Tommy Lyons and Mayo payment row

[Benny Sweeney]

Sanctions should be taken against Mayo if this is true.

A former Mayo GAA chairman has denied that Tommy Lyons was asked how much money he would want to manage the county when he was interviewed for the vacant position in September 2010.

James Waldron, who was county board chairman at the time, said there was never a question of the former Dublin and Offaly manager being asked to "put into an envelope" the figure he was looking for to manage Mayo.

Lyons didn't get the post, which went to James Horan instead, but in the course of a discussion on RTE's 'Sport at Seven' last night, he made the astonishing claim that a Mayo official had asked him about what money he would require to do the job.

"When I was there (Mayo) and I was interviewed for the job, I was asked to put it in an envelope what I wanted to get paid for doing the job and I told him what part of 'I didn't want to get paid' did he not understand?" claimed Lyons.

"So that was a senior inter-county official as of only 12 months ago in a very clear breach of the guidelines."

Waldron, whose five-year term as chairman ended later that year, said any discussion on money focused solely on travel expenses at the time.

"We would have been trying to establish whether he was travelling from Dublin, where he is based, or from Louisburgh, where he has a holiday home and visits regularly," said Waldron. "That's all we would have wanted to know."

When contacted by the Irish Independent last night, Lyons stood over what he said in the interview and was adamant that a Mayo official had put the question of money to him

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/mayo-deny-lyons-claim-on-payment-3030746.html

[Benny Sweeney]

If true they should be banned from all competitions for a year

[heffo]

If true they should be banned from all competitions for a year

I assume this is a windup?

There are very few counties in Ireland not 'paying'  managers and anyone CB board interviewing someone, even someone as wealthy as Lyons who is going to be making a 470km round trip four times a week can expect a hefty bill for it.

[Benny Sweeney]

If true they should be banned from all competitions for a year

I assume this is a windup?

There are very few counties in Ireland not 'paying'  managers and anyone CB board interviewing someone, even someone as wealthy as Lyons who is going to be making a 470km round trip four times a week can expect a hefty bill for it.

Where is the proof that other counties pay? this is a case where a person is admitting it. Good proof, rules are rules. This is an amature organisation.

[Shamrock Shore]

Tommy Lyons is an auld windbag and I wouldn't believe him if he told me that bears were Catholic and the Pope nips out to the woods the odd time.

[TheThirdManning]

Whether you like Lyons or not, why would he make that fact up?

The only way we are ever going to move on from this problem is if county boards just be honest about it. Looks like we are never going to get that.

[Rossfan]

If true they should be banned from all competitions for a year

If followed through there would be some very short competitions in 2012 

[muppet]

If true they should be banned from all competitions for a year

Could they enter your paranormal Championships instead?

[mannix]

lyons is probably still feeling a little bitter from not getting the job. i have no proof but i reckon all the top level counties are giving their managers afew bob. not many of them driving porsches or the like, but a few bob to help the job run smoother.
a few euro paid to the right man can really work miracles.

[haranguerer]

In terms of the 'ethos' of the organisation, and in line with statements Cooney has made on it, this is a much more serious breach of GAA rules than any on-pitch schemozzle. So if such a schemozzle earns a 5 year ban, then this, being much more serious, and also shown to go to a much higher level deserves a much greater. Of course everyones at it etc, but if the GAA were to be consistent (first time for everything) thats what they should be thinking. Of course it'll never happen, but it exposes how inept a lot of those running the GAA generally are

[Give and Go]

This is the greatest own goal by Cooney and Duffy. These two boys might declare what they have cost us annually
It isnt the problem it's made out to be. There is huge innuendo out there about guys that are genuine in their commitment. They have put everyone under a cloud.
Sure there are a number of guys who are 'earning' money coaching teams - most are getting nothing or legit expenses.
Many of the guys training other Club teams do so for minimal cost; let the clubs who have paid over the top declare who got what and stop dramatising the problem.
I mean some of the coverage has been a joke; sports journalists plucking figures from the sky and multiplying it by a factor of thousands to arrive at literally a figure of millions going into the black economy..
Poppycock.

[joemamas]

Tommy Lyons is an auld windbag and I wouldn't believe him if he told me that bears were Catholic and the Pope nips out to the woods the odd time.

+1


"Isint that right Bernard"

[Croí na hÉireann]

Tommy Lyons is an auld windbag and I wouldn't believe him if he told me that bears were Catholic and the Pope nips out to the woods the odd time.

+1


"Isint that right Bernard"

My favourite was where he kept calling Spillane "Michael" on the night time show when he was running it 

[Hound]

There seems to be a growing groundswell with the opinion, "so what if he have our head in the sand, isnt it just grand there"

Tommy Lyons is a gas man. You 'd always know if you were sitting in the same section as him in Croker, as at HT or between matches, he just stays standing beside his seat.

Didnt realise he was wealthy. How did he manage that?

[Jinxy]

Whether you like Lyons or not, why would he make that fact up?

The only way we are ever going to move on from this problem is if county boards just be honest about it. Looks like we are never going to get that.

Arseboxing.