Tonny - that is about the most sensible thing I have read on here in quite a while. There is no long term planning in this county for preparing managers for the senior role. Picking suitable candidates at an early stage and getting them involved in underage structures. Allowing them to develop their skills (and make their mistakes) at lower grades. Then promoting them to senior jobs based on their track record at underage. I had hoped that the creation of that committee with Sean Boylan involved would pave the way for suitable structures to be put in place to choose managers/coaches and develop them. So far though, nothing has materialised.

In my opinion, this committee should be given charge of choosing the minor, U21 and Junior manager (the Junior team should be taken seriously and used to blood young players who aren't quite ready for senior, or for keeping borderline players involved with the county set-up). The committees brief should be simple - decide on what style of football Meath are going to play. Choose managers for those 3 teams based who are going to manage those teams to play to that style of football. Only choose managers who realistically have a chance of being senior manager in the future. Ideally promote from minor, to U-21, to Junior to senior, unless someone shows that they are clearly not up to it. Tell the senior manager that they must work with the managers of all those teams to ensure that all players involved get proper coaching, enough games, and plenty of experience for when they step up to the senior panel. If the senior manager can't or won't do that, then get rid of him and move on to someone who will.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 23/08/2015 20:35:20    1774824

The county board don't seem to care about the U21's at all,so every year they are under-prepared.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 23/08/2015 20:37:53    1774828

Exactly,so if you do the U21 job,were you don't get the best players for training etc,and can't work with the players proparly,you will struggle and people will say,well they are no good why give them the senior job..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 23/08/2015 20:39:51    1774829

Rumour has it he may be a senior manager in 16 anyway, 3 counties have asked him to put his name forward, now as far as i know only one has created a interest for him as the chances of playing Meath would be slim.
So looks like we may see what we all know he can deliver, but sure the anti GG faction in Meath will still praise falling over the line against worst team in country (Wicklow) and 35 minutes average football against a division 3 Westmeath team. Pathetic .

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 23/08/2015 20:42:39    1774831

Much as I hate praising the dubs, they have a great structure in place for bringing through managers/coaches. When Pat Gilroy stood down, everyone knew that Jim Gavin would take over, and that he would continue the work Gilroy had done. When Jim gavin goes, everyone know Dessie Farrell will get the job and continue on. No big drama. No in-fighting in the county board, or rows between clubs and county board. Just quietly get on with the job of making the team better.
In Meath, we just make it up as we go along. When Banty was ousted, no-one had an idea who would take over, Then there was a mad scramble to find a manager. We pick Mick O'Dowd, and suddenly everything banty was doing goes out the window, and we start again (unfortunately with the same results).
When Mick O'dowd does eventually go, the same nonsense will go on. A rush to find a suitable candidate. They will decide that a different style of play is in order, and that they want some new players to play their way, and then it will take another 2-3 years to get everything the way they want it. They get ousted and we start the same rotten roundabout all over again.

We need to start thinking 10 years into the future and plan accordingly. Have we a county board capable of doing that?

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 23/08/2015 20:44:25    1774832

I wouldn't take the Meath 21s job as it may affect my future as a club u12 u14 manager.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 23/08/2015 20:46:41    1774834

Agree 100% Ziggy. The U-21 manager is never given a chance in this county. The senior management has no real interest in seeing the u-21s doing well. And to fair, I can see why. As it stands, if the senior manager allows the U-21's to take precedence early in the year, and the team does well, it improves the reputation of the U-21 manager. So later in the year if the Seniors don't perform, the senior manager comes under threat from the U-21 manager. At present, any senior manager who works closely with the U21 manager would just be creating a rod for his own back.
Do you think that id Graham Geraghty was out in charge of the U-21s, that Mick O'Dowd would release all the players to him, to allow him a good crack at success? Not a hope.

As I said in my long winded port earlier, a proper structure for developing managers need to be out in place, and one of the specific roles of the senior manager should be to work with the other managers to ensure the best development of young players. If they cannot or will not do that, then remove them. Any manager who cannot look to the long term future of Meath football has no place being there.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 23/08/2015 20:53:06    1774839

anfearbeag
County: Meath
Posts: 675

When Mick O'dowd does eventually go, the same nonsense will go on. A rush to find a suitable candidate. They will decide that a different style of play is in order, and that they want some new players to play their way, and then it will take another 2-3 years to get everything the way they want it. They get ousted and we start the same rotten roundabout all over again.

____________________

Not really...you just need a good manger that can adapted his team to every circumstance

Meaning..you are not going to play the same style of football against Tyrone,Kerry or Dublin

Mod had a good first season because of the element of surprise factor...every manger that came up against Meath since has watch the videos of them and now know how to stop them from playing!

It only took the Westmeath manger 52 mins to adapted...and another 5 years for Mod to see will he adapted

WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 876 - 23/08/2015 21:10:35    1774862

anfearbeag
County: Meath
Posts: 675

When Mick O'dowd does eventually go, the same nonsense will go on. A rush to find a suitable candidate. They will decide that a different style of play is in order, and that they want some new players to play their way, and then it will take another 2-3 years to get everything the way they want it. They get ousted and we start the same rotten roundabout all over again.

____________________

Not really...you just need a good manger that can adapted his team to every circumstance

Meaning..you are not going to play the same style of football against Tyrone,Kerry or Dublin

Mod had a good first season because of the element of surprise factor...every manger that came up against Meath since has watch the videos of them and now know how to stop them from playing!

It only took the Westmeath manger 52 mins to adapt...and another 5 years for Mod to see will he adapt

WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 876 - 23/08/2015 21:12:03    1774866

i also adapted bad grammer from my i phone...

WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 876 - 23/08/2015 21:14:49    1774868

I'm not sure I agree Longface. Certainly teams need to be able to adapt, both before games depending on the opposition, and during games depending on how the game is going. But before they can do that, they need to have a basic style of playing. They need a basic game-plan, that everyone understands, buys into, and is comfortable with. Typically that starts with the defensive set up. Make sure all the defenders know what their roles are, and where they are supposed to be. Make yourself hard to break down. Once that is in place, you can work on the forwards and getting scores yourself.
Once everyone knows what they and everyone else is supposed to be doing, you can then adapt the plan depending on the opposition.

There are very few teams able to play 2 or 3 completely different styles of football depending on the opposition. Kerry probably could do it, given the quality of the individual players. Donegal showed glimpses of being able to play a more expansive game, but they retain their core defensive system. The worse the players, the less able they will be to change styles completely - for most teams one game-plan, tweaked bit here and there is all.

After 3 years of watching Mick O'Dowds team, I am not sure that I see much in the line of a successful game-plan at all. The defence still don't know what to do when teams run through the middle at them. So given that we don't have much of a game-plan to begin with, there is very little chance of being able to change it half way through a game.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 23/08/2015 21:41:43    1774888

anfearbeag
County: Meath
Posts: 676

________________

What is your feelings on when the players say "we need to keep the same manger" ..this what the meath players seem to be saying a lot about Mod,change wont do them any good they say..and yet all there footballing life from under 12s to seniors they probably played under 20 different coaches and mangers...why does it effect them now when the environment they played all through there life was change?

WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 876 - 23/08/2015 21:56:37    1774898

Some of the players probably feel if a new manager comes in that their place is under-threat.Also when asked by the media,what else are they going to say?

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 24/08/2015 09:18:29    1774928

Any talk at games at the weekend regarding possible selectors? Was Mick o'Dowd at any games?

The last round was the last occasion that some teams will be playing championship, it would have been good for potential selectors to have taken in games.

oldsam_newsam (Meath) - Posts: 638 - 24/08/2015 10:20:44    1774990

Trying to think of a time were a manager gets in,without any competition allowed,loses his two selectors and doesn't have to name any top get the job..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 24/08/2015 11:29:13    1775061

anfearbeag

I can see your point about the structure dublin have but I'm not sure I quite agree with you, While Gilroy done a great job with dublin and won the AI with the when gavin stepped in he brought an entirely different style of play

Uncle_Fester (Meath) - Posts: 217 - 24/08/2015 12:12:26    1775117

WhyTheLongFace
________________

What is your feelings on when the players say "we need to keep the same manger"

The first and most obvious answer is that that is what all players say when they are asked. Its just self preservation. No-one is going to say that the manager doesn't know what he is doing, and should be sacked, in case the same manager then gets re-appointed. Players always back the current manager and say they are the best manager they ever played under, until the next one is appointed. They quickly forget the old guy and move on.
The second possible reason is that the players are in a comfort zone, are happy with where they are at, and don't fancy change. I don't have any insight into this current Meath panel, so I am reluctant to make any bold statements. However if Kevin Reilly's tweet is anything to go by, they are happy enough with the level of fitness they are at, and don't see the need to do anything differently. Personally I think that they are in complete denial, if that is really what they really think. There is no doubt that the team is fit. They are as fit as most other county teams, and they seem happy enough with that. However, crucially, they are not as fit as the county teams that are actually winning things. And if they want to win things, they need to be as fit as those other teams. There is no point in saying "we are as fit as athletes". They are not playing football against athletes. They need to be playing against Dublin, and Kerry and Mayo, and if they want to beat them they need to be as fit as them or fitter. Those teams are the benchmark, not some made-up athlete.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 25/08/2015 12:07:32    1775811

Uncle_Fester

"I can see your point about the structure dublin have but I'm not sure I quite agree with you, While Gilroy done a great job with dublin and won the AI with the when gavin stepped in he brought an entirely different style of play"

That's a fair point Fester. However Jim Gavin did have the advantage of having coached some of the players at U-21 level, so they knew what to expect of him. There was some continuity there at least. We have none of that in Meath. Who will be the next manager after MickO'Dowd? No-one knows who it will be. The U-21 manager Sean Barry? The minor manager Denis O'Shea? Unlikey I would have thought.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 25/08/2015 12:15:46    1775822

Well the likes of Dublin have full time strenght and conditioning coaches we don't,but that is about to change..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 25/08/2015 12:58:00    1775862

I think MOD has a massive chance here to put himself in a serious position as our county manager. If he step back and examines closely the 3 yrs past and identifies the weakness and areas where he and the panel have fallen down he could potentially re invent himself and meath football. If we look at this closely as I hope he is, Meath are not a million miles off the top teams. We could have taken Tyrone and went on the run that they did, and looking at them on sunday they were very close to reaching the AI final.
So where does he start, I for one am glad he hasn't rushed the appointments of his selectors as he really needs to get a team around him that share a single minded vision of getting Meath back into a force to be reckoned with.Its not till he speaks with people will he realise yes this is what I'm looking for or not. I would hope he would have the spine of the team he wants in his mind with an open door for anyone impressing to play their way into a panel.I for one think we need to strip the panel back to a squad of 24 who all have a realistic chance of being involved. Carrying 30 with 5/6 more in the stand has to dilute the atmosphere of the group.If each man involved has a realistic chance of playing his part then the focus and intensity will be on point.If he needs more for training games then he contacts players doing well in their clubs to come in an give them a chance to impress.
We have got to combine a defensive strategy along with our traditional kicking game.Its foolish arrogant and naive in this day for a team not to have that in their make up. The top 4 all have it in their locker and transition from defense to attack quickly. Its vital Micko develops this asap and the league with most of ulster in div 2 will require this.Our kicking skills have got to be improved massively as a team from 1 to 15.Kick out strategies are massive and require major attention. Working the ball into the scoring zones and ensuring the right man is on the end to shoot has to be worked on. Defenders taking pot shots is out the door for a team with ambitions of being successful.
Now is the time to cut all the dead wood who haven't done it for him.players like POR, kevin Reilly, davey dalton,d bray,d mc donagh,joey wallace,nicky judge should be released imo, go back and start doing it with your clubs would be my message.
I didn't think MOD should have continued but as I sit back and think about it he's in a fantastic position.If it was me I would be ensuring my involvement in strategies regarding minor, u21 junior teams. I would be having a serious in put into management appointments, playing philosophies, strength and conditioning and all issues that are vital in the improvement of the type of player that is going to walk into his dressing room in the next 24 months. He is their pick after all and i would use this to ignite the fire in the bellys of everyone who wants to be involved in the revival of Meath starting immediately!!!

leftnright (Meath) - Posts: 30 - 25/08/2015 14:22:54    1775939