James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[mayo51]

did not mean to rehash this whole saga again but a manager has to truly pick the players he believes will do a job for him andnot be paying heed to the media or the supporters as to how he should pick his team.To me it should not matter which clubs or area the players come from as long as they can do a job.i think we go on about the players that were not selected on various teams ,a little bit to much here in mayo and it is a little bit disheartening that the one man who came closest to landing sam and pulling mayo football out of the gutter is the one who constantly gets the most critiscism and yet the fiasco of the last 4 years is usually greeted with total indifference by a lot of mayo supporters.Lets leave it at that and get back to finding out who is going to take us to the promised land?

[Lar Naparka]

I have some sympathy for that post. People do seem to forget that Kevin O Neill was crippled with injury in the mid nineties. Months after a knee operation he was still only able to run in straight lines. I know because I remember the lad that trained Knockmore telling me that at the time. But it was not just Knockmore lads. Heffernan and Ruane should have been there in those years as well as Butler. All 3 were ahead of 2 of what was already a very decent hb line. I dont know what the story was with Stanton but I dont think I ve seen a more complete midfielder in the game in Mayo. FFS I remember him kicking frees off the ground at county U21 and he was the complete package.. We have not been good with the likes of Tiernan and Stanton as well as lots of others. We go for the soft option. The difficult Campbell or the easy Austin.

  Not really a criticism of Maughan but I m sure if he had to do it all again he would have done it diferently. He knows he could have won at least 2 AIs with damn all effort but a bit more savvy. God he did the hard stuff fair play to him. But I believe he went with too many soft options rather than get the warriors on board. He has to know that. a bit of lack of tactical nous letr him down too. we ve been over this ground several times. Only Liam O Neill bet Maughan s raw passion for the game in my opinion. I ll have to say that M&M really treated the lads well and got a good response. That s all she wrote.

I think you are spot on here, moysider. I think both Maughan and M&M brought many positives into the Mayo setup. Maughan always had a very disciplined, fit side that played with unquestionable determination and I can't recall ever seeing any of his players refusing to show for a ball or poncing about with his hands on his hips when his opponent went past him.
Maybe it was his army background but he seemed to put discipline above personal relations. There was always some controversy with some players and himself. I can't recall his parting with Clare but he ran into problems in Fermanagh and Roscommon and in his first stint with Mayo. His second time with Mayo was somewhat different as he parted on amicable terms with players, fans and the CB but all concerned agreed that he could do no more- he had brought the side along to the best of his ability and could get no more out of them.
He had problems alright with Knockmore in the mid-90s. It was a fairly public standoff between him and the club's manager. (It was Liam O'Neill wasn't it?)
It seemed to be over his demand for first call on a players services at all times regardless of his club's need for him. This, I recall led to him calling for O'Neill to play in a meaningless league game while Knockmore wanted him badly for a championship club game. O'Neill opted to play for the club and thereafter he got la\rgely ignored by Maughan.
The Knockmore manager was to have a few very public digs at Maughan for this and Kevin told the Western that it was up to the respective managers to sort out problems of conflicting demands between themselves. He said it was most unfair to put the onus of making such decisions on the players concerned.
Coming up to the final in '96 Kevin had some injury or other butitt didn't appear to be unduly serious. He had suffered a bad leg break some years previously but was returning to form at the time. He certainly was in flying form for his club. I'd honestly say that Maughan was the only man in Mayo who rated Tom Reilly above O'Neill.
Undoubtedly, he had sweet FA tactical nous but he tried hard and got his players motivated and ready to die for the cause.
M&M brought "some Northern steel into the Mayo psyche" as Joe brolly put it. They also demanded and got better treatment for the players, similar to the situation in the North.
That led to Sean feeney going public at least twice to rear up about the costs of financing the campaign. They also lost the confidence of the senior players as the championship run progressed. This showed in the semi against Dublin and proved disastrous in the final.
I honestly don't think either Maughan or the Odd Couple had that extra bit needed to go the whole way but, dammit, they went mighty close- unlike the last incumbent who took off in high gear but headed in the opposite direction and gathered momentum as he went along!

[IolarCoisCuain]

I recall Maughan's time differently to Lar. As I recall it, there was an amicable separation in 1999 after his first stint in charge after the two All-Irelands, the breaking of the Tuam hoodoo and the come from behind 1999 Connacht Final, but 2005 was very acrimonious in my memory. I believe there was a lot of bad feeling on every side then.

[Peter Solan the Great]

Anyone have any idea who put their names forward last night?

[muppet]

Anyone have any idea who put their names forward last night?

There is a rumour that the only nominees were Barney and rosnarun. It will be decided by pistols at dawn. Given they are both terrible shots the contest is expected to run for some days.

[Hardy]

Does anyone even approach the Mayo people's capacity for football debate and discussion? And this debate is not even about football but about football politics. I don't think as much as this was written in the entire press about the American election.

[muppet]

Does anyone even approach the Mayo people's capacity for football debate and discussion? And this debate is not even about football but about football politics. I don't think as much as this was written in the entire press about the American election.

What is even more disturbing is that there are people with capacity to read this stuff, who aren't even from Mayo!!

I don't read the Meath thread (usually )

[Hardy]

I didn't mean to suggest it was disturbing. It's admirable (but in a slightly disturbing way, maybe).

There's a Meath thread?

[Farrandeelin]

I'm sure ye all know by now that Ray Dempsey has ruled himself out.

[moysider]

I'm sure ye all know by now that Ray Dempsey has ruled himself out.

Didn't know that but doesn't surprise me. Think he needs a couple more cracks with the U21s. Anybody knows who was nominated?
Supposing the board only get 2 nominations with the accompaning cover letters. Do they have to go with one of those or did they give themselves a get out clause if they don't like whats in front of them? This could be good fun yet.

[REDCOL]

James Horan & Micko  on thursday, not sure if any came in on friday. Good News that Dempsey ruled himself out anyway. If we could only get Donie Buckley to do the training now.

[stephenite]

He had problems alright with Knockmore in the mid-90s. It was a fairly public standoff between him and the club's manager. (It was Liam O'Neill wasn't it?)

No, Eamon Clarke if I recall correctly

[Barney]

James Horan & Micko  on thursday, not sure if any came in on friday. Good News that Dempsey ruled himself out anyway. If we could only get Donie Buckley to do the training now.

REDCOL given your history of being spot-on with insider news this has me worried.

I have no problem having a punt on a group of 3/4 Mayo players from the last 15 years as a management team. There is a risk involved in appointing Horan - it could turn out to be inspirational, I just don't know.

However as I have said for Micko - no way in hell.

Any other developments over the weekend?

[REDCOL]

Two more names added on Friday - The list now stands at:

Mick O Dwyer
James Horan
Denis Kearney
Anthony Mc Garry

County Board may add other candidates if they feel this list is not up to scratch. It looks like Micko is in the buck seat.

[Tubberman]

I can't believe this Micko thing is looking like a real possibility.
Who nominated him and has he given any indication that he wants the job?