Are managers getting too full of their own importance?

[Bud Wiser]

I am not saying that Tony Considine fits the bill of the subject title but I ask have managers and the GAA in general taken the levels of commitment required to be allowed play our national sport a bit too high?  Like him or loathe him Davy Fitz has given a lot of his time and effort to the GAA and it is a shame, for whatever reason, that he is being treated the way he is.  I don't give a s*** what caused the upheavel but when mediation is refused it is no encouragement whatsoever for young lads to take up hurling.

Then we have the case of the Cannings.  I said that they would not be coming back because of the way they were treated with reports from all quarters talking about the decisions they were going to make without as much as one single quote directly from the players when they told "ould shoot the oil cans" what to do with their selection prospects.

Not restricted to hurling, our own county manager sent Donie Brennan into Limbo and then went on national media to tell everyone why and how he did it.  One of the reasons why in a few years time we will have more Damien's and Robbies than Donies.  Why not leave the young lad in the squad and let him bide his time that way.  Did he shoot someone?

Not that I am a fanatical Tyrone fan or anything but maybe it is time to take a leaf out of Mickey Harte's book and take responsibility for yoor own actions.  When Laois beat Tyrone in O'Moore Park last year every paper were lamenting how he was short of players.  Not Harte, he wished Laois well and said we were the better team on the day and when he came to notice a bit of messing in his own camp he did not make a name for himself by showing how merciless he was, which is probably why his team respect him to an extent that they show it on the field in a seperate way to their normal commitment.

And where are the GPA in all of this - the players representatives?  How many players on the Clare team want Fitzy to play and where is their voice?  Who represents them?  Who represents Donie Brennan when a manager not a wet day in the job can tell him to take a stroll and come back after the league and he will consider him?  I have heard two disticntly different stories about the Cannings, one more or less from the horses mouth but I still wonder has the GAA lost its traditions to a stage where it is us aginst them as opposed to one for all and all for one?

[liihb]

Strong rumours that Brennan was acting the bollix and if thats the case he deserved it. Even if he wasn't on form and he was dropped surely its a managers perogative? I don't think that there is anything wrong with dropping a fella due to form or commitment. Every case should be dealt with on merit, but at the end of the day the manager is the boss, and has to show he is.
As for Kearns explaining it, I presume he was asked about it as Brennan would be high profile enough, and explained what he did. He did say that he talked to all the players involved and the door is not closed to any of them. If you ask me discipline is something that would do the Laois lads no harm at all, as it does for any county team.

[Heshs Umpire]

All reports indicate that Kearns was perfectly right to drop Donie.
And it should also be pointed out that the panel is open ended and if he does enough work, impresses with the under 21's, there's a fair to middling chance he will be recalled.

[Bud Wiser]

A player being dropped is one thing, announcing in the national media that he won't have any part in the league or the county team is different.  Any manager has a right to drop a player.  Donie Brennan is only a young lad and if the attitude is to destroy him in the papers then he should go off to Limerick along with the Cannings and play rugby. (Probably a bit small though!)

[haze]

Liam Kearns is fully entitled to drop Donnie...  And Budwiser i'm fairly sure he didnt call a special press conference to announce it. In the last few years the media have really increased their interest in managers and while i'm not 100% for this cause i think players are being partly marginalised as a result.. it seems to be a necessary evil as i think it helps to raise the profile of our games

[Bud Wiser]

Well I'm only giving my opinion Haze.   There are two English FA Players playing in the Championship today who were doubtful because of injury - reason - fighting on the training ground.  Do you sack your best employee because of a misdemeanour or talk to him in private and get things back on track.  If Davy Fitz was prepared to go through mediation then the least, after the service and enjoyment he has given many of us,  he deserves is a proper hearing.

If :    Mickey Harte was managing Laois Donie Brennan would not be  sent walking and not be part of the League.  What's he supposed to do when the league is over?  Grovel?

If:     Tony Considine didn't know before now that Fitzy had a short fuse after watching him play for Clare for the last decade then he should be gone not Fitzgerald.  I have seen Fitzy close up as late as the last championship game he played and he was as mad as a brush when the ball was even at the other end of the field.  He is one of the best goalkeepers in the country and a manager, or management team should know how to handle him.

If:   Managers can not get it into their head that when a player leaves the training ground or playing pitch that they do not own  a piece of him to the extent that there are articles in papers because the manager was not happy with where he shit last then (in my opinion) it is time that managers fees of 100,000 a year along with free retal of a big house and car should be divvied down to the players, or taken away from the manager.  Then see who has commitment.

If:   Managers were not so full of their own importance then Ger Loughnane who is going to win this years ALL-Ireland with Galway (or if not, definitekly next years) was not so full of his own importance he would have taken control of the Cannings episode.  Anyone with the slightest qualifications in Human Resources would have seen the requirement for him to (a) go directly cap in hand to the Cannings and talk to them, or (b) do nothing.   Instead there was a picture painted that because someone akin to God himself was manager that the Cannings would sulk for a few weeks and then just turn up on the training ground.  As I predicted on the Cannings Return thread, that didn't happen.

I accept and agree that players can't run riot.  There has to be a line somewhere between entering the priesthood and making a vow of total abstinence to play a game of football  and having a pint and a shag when the right opportunity presents itself as against having less freedom than a Premiership player who are on up to 300,000 grand a week or the manager who is getting a 100,000 grand a year and can't understand that.   

[Josey Whales]

But the reality is Budweiser i was told Brennan refused to do the weight training Kearns set them. If a player decides to refuse to do the training than the manager has no choice. No-one says they have to live like amateur monks - but all club players at senior level do weight training and you have no chance at county level without it.
The reality is Laois players in particular don't seem to have any concept of the notion that you can't go on the piss 1-2 days before a match. Like i said club players wouldn't do it. You can have a social life- but it has to be at the right times especially at county level- you can out and simply not drink and that solves a lot of the problems. Nobody is forcing them to play at county level if he doesn't want to do the training he should be told to piss off- it's a personal training every player makes what they want to with the spare time in their lives and if he doesn't want to do it Laois are better off without him- on the evidence of last Sunday he isn't irreplaceable.