strength, and said JOM had a lot more work to do and the total collapse against Meath was totally inexcusable (practically calling for JOMs head). He also wanted the number of challenge matches reduced and wanted clubs games to go ahead 7 days, rather than 13 days before Inter County games. All of it made sense.

Then compare that to James Waldron's annual report which seemed to contradict Feeney and supported the senior management and offered encouragement to the Mayo senior team, (as well as apologise to the residents of McHale road for any upset or ruffled feathers due to Feeneys report). Waldron reckons that Mayo were well prepared for the Meath game, and blamed the referee!?

From then on and to this day there is frosty relationships at county board level but with the election for the position of the County Board Chairman coming up in October/November I think that Waldron will be out on his head and its a huge chance for clubs to change things. I hope that the voting wont get consumed by the perceived FG politics, as it has in the past, or we could be in terminal decline for years.

[Tatler Jack]

Have always found it interesting that the political intrigue and machinations in Mayo GAA has revolved around the Blueshirts - thought FF had copyright on this sort of stuff.

[AbbeySider]

Have always found it interesting that the political intrigue and machinations in Mayo GAA has revolved around the Blueshirts - thought FF had copyright on this sort of stuff.

No, FF always had the Galways races tent, so horse racing meetings seems to be where they had their influence

There was always a blueshirt element in the ranks of the county board,

it finally blue up in their faces.