Offaly Senior Footballers - Planning for 2025, Mickey Harte onboard

[joey1001]

A man that overstayed his welcome with Tyrone and held them back so badly until he finally left and they won an all ireland the year he went. He had a contender for all ireland in Derry and lost the dressing room and was too stubborn to change tactics, went all out to win the league and were dishevelled by championship, did alright with Louth but by all accounts he was more than well assisted and got more credit for it than he should, football left him behind 15 years ago. He turned a generation of Tyrone footballers into thugs to win which they did for a little while until other teams changed. He is a sour bitter pain in the ass and he has no loyalty as he proved with Derry and particularly with Louth where he had agreed to stay on until Derry showed up. The appointment of Mickey harte in any form as manager not mind joint manager is the last thing offaly football needed. A little bounce with an o Byrne cup win maybe and a "boost". A bittery disappointing day for offaly football and an appointment that lacks any imagination or shows any concern for the future of offaly football.. I guess when it doesn't work out duignan can say he tried and in the unlikely event it does work out, he'll be a hero. Awful!!

[jimbob17]

I remember hearing bad stories emanating from senior football camp before Christmas and thinking, this isn't going to end well.

Now this move really shakes it up big time, but doesn't really address the elephant in the room which was the toxic relationship within senior dressingroom between management and some senior players. There is always going to be people who fall out but the nature of these fall outs were not good.

Does this new addition change or address these issues? No, and it could get quite complicated. How well Harte engages with Kelly and vice versa will be crucial here and will only be really tested when one or other need to compromise their beliefs to facilitate the others opinions in key pressure games. Like someone above suggests, what does DK add now in a joint managerial role given the issues that were there in 2024. Unless all senior players or players with issues last year are wiped off panel (which we can ill afford), I'm not sure this will work. Just don't understand why when they are bringing him down from Tyrone for this gig, why they don't just give him the managers job on his own....

[ruletheroost]

God help the next chairman.

[faithfulfanatic]

A man that overstayed his welcome with Tyrone and held them back so badly until he finally left and they won an all ireland the year he went. He had a contender for all ireland in Derry and lost the dressing room and was too stubborn to change tactics, went all out to win the league and were dishevelled by championship, did alright with Louth but by all accounts he was more than well assisted and got more credit for it than he should, football left him behind 15 years ago. He turned a generation of Tyrone footballers into thugs to win which they did for a little while until other teams changed. He is a sour bitter pain in the ass and he has no loyalty as he proved with Derry and particularly with Louth where he had agreed to stay on until Derry showed up. The appointment of Mickey harte in any form as manager not mind joint manager is the last thing offaly football needed. A little bounce with an o Byrne cup win maybe and a "boost". A bittery disappointing day for offaly football and an appointment that lacks any imagination or shows any concern for the future of offaly football.. I guess when it doesn't work out duignan can say he tried and in the unlikely event it does work out, he'll be a hero. Awful!!

Just the 3 all irelands and 6 Ulster’s with Tyrone.
Sounds like a lot more than ‘winning for a little while’.

[ruletheroost]

It’s probably a master stroke by the county board. Having Harte on board might tempt some of the players to not walk away.

[Anonymous1]

It’s probably a master stroke by the county board. Having Harte on board might tempt some of the players to not walk away.

Again though, if that's the rationale then why not go the whole hog and make Mickey manager on his own?

[ruletheroost]

Maybe promised DK a term and couldn’t back down on it. I guess we’ll never know but I can’t see it working out.

[Anonymous1]

Maybe promised DK a term and couldn’t back down on it. I guess we’ll never know but I can’t see it working out.

But it seems as if they've given him a new 3 year deal today?

[ruletheroost]

Maybe that’s part of his original deal.. he’s not the man we need. He’s not liked in any club. As a fan I hope I’m wrong but the noise coming out this year was deafening. It shouldn’t have been ignored.

[Anonymous1]

Maybe that’s part of his original deal.. he’s not the man we need. He’s not liked in any club. As a fan I hope I’m wrong but the noise coming out this year was deafening. It shouldn’t have been ignored.

Do the clubs and/or players not get a say in this at some stage?

[Buttons]

Let’s see next year how good a decision this was, division 3 is so open it would be no surprise if counties hoping for promotion are in a relegation battle.

Do I think players may give it an extra year now, absolutely. We have some lovely players to work with that are playing sigerson so start with a clean slate.

As mentioned we went very close to reaching a Leinster final two years ago and on their day can play well.

[Bord na Mona man]

Maybe that’s part of his original deal.. he’s not the man we need. He’s not liked in any club. As a fan I hope I’m wrong but the noise coming out this year was deafening. It shouldn’t have been ignored.

Do the clubs and/or players not get a say in this at some stage?

Historically, giving Offaly clubs a say in the hiring and firing of managers has not given the best outcomes.

[ruletheroost]

A good PR stunt if nothing else.

[Anonymous1]

Maybe that’s part of his original deal.. he’s not the man we need. He’s not liked in any club. As a fan I hope I’m wrong but the noise coming out this year was deafening. It shouldn’t have been ignored.

Do the clubs and/or players not get a say in this at some stage?

Historically, giving Offaly clubs a say in the hiring and firing of managers has not given the best outcomes.

Would you say our appointments of late have been any better?

[Faithfully]

Bizarre appointment really, seems to be a tacit acknowledgement that the current situation is untenable and the players will not play for Kelly otherwise. I'd be trying my best to be hopeful about it, and maybe the name brand value if nothing else will rejuvenate all involved with the Offaly panel.

There are 4-6 players in the 22-24 age bracket in 2025 who can really kick on strong. My fear is that some of our better players from the past decade are on the downturn at this point.