Offaly should take the lead in curbing the cult of the manager

As Tom Cribbin takes over as Offaly senior football manager, KEVIN EGAN argues that Offaly should take the lead in curtailing the cult of the manager in Gaelic games at both inter-county and club level. When Tom Cribbin parted ways with the Laois senior football team in the aftermath of the 2000 Leinster senior football championship, his return to senior inter-county football was probably a long way from his thoughts. If he did ponder the day when he was to once again don the bainisteoir bib at the highest level, it"s highly unlikely that he would have imagined the convoluted circumstances in which his return would eventually take place. The unusual backdrop to his appointment gives the Kildare native a considerable amount of breathing space. Expectations in the county have never been so low, with the past two and half years having crushed local optimism to the point whereby even survival in division three and a dignified performance in the championship would be considered a step forward. With so little expected, one could almost argue that this is the dream appointment for the Clane man. While Cribbin and his as-yet-unknown selectors will be responsible for harnessing what talent exists in the county (the level of which is very much up for debate at the moment) and turning the corner in 2009, the resolution of the latest crisis allows those within the county board and elsewhere to step back and address the issues which underpin the current malaise that exists. The unsatisfactory state of the under-21 championship was discussed in these pages last week, however a much larger elephant also hides in the corner of the room, and events in the county since January very much bear this out. The cult of the manager has reached unheard of proportions within Gaelic games, to the point where an unprecedented amount of responsibility for both success and failure is borne by the man calling the shots from the sideline. Those calling for a quick fix of a county"s ills invariably look to change the manager, often suggesting that a 'big name' could be the panacea for all ills. The big name manager disease has even infiltrated club football, with countless clubs of all levels now expected to pay upwards of €100 a night for the services of former county stars. For obvious reasons, exact details of remuneration for managers are unconfirmed, though rumours abound. If the grapevine is to be taken at face value, the scale starts with six figure annual sums being given to certain managers with All-Ireland titles to their name, sliding down to perhaps a grand a week for mid ranking county managers. Moving down one grade further again, this reporter knows of one club treasurer of a junior club in Ulster who was simply informed that he would have to find an extra £12,000 to finance a star name for the year, since if the local stalwart was retained, several of the club"s better younger players would look to transfer elsewhere. This represented an extra 30% to be found at a time when Ireland, north and south, turned the corner into recession. This farcical practice cannot continue, if for no other reason than it is a zero sum game. Every year, one team will win the All-Ireland football title and either three or four other counties will win provincial titles. One team will win the National League, meaning that at most, six counties will have some meaningful success to show for their season. Were Galway to do a league, Connacht and All-Ireland sweep, it could be possible that only they would have had a good year, since provincial titles for counties like Tyrone, Kerry and Dublin are scarcely of value any more. By spending more time and money on big name managers and their assorted other hangers-on, all that"s happening is the minimum standard for all counties to reach is being raised, with money haemorrhaging out of the game at the same time and no additional overall value being added. This column is not possessed of sufficient hard facts to name names and certainly no inference is intended towards any individual. However, this culture is extremely damaging, both for the cost incurred and the weakening of the GAA"s position as an amateur sport. It"s widely accepted that payment to players would lead to a slow erosion of parish and county rule and one of the main planks of argument for those who would argue in favour of paying players is that managers currently get paid, so why should players not? There is the argument that the weakening of the state"s finances may soon do the GAA"s work for them, in that under the table payments of all kinds will be investigated out of financial necessity. However, tackling this situation head on rather than waiting for the revenue commissioners to do so could allow Offaly the chance to get a head-start on other counties, by anticipating how the game will evolve as the culture dies out. As a small county, Offaly will always be dependent on a combination of special talent and innovation to punch above its weight. It could be argued that every successful Offaly side had some combination of these two factors and the current malaise could largely be attributed to reverting to following trends rather than setting them. As one example of a possible step forward, there is a real case to be made for any money which may otherwise be paid to county managers of Offaly teams to be set aside to employ perhaps two full time physical trainers. In John Leahy and Carina Carroll, Offaly have two very fine coaches for younger players, however there is a clear deficiency when it comes to preparing 18 and 19-year-olds who have the basic skills of football and hurling mastered, for the step up to adult games. Full time physical trainers would be available to the minor, under-21 and senior county panels, but also work with those that are bubbling under - those aged between 18 and 25 who wish to break into the county set-up, but don"t currently warrant selection. Clubs too or even individual players could book appointments with these mentors, ensuring that players who wanted to be at their physical peak could put their faith in proven and trained individuals who would know exactly what"s best for each person. This would give the driven and motivated footballer or hurler a level playing field with his counterpart who perhaps has enjoyed more favour with selectors up along the line. Currently in Offaly it could be argued that those who have played for the county at underage level are favoured too much, but it is scarcely surprising given the huge gap in the quality of training that underage county stars and those lagging a little behind may receive. Above all, a county resource such as this would reduce the need for clubs to engage in ad hoc programmes of their own, possibly without the help of trained professionals. Club training could also then revert to more ball work, as the club manager would no longer have to place so much emphasis on the fitness side of games and the ball skills could in turn be worked on. The cult of the manager is a dangerous phenomenon which needs to be eradicated and the laws of evolution suggests that it will, however Offaly would do well to be a leader rather than a follower in this instance.