John Morrison for Cavan

[johnny99]

name a better coaching manual than any of the above ?

[screenexile]

name a better coaching manual than any of the above ?

Sorry I thought you had said that Terence McWilliams and Kerr had been used extensively by successful County teams in the last 10 years. Sorry I got the wrong end of the stick.

As for coaching manuals well I could be fairly certain there aren't too many of them down in Kerry!

[moysider]

Far comment Lar Naparka.
It's also true to say that Brady was always difficult; not only M&M had problems with him - every Mayo manager found Brady to be a handful to say the least. Piry because he prob never realised his full potential.

It s unfair to say that Brady was difficult. For the opposition maybe, but for a Mayo manager he was a great asset. Just unleash him on the opposition. Any manager that found him difficult should have been watching TV.One of M&M's big mistakes was not starting him in 06 - a mistake first made by Maughan in 04.

  I also disagrre with Larnaparka' s take on things. M&M were set adrift by the board as early as midspring in 06 and did well to keep things on an even keel until August. I don t remember players blaming management after and if they did they should be taken with a pinch of salt. The 'Nallen too slow' spin also doesn 't stand up. He was still faster than most inter-county backs, and for years he was fastest by lightyears. But he was left with runners coming through the middle from everywhere and became a convenient patsy.

I dunno how good Cavan can be.I honestly know very little about them.

I do know that Morrisson&Moran's Mayo were a breath of fresh air for likes of me in 06. They were the only ones that belatedly got likes of O Neill and MacDonald ( 2 of the best players we ve ever produced) on the same pitch for a championship. Only this year did we get back close to where we were at in 06 after the disasterous meddling one with a great reputation in the game. 06 was sad mostly because it should what might have been achieved if M&M were around years earlier when we had the players to make that breakthrough.

[johnny99]

Morrison @ mickey paid for the floodlit pitch for training themselves as the mayo co board wouldnt pick up the tab !  fact

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Always liked Morrison, surprised at the hostility towards him.

[Give and Go]

Mickey was always a gentleman to his finger tips while Morrison was never afraid to speak his mind. On a one to one basis Morrison did excellent work on improving a players game. Never given credit he deserved - even among his coaching peers who were never shy about using his ideas.
A great man to have on your side and a man to challenge the status quo. Always a players man too without pampering them.

[john mcgill]

I'm not qualified to comment on Morrison as a football coach however I know of a school where he came in and motivated children who were underachieving and demotivated to attain good A Level results.  To a person the students were very positive about an "outsider" who showed them many different ways to meet their potential.  If these methods work in a school they may have merit on a football pitch.

[Lar Naparka]

Far comment Lar Naparka.
It's also true to say that Brady was always difficult; not only M&M had problems with him - every Mayo manager found Brady to be a handful to say the least. Piry because he prob never realised his full potential.

It s unfair to say that Brady was difficult. For the opposition maybe, but for a Mayo manager he was a great asset. Just unleash him on the opposition. Any manager that found him difficult should have been watching TV.One of M&M's big mistakes was not starting him in 06 - a mistake first made by Maughan in 04.

  I also disagrre with Larnaparka' s take on things. M&M were set adrift by the board as early as midspring in 06 and did well to keep things on an even keel until August. I don t remember players blaming management after and if they did they should be taken with a pinch of salt. The 'Nallen too slow' spin also doesn 't stand up. He was still faster than most inter-county backs, and for years he was fastest by lightyears. But he was left with runners coming through the middle from everywhere and became a convenient patsy.

I dunno how good Cavan can be.I honestly know very little about them.

I do know that Morrisson&Moran's Mayo were a breath of fresh air for likes of me in 06. They were the only ones that belatedly got likes of O Neill and MacDonald ( 2 of the best players we ve ever produced) on the same pitch for a championship. Only this year did we get back close to where we were at in 06 after the disasterous meddling one with a great reputation in the game. 06 was sad mostly because it should what might have been achieved if M&M were around years earlier when we had the players to make that breakthrough.

I don't honestly think I gave my take on anything. I was only reporting what I took to be common knowledge at the time.
I think M&M got on very well with the players and indeed the Mayo public from the start. Mickey had let it be known that he wanted his players too enjoy the same facilities and respect that were common practice in Ulster.
As I recall things, Feeney wasn't too happy from the outset as he felt the boyos were spending far too much money on their preparations.
Mickey was insisting on overnight hotel stays for away league matches and proper meals for all concerned and Feeney also went public about his unhappiness at the costs.
It was clear that M&M were dead men walking but, to the surprise of all, the championship run began to pick up momentum. M&M had brought "a touch of Northern steel to the Mayo psyche," as Joe Brolly put it.
BTW, I'm sure you recall that the same Joe was very critical of Mickey's playing tactics and basically rubbished Mayo's chances whenever he got a chance to do so.
In the aftermath of the Dublin game, when Mickey was being interviewed, he turned around and faced the camera and directly addressed Joe on some point about fitness levels.
It'd make a cat laugh to see the look on Joe's face when the camera switched back to him in the studio.
By that stage, there were persistent rumours about tensions in the camp as Beefer it seems wanted McDonald to be the fulcrum of attack and to spray the passes out to the corner forwards in the corners.
Poor Mac got an awful amount of stick from the fans for this as he was accused of slowing the game down unnecessarily, whereas it seemed obvious to me that he was playing to the team plan.
Now, I definitely recall Mayo changes tactics in the second half of the Connacht final. Midfield and the backs began to bypass Mac and Alan Dillon was being used to straighten up the line of attack.
Came the Laois encounter and Mickey rubbed Feeney up the wrong way once more by insisting that the game be played at Croker.
Feeney was furious about the cost and would have settled for a neutral venue but Mickey held firm.
Anyway, while M&M were very popular with the masses, I noticed that Mac was being isolated by those around him and Dillon was once more leading the attack.
In the replay I recall one incident where Mac asked Nallen to pass him the ball as they stood side by side around midfield.
Nallen ignored him and dropped it in to Dillon about twenty yards further inside.
'Twas plain to see that Ciaran was unhappy. He threw a hissy fit, as rosnarun would put it but James totally ignored him.
By the end of that game, there was widespread comment that the players were finding it hard to play to M&M's instructions.
I know some of the players were to confirm this later but it was obvious that something wasn't quite right in the camp.
Still, no matter- a win is a win.
Remember the kick about in front of the Hill?
I thought at first that this was a pre-arranged tactic and was part of the master plan but it turned out afterwards that the players had kept knowledge of this secret from the management.
It sure knocked all the fun out of the win over Dublin me as I felt our goose was well and truly cooked before a ball was kicked in the final. What hope could we have if the players and management were keeping things from each other?
Now, as we all know only too well, there's always a spate of rumours from the Kerry camp before each final and the stories of walk outs and bust ups are legendary but in '06 there were persistent reports that Gooch and Dara O'Sé had had a major bust up with Jacko.
Obviously, the Kerry camp denied that there were problems but most Kerry watchers were certain that something was amiss.
Jack did indeed confirm this some time after the final when he had a book published. I'm hazy on the specific details but I do recall him admitting that he had a difference of opinion with a few players. He didn't attempt to deny what was being said all around at the time which was that he brought Declan O'Sullivan back onto the team because Jack knew from '04 that O'Sullivan was too quick for Nallen.
He brought him on to do a specific job even though it meant taking the captaincy from Gooch.
Remember O'Sullivan asking Gooch to lift the cup along with him after the game?
I couldn't see him doing that if his selection had been on merit.
Again, in the months after the game, some Mayo players did mention their fears that Sully was being picked to do a specific job and for that alone.
Now, how much of the above is fact and how much is rumour is not for me to say.
I certainly do recall Mayo changing their tactics in attack as their campaign went along and I do remember Nallen refusing to pass the ball to McDonald who was standing right beside him.
The rest I either read or picked up on the grapevine but the rumours were there to be found and Brady wasn't the only player to air his grievances in the aftermath of that final.

My abiding memory of those times was the dignified manner in which Mickey conducted himself after the board moved to shaft him.  He certainly set a standard that wasn't matched by his adversaries.

[ck]

Is Morrison a sports psychologist? Allot of what has been mentioned above would suggest that he moves in those circles.

[rrhf]

Think he is a sport shrink allright. 

[Harold Disgracey]

He is/was a geography teacher.

[Armaghgeddon]

Check the charter of psychologists on the BPS website to see if he is.

[Stevie g 8]

he,s meant to be good i heard but has some whacky ideas

[johnny99]

i have seen him coaching nursery, juvenile and senior club and county teams and he is the absolute business. check out his books and also coaching articles in gaelic life and on the leitrim website, attention to detail unreal and solutions for any problem a player may have.

[Celt_Man]

Good interview with him in this week's Anglo Celt


Anyone know where I could get.have any more info on any of his Coaching Books??