Next Offaly football manager.....

[Hocker]

Ok lads it's now inevitable that this topic should arise it's little (soon-to-be-big) head....
From a very reliable source close to the county board, Pat Roe will be gone as soon as the championship is over and out of the way, most probably before the end of July. From the horses mouth himelf, a list has been drawn up on who will succeed Roe and probably to no surprise not one come from outside Offaly. The list contains the following names among more:
Brendan Clarke
Paul Mollen
Stephen Darby
Laz Molloy
Vinny Claffey
Eamon Mahon
Phil O'Reilly
Paul Gavin
Tom Coffey
Paul O'Kelly(Again)..

Just wondering what your thoughts would be on this topic and should we keep it within the county or look elsewhere??

[gutless08]

god hocker , i hope that isnt the real list.
i think we should look outside the county for a start,no politics

how bout thinking big for once
colm o rourke
bernard flynn
tommy lyons
paidi
or even a northern coach
its time too think big, if we want success.
a prominent county board member told me last year offaly couldnt attract a big name,yet teams like wicklow with micko,carlow got liam hayes for a period,
we wont find a big name or a manager who commands respect if we dont look, theres no rush on appointing a new boss,please county board give the fans a man who can put respect back into the county or else appoint within and go back 2 the late eighties

[the Untouchable]

I think if Offaly are serious about appointing a new manager then the sooner he's appointed the better, because every year we've waited till the championships have finished before appointing a manager....thus meaning the manager won't have seen any new potential players in action with their club.

Of Hockers list not 1 of them is fit to manage at senior level....people will probably say Stephen Darby should get the job, but I'd rather see him appointed as a selector & been manager of either the Under 21 or minor team also.

Personally I think the time is right for Tommy Lyons to be approached once again....practically all the players that worked under him in the late nineties are gone now & I'm sure he'd restore some of the passion & pride in the team that has been severely lacking in the last few years. I don't think O'Rourke would be a good appointment, he's actually a very poor manager tactically & I don't think he'd waste his time with Offaly & the tight fisted county board when the Meath county board would throw money at him if he'd take the job there!!!

I hope that Tom Coffey gets involved this year as a selector, he's worked very hard with the minors & under 21's in the last few years & is a hugely respected man throughout Offaly.

Ok, it might seem a little biased having 2 selectors from Rhode, but too be fair, there's not too many people who spring to mind as suitable candidates who have as much to offer Offaly as Stephen & Tom do.

I don't buy in to the whole thing that the players aren't good enough to compete, with the right manager in charge & a decent budget to allow the manager prepare them properly I think Offaly could well be capable of coming back as a force in Leinster. The problem for this crop of players is that they've been failed by the county board & by the managements that's been over them. Players should be put through 3-4 months of gym work from October to January to condition them for county football....Offaly players are too soft in the tackle & we've no physical edge to our game.

Its time Offaly got serious because another year like this year & we'll be down with the likes of Carlow once again a laughing stock in Leinster & it will be a long long way for them to come back!!!

Slan!!!

[mad biffo]

Get Tommy Lyons back he was the best manager Offaly ever had!

[Muck Savage]

If Roe is going to go as soon as the Championship is over then he should go now, let someone else in and start the building process for next year. Some of the players want a real go at the back door but it seems like the auld dogs don't. They should step aside and let the fringe players this year show there is some pride in the county jersey.

As for the list Hocker, I hope your not serious. Most of them couldn't manage a Junior B team (don't say that Offaly are gone that low ), the only ones from that list that could be even mentioned are Coffey, Darby, O'Kelly or O'Reilly and that would be for a selector position.

Lyons - Don't go near the man. Get someone that will play a game that suits what we have in players, direct game.

[Lone Shark]

I'd say you could discount most of the names on that list. As was pointed out, Darby, Coffey and O'Reilly may be considered, possibly as selectors rather than managers, but other than that I couldn't see most of them even making a long list, never mind a shortlist.

I would agree that it's irritating how every year we start in January with most of the people in the county knowing more about the local football scene than our manager. The Niall McNamee freetaking debate is just one example of how we get killed by managers who just don't know what the rest of us have seen for years.

Also, I'm not a believer in big name outside managers at a huge cost. These guys can work wonders with counties with high levels of disinterest where most of the best footballers in the county don't bother making the commitment to playing intercounty football, but I don't think it suits us here. We don't have the funds and they tend to demand exclusive attention - things like dual players would not sit well with these guys.

Having said all that, talk to any of the Monaghan or Johnstownbridge footballers about Paul O'Kelly and you'll hear nothing but praise. I'd completely understand if he told the county board to feck off, but if he was willing to take the job I'd give it to him in a heartbeat.

[Sydthebeat]

didnt we have a similar thread this time last year?

[Lone Shark]

We weren't taking into account the fact that the county board were going to beg Pat Roe to keep the job even though he wanted to walk away.

[gutless08]

Also, I'm not a believer in big name outside managers at a huge cost. These guys can work wonders with counties with high levels of disinterest where most of the best footballers in the county don't bother making the commitment to playing intercounty football, but I don't think it suits us here. We don't have the funds and they tend to demand exclusive attention - things like dual players would not sit well with these guys.

[quote][/quote] lone shark i have too disagree strongly about a big name outsider, offaly have never won an all ireland with a manager from within. guys like reilly and coffey wud be great selectors with potential, but offaly needs a big name at this moment in time to get the players to reach there peak.
money may be an isssue , but we know roe is on high expenses and was not a big name, we got what we paid for.
now we have a ground to be proud of, its a shame our team arent given the same priority.
as for o kelly i dont think hes good enough either, players may say great things, eg the players loved gerry fahey, but these guys havent had county teams beating down there door since have they?

[Lone Shark]

Also, I'm not a believer in big name outside managers at a huge cost. These guys can work wonders with counties with high levels of disinterest where most of the best footballers in the county don't bother making the commitment to playing intercounty football, but I don't think it suits us here. We don't have the funds and they tend to demand exclusive attention - things like dual players would not sit well with these guys.

lone shark i have too disagree strongly about a big name outsider, offaly have never won an all ireland with a manager from within. guys like reilly and coffey wud be great selectors with potential, but offaly needs a big name at this moment in time to get the players to reach there peak.
money may be an isssue , but we know roe is on high expenses and was not a big name, we got what we paid for.
now we have a ground to be proud of, its a shame our team arent given the same priority.
as for o kelly i dont think hes good enough either, players may say great things, eg the players loved gerry fahey, but these guys havent had county teams beating down there door since have they?

Obviously we can't go into numbers here, but I promise you here and now you would have to treble Pat Roe's money to get a guy like O'Dwyer, O'Mahoney or any ex-All Ireland winner to be honest. You do not get a manager like that for under six figures. That fact may be disgusting and a perversion of everything Gaelic games are supposed to be about, but it is true. There is quite simply no way we could afford that - unless you think every club in Offaly could afford to sell another 40 development draw tickets?

The benefit that these guys bring tends to be a unity of purpose, a sense that everyone's going for the same thing. I don't think that's the problem in Offaly. Our players are committed and 98% of them make themselves available - all the guys that have walked away from our football panel did so because they weren't getting a chance and weren't going to either. Ward's case was slightly different, but he's the exception.

Paul O'Kelly has had plenty of people asking him to get involved with teams, however he hasn't been willing to commit himself to the amount of time due to his own work. I guarantee you that if he made himself available after the first round of the qualifiers he'd have three or four job offers in a week - though sadly probably not from Offaly. I can't speak for Fahey in that regard.

The ground is a different issue - there is a return on that investment, all the more so in the long term. A big name manager guarantees you no such return. Ask the people of Clare if they'd prefer to have spent the money on Páidí Ó'Sé in another way and I'd say you'd get a fairly uniform response.

[Bord na Mona man]

I think timing is important too.
A young enthuasistic manager would be more worthwhile than an aging great of the past.
Micko is probably the exception here, but many highly rated managers give me the impression that they are past their best.

John O'Mahony was mentioned earlier, but hasn't set the world alight since winning the All Ireland in 2001 with Galway.
John Maughan, Tommy Lyons, Joe Kernan, Babs Keating, Sean Boylan etc - They all had a purple patch, but it came to a stage where they were longer going to replicate the success of their earlier years. Managers have a shelf life IMO.

Wexford took a gamble on a 32 year old rookie this year. The same with Tipp footballers 6 years ago. When they took Cork to a replay in the Munster final, their manager was 29.

I'd rather Offaly took on a manager hungry to do well, than a big name on big "expenses" who will go through the motions and is probably waiting for a big money gig on the Sunday Game to fall on his lap.

[Oceans 15]

Personally I think the time is right for Tommy Lyons to be approached once again....practically all the players that worked under him in the late nineties are gone now & I'm sure he'd restore some of the passion & pride in the team that has been severely lacking in the last few years. I don't think O'Rourke would be a good appointment, he's actually a very poor manager tactically & I don't think he'd waste his time with Offaly & the tight fisted county board when the Meath county board would throw money at him if he'd take the job there!!!

I wouldn't let Lyons back into the county. He is more interested in his own ego than anything else. He was shown up badly in the championship the following 2 years after we won Leinster. He treats players like kids (although some of our guys at the moment act like kids!) and not grown adults.

I think O'Rourke would be good. He seemed to be very good with rhe Compromise Rules team a few years back..

[turk]

You'll have Bord na Mona man on next making a case for Val Andrews. I wouldn't go near Lyons either - he was a case of the right man at the right time but set Offaly backwards after that.

[Silken Thomas]

Some of the internal candidates could never be considered for a County post. Of the West Offaly candidates though one of these should be picked as a selector. A good knowledge of West Offaly (which in my opinion is an underdeveloped/used area with no less than seven senior clubs and one of the favourites for Intermediate) should be essential for one of the next selectors.


Does anyone else on the West side think similarily?

To paraphrase Eamon Dunphy from the other night. Okay, hyperbole alert, but does the West Offaly/ Offaly situation mirror the Catalan/ Spanish one? ( and I don't mean terrorism, physical violence etc )

What I'm trying to get at is does a Rhode/Edenderry/Gracefield/Walsh Island player aspire to be a County player but a Westie not as much? Forgive me for repeating careless whispers...

Anyways

Brendan Clarke: Back in with Athlone and has been around so to speak with Ferbane and Castledaly and Offaly Juniors. A great knowledge of the West but question marks remain especially regarding his Ferbane and Gallen C.S. sojurns.

Eamon Mahon: Currently involved with Padraig Pearses in Roscommon and former senior selector and Offaly Under-21 manager to boot. Has been out of the loop though in the last few years so it would be hard to see him involved. Again his tactical nous would be up for discussion.( Edenderry vs. Shannonbridge, First Round 1997)

Paul Mollen: Former old school full-forward with oodles of County medals, Previously involved as a football development officer and current Doon manager. Due to his involvement with Doon he would still have an idea of talent in the County. Great playing career and would be respected in the West! (Replacing David Larkin in the Intermediate final of 2007 was bizarre though dar liom).


Therefore Darby, O' Reilly and Coffey would be ideal for two of the other selector positions and would definitly present themselves as the standout indiginous candidates.

By the way nobody from my club( all internal hands to the pumps), we seem to have enough problems to be taken care of as evidenced by last Friday night

As for external candidates( to be pinched)( Just thinking by the way)
- Luke Dempsey
- Frank O' Doherty ( Clare)
- Sean Dempsey? (last years Laois under 21 boss)

[gutless08]

[

quote="Lone SharkObviously we can't go into numbers here, but I promise you here and now you would have to treble Pat Roe's money to get a guy like O'Dwyer, O'Mahoney or any ex-All Ireland winner to be honest. You do not get a manager like that for under six figures. That fact may be disgusting and a perversion of everything Gaelic games are supposed to be about, but it is true. There is quite simply no way we could afford that - unless you think every club in Offaly could afford to sell another 40 development draw tickets?

The benefit that these guys bring tends to be a unity of purpose, a sense that everyone's going for the same thing. I don't think that's the problem in Offaly. Our players are committed and 98% of them make themselves available - all the guys that have walked away from our football panel did so because they weren't getting a chance and weren't going to either. Ward's case was slightly different, but he's the exception.

Paul O'Kelly has had plenty of people asking him to get involved with teams, however he hasn't been willing to commit himself to the amount of time due to his own work. I guarantee you that if he made himself available after the first round of the qualifiers he'd have three or four job offers in a week - though sadly probably not from Offaly. I can't speak for Fahey in that regard.

The ground is a different issue - there is a return on that investment, all the more so in the long term. A big name manager guarantees you no such return. Ask the people of Clare if they'd prefer to have spent the money on Páidí Ó'Sé in another way and I'd say you'd get a fairly uniform response.

[/quote]regarding money i read a great qoute from former president peter quinn ,when asked about payments being made to managers under the table he replied he couldnt even find the table
maybe with a better possibly more ambitious supporter club or indeed approaching an investor within the county we could meet the demand of an o rourke or a hungry ex all ireland winner, its what we need badly.
all our players are not committed , they drink at will , not all may i add, sum are not fit.
paul o kelly has been offered how many county MANAGER jobs since offaly.?
as in life there are no guarantees, but if u drive a faster car you have a greater chance of winning

im happy with the ground and the relentless work that has gone on in making it a success
ask the people of westhmeath was the money on paidi well spent
ok he flopped in clare but he brought in a new squad sum just 17 and 18 who defeated waterford this year,
ask the people of clare was maughan worth the money??
or kildare micko? or maybe we should ask ourselves are we happy watching other teams grace croke park come june?