James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[IolarCoisCuain]

But the game-breaker for me in the whole process (and something that I think is a really great story for any journalist who goes after it) was the fact that John Maughan pulled out shortly after the selection committee was announced. Why that happened is still unknown, but only two men — John Maughan and James Waldron — can answer the question.

Jesus, I'd speculate that Kevin knows exactly what went on. Knives are out for Waldron now I'd say

No need for knives Stephenite. His 5 years are up at the end of the year....

Yeah, didn't realise that. Cheers.

Still, McStay and Maughan would be fairly tight so there's some motivation to expose some part of the process and someones role in it

I read Kevin's account exhorting someone in the media to dig a bit further as evidence of some sort of shenanigans but having read Moysiders comments that a lot of it is known locally then maybe there's not too much in it. If there is, either Keith Duggan or Kieran Shannon will be writing about it fairly shortly

Michael Foley had a very good piece on Horan and the selection process in the Sunday Times. Behind a firewall online if it's online at all, unfortunately.

[rosnarun]

well get the conspiracy right  yet
horan was appointed as part of a cunning plan
he wont be supported the public will turn on him and then the Co board will be free to appoint their own man in
Tommy lyonsJOhn maughanMicko dwyer err PAt holmes

[stephenite]

Good man Ros - unless all delegates get a free democratic vote (with the UN observers in place) I won't believe it. Some of them County board buckos have been around longer than most dictators

Only reason I bought it up is becuase McStay has basically made a point of telling everyone that there was something untoward

[AbbeySider]

Are we taking the paranoia a bit too far?

The way I see it, from the start the county board didnt want Maughan in any way, shape or form so they rolled in behind candidates like Micko and Lyons to do their best so Maughan wouldnt get the job. Maughan could see what was happening and knew he didnt have their backing, so he pull out of the race, not before firing a few shots to wake up delegates and supporters on the ground as to the shenanigans that was going on. There is defiantly a story to be told there.

But delegates and supporters alike have since had an awakening and didnt seem to trust the county board after the O Mahoney tenure (which if we were to call a spade, a spade; was all about getting JOM elected) so they (delegates and supporters) all rolled in behind the best candidate - Horan. The county board knew that support for Horan was overwhelming and they dared not put Lyons forward as he would probably have been defeated and people would have questioned the motive of Lyons being put forward.

Saying things like Horan was third choice is a stretch as he was the peoples choice from the start and by the end of the race he had won everyone over.

IMO 

[stephenite]

I dunno about all that abbey, I think once Maughan pulled out he was the best choice but I've spoken to a few people back home and his inexperience is a concern. As one man pointed out his greatest managerial feat has been to outfox John Healy and Nigel Reape by getting to a county final.

Anyway, I just found McStay's comment odd and wondered what was behind it.

[AbbeySider]

I dunno about all that abbey, I think once Maughan pulled out he was the best choice but I've spoken to a few people back home and his inexperience is a concern. As one man pointed out his greatest managerial feat has been to outfox John Healy and Nigel Reape by getting to a county final.

Anyway, I just found McStay's comment odd and wondered what was behind it.

I think he meant John Healy and Kenneth Mortimer as we didnt face Knockmore 

Inexperience is sometimes a concern, but Maughan took over Clare without any managerial experience and won a Munster title with them beating none other than Kerry which was astonishing. John O Mahoney was a very young man when he took the Mayo job the first time and nearly got us over the line in 1989.

Some managers are managers for years and years, and the game passes them by.

Experience is relative. I wouldnt worry about Horans experience as I rate him ahead of a lot of managers in the game at this moment in time.

[RedandGreenSniper]

James Horan might have been a lot of supporters first choice but we'd be naive if we thought he was the board's first choice. But that's what makes it all the better - the board had to accept the wishes of the people because they knew of the reaction Tommy Lyons' appointment might create. Democracy by stealth!

[boosabum]

I dunno about all that abbey, I think once Maughan pulled out he was the best choice but I've spoken to a few people back home and his inexperience is a concern. As one man pointed out his greatest managerial feat has been to outfox John Healy and Nigel Reape by getting to a county final.

Anyway, I just found McStay's comment odd and wondered what was behind it.

I think he meant John Healy and Kenneth Mortimer as we didnt face Knockmore 

Inexperience is sometimes a concern, but Maughan took over Clare without any managerial experience and won a Munster title with them beating none other than Kerry which was astonishing. John O Mahoney was a very young man when he took the Mayo job the first time and nearly got us over the line in 1989.

Some managers are managers for years and years, and the game passes them by.

Experience is relative. I wouldnt worry about Horans experience as I rate him ahead of a lot of managers in the game at this moment in time.

Had he not managed the U21 AI winning team by then

[RedandGreenSniper]

Yeah, when he was only 30 in 1983. Was 36 in 1989, 35 when he took over. So very young even then.

[Lar Naparka]

Good man Ros - unless all delegates get a free democratic vote (with the UN observers in place) I won't believe it. Some of them County board buckos have been around longer than most dictators

Only reason I bought it up is becuase McStay has basically made a point of telling everyone that there was something untoward

In all (well, almost all) seriousness, I think ros could well have a point. You could substitute the name of Pat Holmes with that of Bev Flynn or St Patrick or whoever takes your fancy and it would take a brave personto lay money on you not being correct.
No one does football like Mayo does football - where the illogical often is the logical course to take.
On the other hand, we might just have witnessed an exercise in democracy in action and the conspiracy theorists were wide of the mark since the CB announced details of the selection process.
All along, everybody concerned knew that the ultimate decision was going to be taken by the club delegates and all the misinformation, media spins, and speculation generated along the line was never going to change that fact.
James was elected by the delegates after the selection sub-committee and the CB recommended his selection. That's the inescapable truth; anything else is speculation.
Was he really the third choice candidate? He may indeed have been the third choice of some but by no means all the CB members. The bookies and the media pundits may have stated this but what basis has this in reality?
Maybe the interview panel just did what they were required to do and made their selection based on the actual interviews.
AS you cogently pointed out in a previous post, only registered club delegates were going to have a say in the matter of selection and that's the way it turned out. Once the actual appointment was left to club delegates, the CB stood the risk of losing control of the situation and the media speculation was always going to be just that- speculation pure and simple.
I feel we may have witnessed an instance of democracy by default but it still was democracy. I would imagine all CB members worked hard in trying to get their man selected. I would have expected that they would have and so they should. But the problem for conspiracy theorists is that there was no evidence to suggest that most, if not all of them had a particular applicant in mind. It's my opinion that CB as a unit had little influence in the proceedings because there was no unanimity of choice between them.
Nobody else was able to manipulate the appointment either.
Many observers, myself included, felt the CB would have been confident of swaying the delegates to accept their preferred man.  Since they couldn't agree o n a single individual, the board as a body had little influence on the outcome.
I felt it was hugely significant that no club or its delegates for that matter came out publicly in support of any man in the running.  It's gratifying that those who mattered most left the ballyhoo to others.

[boosabum]

Based on what i have heard, the interview panel kept their council and neither offered or accepted any advice or guidance on how the prospective canidates performed or might perfrom. While a lot of conspiracy theories have been put forward, the majority of the panel had no axe to grind, as their preferred or non preferred runners as the case may be were not to be interviewed. This leads be to believe that the best presented canidate shone through, not second best or third best.
Contary to what others may think, my opinion is that the media inspired 1/8 odds been placed on Tommy Lyons actually went against him as the executive wanted to show that they would not be swayed by the power on the media and could quiet effectively pick there own man.
Mayo is no different to any other county in terms of internal politics, look at the meath and monaghan episodes this year as well as the cork and limerick fiascos in previous years.
Someday we'll win something and it will all be forgotten, until then keep 

[Rossfan]

 Only nine pages to go 

[ross4life]

Only nine pages to go 

Galway v Mayo should get them over the 100 mark now & what happened to the last couple of posts?

[mjg]

 Lads yere struggling to get to 100 pages surely to god horan must have some skellitons in the closet or maughan pullin out has to be discussed in detail

[Peter Solan the Great]

Only nine pages to go 

Galway v Mayo should get them over the 100 mark now & what happened to the last couple of posts?

people went running to the mods complaining about information that is publicly available and that GAA websites like hoganstand publish stories from. Such as this one.

http://hoganstand.com/Mayo/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=136397


yet no outrage of the County board bringing people not required to New York for a bit of a holiday. How much would it cost to bring him to New York? over a thousand including flights Hotel, Food, Pints etc? Who'll have to pay it? the clubs Thats ten extra tickets to try and sell.