James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[Barney]

Whatever we might think of their calibre there are 3 Mayo men willing to do this job yet people are talking about a mercenary from Kerry. If you do not have a burning desire to manage the Mayo team you should not get the job

MICK O'Dwyer would "take Kilkenny as quick as he'd take Mayo" as speculation regarding his managerial future continued apace yesterday, WRITES Donnchadh Boyle.

Predictably, the Waterville man has been linked with a handful of counties but O'Dwyer is one of five nominations to succeed John O'Mahony. O'Dwyer is currently managing home club Waterville on a stand-in basis and claimed he still has the 'hunger' to manage at the highest level.

"I have no decision made. I have had a word with a few in the last six months but I have made no decision," he said.

"The 32 counties in Ireland would be appealing to me -- I'd take Kilkenny as quick as I'd take Mayo if I got a notion. And I've proven that -- I took Kildare when they were down, I took Laois when they were down and I took Wicklow. It wouldn't matter one way or the other. I love training teams, I'm back training my old club in Waterville and I still get a buzz out of it."

O'Dwyer did hint that Mayo have a deep pool of talent and should have won at least one All-Ireland since their last success in 1951.

"Mayo think they're up there (competing for All-Irelands) all the time. They are producing great underage players and it's amazing they haven't achieved. I suppose they should have won an All- Ireland in 1996 when Meath beat them. They have the players, maybe too many players."

[Donnellys Hollow]

If I was him I would come nowhere near Mayo, holy feck its a b**tard of a drive to Waterville, not the fancy roads up to Leinster. Mayo fans are worse "animals" than any that can be found in Kerry and he will get an easier time in Galway as they will only notice he is there when they go to their first match of the year the All-Ireland Final.

You reckon Micko has been driving to and from Waterville to Kildare, Laois and Wicklow all these years?

Doesn't he have a house in Kildare?  And didn't his son play for Kildare?  I assume that he travelled to Laois and Wicklow from a Kildare base.
Now up and down the road to Mayo would be a different thing alltogether. I know, as I have done it enough times!

He doesn't have a house in Kildare as far as I'm aware. He had a garage in Rathangan and was involved in one or two businesses in Newbridge and Kildare Town but I think he sold his stake in all of them a few years ago. He commuted from Waterville to Kildare, Laois and Wicklow for years. Karl only came to Kildare in '98 when he got a job in the school in Rathangan. He's teaching in Confey now I think.

I genuinely don't understand the hostility towards Dwyer. Don't believe all the bullshit that he's just a freeloading mercenary. When he first came to Kildare he surrounded himself with the most knowledgable football men in the county and scoured the county for the best talent. Those players would have gone through a brick wall for him and he put the pride back in the Kildare jersey. He's not a tactical genius but he's cute enough to realise that. He has always been very careful to choose at least one tactician as a selector. Pat McCarthy filled that role during his time in Kildare.

I think he'd do a good job with Mayo. He certainly wouldn't be a lackey for the county board.

[Chimley]

So you'd have him back in a heartbeat then by the sounds of things?

[Donnellys Hollow]

If McGeeney did up sticks we could do a lot worse. I doubt we would have been as pathetic in the last decade if we still had Dwyer in charge. You'll be hard pressed to find anyone in Kildare who has a bad word to say about the man.

Dwyer will get the best out of footballers. It is not up to the county manager to sort out the internal politics of a county though and from an outsider looking in, this appears to be a big part of the problem with Mayo.

[stephenite]

Any chance of a look at the review? Yeah - some fcukin chance

I'd be far more interested in seeing James Horan or someone like him as an independent director who's sole remit is to put in place structures to oversee the development underage stars into Senior footballers.

Is that a pig flying?

[HowAreYeGettinOn]

Is there actually any Mayo supporter on this site that would take Micko?

If there was a serious alternative who was interested, then no. But the other three on the list (I'm not including Maughan because he's not including himself) have done nothing management-wise at inter-county level. If this is the list to pick from, then I'd pick Micko.

Whatever you think of the man's motives, he puts fire, pride and belief into his teams. Time and again Mayo posters on this board, myself included, bemoan the lack of those three things. I think for one year anyway, it has to be worth a shot.

It's not like we have a team of outstanding players just requiring a tweak to win Sam anyway. And yes, I know that's the real problem - but whoever is appointed the new manager won't be able to solve that anyway. That would, I'd hope ( ) be the purpose of the 'review', if and when it ever happens...

[GaillimhIarthair]

Is there actually any Mayo supporter on this site that would take Micko?

If there was a serious alternative who was interested, then no. But the other three on the list (I'm not including Maughan because he's not including himself) have done nothing management-wise at inter-county level. If this is the list to pick from, then I'd pick Micko.
Whatever you think of the man's motives, he puts fire, pride and belief into his teams. Time and again Mayo posters on this board, myself included, bemoan the lack of those three things. I think for one year anyway, it has to be worth a shot.

It's not like we have a team of outstanding players just requiring a tweak to win Sam anyway. And yes, I know that's the real problem - but whoever is appointed the new manager won't be able to solve that anyway. That would, I'd hope ( ) be the purpose of the 'review', if and when it ever happens...

The 2 senior managers in action this Sunday had done nothing either in advance of their current roles from an intercounty perspective and they havent done too badly!  No more than ourselves, I think ye need to take a chance and shop local this time round.

[moysider]

Is there actually any Mayo supporter on this site that would take Micko?

If there was a serious alternative who was interested, then no. But the other three on the list (I'm not including Maughan because he's not including himself) have done nothing management-wise at inter-county level. If this is the list to pick from, then I'd pick Micko.

Whatever you think of the man's motives, he puts fire, pride and belief into his teams. Time and again Mayo posters on this board, myself included, bemoan the lack of those three things. I think for one year anyway, it has to be worth a shot.

It's not like we have a team of outstanding players just requiring a tweak to win Sam anyway. And yes, I know that's the real problem - but whoever is appointed the new manager won't be able to solve that anyway. That would, I'd hope ( ) be the purpose of the 'review', if and when it ever happens...

To be honest I d be with you on this. I wouldn't have been beatings drums for Micko to be appointed but the alternatives are not sure things either. Maybe its s 15/20 years too late in the sense that the game has changed a lot since his Kerry  was in its pomp but I ve always wondered what an O Dwyer or a Boylan or a Heffernan would have made of us. When you think of all the talent and years we have wasted I don't see why there is such hostility towards Micko. I m actually curious as to what his impact would be like and how certain players would respond.  We re at rock bottom. He cant do any worse than the last guy who was backed to the hilt by most until he grinded to a halt. Besides we ll know more about likes of Dempsey and Duffy in a couple of years. And James Horan. This time is probably too soon for those guys. In a couple of years the younger players will be maturer too. I d let Micko squeeze as much out of the next 2 years as he can.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Is there actually any Mayo supporter on this site that would take Micko?

I'm not including Maughan because he's not including himself

Maughan's not including himself on this GAA politics meets X-Factor selection process, but I'll eat my hat if he's not very, very interested indeed in the job itself. You'll note he's against Micko in his column this week ("I remain convinced that the new appointment will be someone from within the county boundaries") but doesn't give any of the other contenders his blessing. Draw your own conclusions.

[rosnarun]

'lower expectations' by fucj jonno did a great job there. Here we were playing all ireland finals every other year. Jom had no time for such crap.
That and destroying morale are his twin legacies.

[Zulu]

Micko has got more of the votes and nearly 25% of the total vote in the Mayo News, seems this board isn't reflective of the feeling in Mayo.

[An Gaeilgoir]

Any chance of a look at the review? Yeah - some fcukin chance

I'd be far more interested in seeing James Horan or someone like him as an independent director who's sole remit is to put in place structures to oversee the development underage stars into Senior footballers.

Is that a pig flying?

I heard Kevin Mc Stay on the radoi this mrnimg saying more or lass the same thing and how Micko would be a bad move for Mayo. Why doesn't our CB listen to these men who have the best intentions for Mayo football? If Micko manages Mayo i will not attend any more. All is lost at the moment i feel.

[Mike Sheehy]

you Mayo lads are some men to be turning up your noses up at Micko.

[FL/MAYO]

When the least is expected of our managers they somehow surprise us, the second coming of Maughan ended with a final appearance in 2004, M&M in 2006 another final appearance and then with the great expectations of JOM we did very little. Maybe with the low expectations (from members of this board) that O'Dwyer will  bring we could be pleasantly surprised. I have a good friend that played with Kildare back in the 90's, O'Dwyer hounded him to return home to play for Kildare when he was thinking of staying on here in the U.S. if he still has that same energy (unlikely) and perseverance he might not be a bad pick but age is against him..70+

[blast05]

To defend Micko for half a second ..... his motives surely can not be money. The man is minted - whats 80K a year going to do for him ? Unless he has a dose of extreme Cavan-itis then i can't see money being the issue.

Also, a lot of people seem to think that whoever should be over the senior team should also be 'director of football' throughout the whole county. Such a scenario would never be allowed to happen. Yes, the powers that be will nod their heads in disapproval when the likes of John Evans gets employed by the Tipp county board in such a role, but nodding of heads would not be enough if Mayo employed a man in such a role and the county board know this.

I think we could do worse than have someone like James Horan responsible for coaching and structures throughout the county presuming such a role were the outcome of the long promised audit and with Micko as the man in charge of the senior team...... sort of an Arsene Wenger / Liam Brady role at Arsenal (although that analogy would underplay the role i would have in mind for someone like Horan)