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
If true they should be banned from all competitions for a year
Quote from: Benny Sweeney on February 24, 2012, 10:47:24 AM
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.
Quote from: heffo on February 24, 2012, 11:00:57 AM
Quote from: Benny Sweeney on February 24, 2012, 10:47:24 AM
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: Benny Sweeney on February 24, 2012, 10:47:24 AM
If true they should be banned from all competitions for a year
If followed through there would be some very short competitions in 2012 ::)
Quote from: Benny Sweeney on February 24, 2012, 10:47:24 AM
If true they should be banned from all competitions for a year
Could they enter your paranormal Championships instead?
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. ;)
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
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.
Quote from: Shamrock Shore on February 24, 2012, 11:15:36 AM
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"
Quote from: joemamas on February 24, 2012, 02:15:14 PM
Quote from: Shamrock Shore on February 24, 2012, 11:15:36 AM
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 :D
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?
Quote from: TheThirdManning on February 24, 2012, 11:46:42 AM
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.
Quote from: Hound on February 24, 2012, 02:28:37 PM
Didnt realise he was wealthy. How did he manage that?
Well relatively speaking - he owns a large company in Parkwest.
Did you see prime time last night: http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/mediaplayer.html?features,3194746,3194746,flash,247
There was a good point made about the GAA director starting to get paid in the last decade or so. Would anyone have information on how much the top brass in HQ are getting paid? It would put a lot of perspective on the payment to managers debate.
Painful to admit it but the only way to make payments to managers ok is to accept it and regulate it. This will inevitably in turn prompt a debate on pay for play whether its next year or ten years from now.
Well if we are thrown out we can enjoy the summer free from hype and expectation....along with about 30 other counties.
Would i be right in thinking the president gets his salary matched to the job he left to take up office?
Yes.
Hopefully a Chief Executive of a Multinational never gets to be Uachtarán
QuoteWhen 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?
It sounds to me more like the interviewers were offering him some rope with which he would hang himself, but he didn't take it. They probably thought he was too smart to fall for the trap, until now.
They neither offered him any amount of money nor paid him any, this is a nothing story.
Tommy Lyons should be banned from all competitions and media coverage of them for life...
What strikes me as odd about Tommy's account is that, apparently, there was no follow up.
I mean if the official asked Tommy to name the price was he willing to sell his soul and told him to put it in writing and Tommy was so outraged that he retorted with his take of Gerry Adams, what happened next?
Surely to God, one or other of the pair said, "WTF are you on about ya muppet?" (sorry muppet) or something like that. But, according to Tommy, that was the end of that and the interview, if that is what it was, continued on as if nothing untoward had happened.
I think I know why the official would want to know what amount Lyons was looking for and wasn't necessarily talking about under the table arrangements either.
Waldron gave his reasons for the board wanting to discuss expenses with Tommy Lyons and he probably did the same to all prospective managers. They were probably thinking of Mickey Moran when they did so.
When Mickey and Beefer took up the job, it seems there had been no hard and fast arrangement about the costs that would be incurred in running the team. The board, Sean Feeney in particular, were shocked when Mickey started clocking up unexpectedly large bills for overnight hotel stays for away games and decent meals after every match instead of hang sandwiches and flasks of tay in the changing rooms and the likes.
Feeney went ballistic, or bear sick as my old granny used to call it, and also went public about his concerns at cost overruns.
I think it's reasonable to say the board looked for detailed breakdowns from John O'Mahony and James Horan of their proposed expenses and from anyone else who was interviewed for the manager's job since the departure of Mickey..
Fair enough, people don't like Tommy Lyons. You could afix almost any inter-county manager's name and you'd still get a raft of snide comments so that's hardly the issue - this is a rampant problem and Mayo just happen to be the county caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Quote from: Syferus on February 25, 2012, 12:21:56 AM
Fair enough, people don't like Tommy Lyons. You could afix almost any inter-county manager's name and you'd still get a raft of snide comments so that's hardly the issue - this is a rampant problem and Mayo just happen to be the county caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Nothing more, nothing less.
But they actually haven't.
Lyons claims they were offering him loads of dosh.
He said he, in turn, offered to do it for nothing.
They turned him down.
Does this really make sense? Were they going to offer him the job only on condition that he demanded loads of money?
Even if Tommy Lyons account is correct, it just means the mayo board asked him if wanted money to do the job.
It doesn't mean they offered him money to do the job.
Big difference.