McGeeney & County Board close to deal.

Heard about the finance meeting. I too go to a lot of meetings and Pat Doyle does speak a lot (and can be hard to listen to at times) but he only said what everybody was thinking. Everybody was examining the figures and since mcgeeny took over expenditure has increased significantly.

I dont mind this once performance has improved and it has over his tenure (bar this year).

Kildare have constantly ignored the financial element for years so I really dont know why everyone complains when questions are asked. We are not in a great position but we can fix it.

I am a fan of Mcgeeny and hope he stays but the fact is he is expensive.

I was glad we won the league this year to show something for all the effort and expenditure and think it is vital we stay in Division 1 next year.

I also don't think we should slag any delegate or cb member on this forum. There is not exactly a queue to take these positions every year in both club and county.

I wonder if Pat Doyle stands up and complain when the county board look to expend the hawkfield levy on the clubs for anoher few years will people be moaning then.

Botch wrote:

I am a fan of Mcgeeny and hope he stays but the fact is he is expensive.

Fact is it, according to the figures released he is anything but, but don't let the truth get in the way.

Lads this whole statement may seem oxy-mornic if not downright moronic but it annoyed me that when it looked like he might walk he would go away being regarded as one of the country's top managers without taking his due share of the blame for some of our championship defeats.
Although there is an anti-Geezer brigade the opposite side are even more vociferousness at times. For the record I'm glad he stayed but he does need to freshen things up as is the general consensus here. It's just we only seem to have one tactic a year and then we become too predictable. We always seem to end up playing the opposition's game plan against the big boys.
Geezer is a good manager but I'd love to see an Evans or someone with serious tactical creativity with him to eek even more out of an honest bunch of lads.
Also as was pointed the squad has a lot of lads who are floating as they are 'good men to train' and that isn't beneficial.
It's his last year no matter but a few new faces even on the fringes could freshen things up. Paul Cribbin is home for good so he's an obvious one.
Either way I'll get behind the entire set-up but I think this year we finally copped on that top five is our level an to break into the real contenders may simply be not in our immediate future -no shame in that either with the Donegal, Mayo, Dubs, Cork and Kerry on the scene.

Flamingo wrote:

Paul Cribbin is home for good so he's an obvious one.

Is this definitely true?

lastline wrote:

Ohtoohtobe wrote:

Gilroy? Wash your mouth out with strong antiseptic, Lastline.

Why not?? If we won it this year it would be with an outside manager so i dont see the relevence in which other county they come from. if you look at both CV's at present they are very similar. Both won All Irelands at county level. Both won All Irelands at club level but Gilroy has the extra bonus that he has managed a team to an All Ireland. I wouldnt be one to let pride get in the way of moving forward.

Because Dublin are one of our arch-rivals. Have some pride.

Maybe we're the ones that need to take the blame for championship defeats.

The fans. Maybe our expectations are too high. I get the feeling from a lot on here that when we take to the field we expect to win every game. We expect trophies from a county that has delivered 2 Leinsters in 56 years.

Yes 56 years and from a pool of 12 teams we managed to win that twice in 56 years.
When you take out the likes of Carlow, Kilkenny, Wicklow and Westmeath it makes bad reading.

We haven't had a Leinster minor in what will be 22 years. Lads who were playing minor the last number of years weren't born the last time we won it. We had some relative success at u21 level winning 2 titles in th 00's but thats about the height of it.

Dublin in the 00's have won 8 Senior Leinster titles, 5 minor football titles and 6 u21 titles and Since 1995 they have appeared in one All Ireland final. That's how hard it is.

You need to be constantly churning out players this way as people are alluding gives you a chance to constantly freshen up things with players who are up to the standard of Intercounty football.

Personally I believe we had a decent year in terms of what we achieved. Back in Division 1 beating Tyrone in Croke park in the final. We reached the last 8 of the All Ireland for the 5th year in a row.
Only Cork , Dublin and Kerry have achieved such a feat. One of Cork and Kerry are guaranteed this every year by winning Munster. 5 teams in Munster by the way.

Footballing performance wise we were not good enough. We had a poor start to the League, We were poor against Offaly, Meath, Limerick and Cork in Championship. We very often flattered to deceive.

Despite this we are a top team. Regarded by most in the top 5/6 in the country. I have absolutely no shame in that.

Preparing a team to compete at this level is expensive. None of this McGeeney is expensive bullshit. Absolute complete and utter tripe. Having been at a number of County Board meetings I very often leave exasperated with some of the stuff that comes out at it.

An example of the level of intelligence your dealing with at these meetings would be when a few months back when they were fixing the first round of championship fixtures and trying to agree dates and venues.
One man in attendance from a club who shall remain nameless objected to the timing of his clubs upcoming championship fixture due to it clashing with the parish Mass at 6pm on Saturday evening.
Some in attendance seen nothing wrong with this, others held their hands in their head.

There are lads at these County Board meeting who are away with the fairies.
I suspect when the Money aspect is put to bed they will find another thing to gripe about.
These same people have absolutely no grasp on what it takes to prepare a team at the highest level.

Not much more you can add to that post. Sums everything up in one post. Very well worded FionnMcool.

Pat Doyle stated that the problems with finance only arose since Mcgeeney arrive but if my memory serves me correct its the same time we've had a full time secretary / Ceo. Who is supposed to be managing the day to day running of the county board .......

Your post is pretty much word perfect Fionn. Well said.

Pat Doyle should have been told in no uncertain terms, to shut his mouth. There is no truth in anything that he said & he should have been ruled out of order.

He reminds me of yer man Liam Buckley, writing an open letter to the sports editor of the Leinster Leader, a few months after Geezer & Grimley took over. He slated their tactics. Said he'd attended training sessions on the Curragh & thought the methods were completely wrong. That same year we got to our first AI quarter final ever.

This county is riddled with guys who can't see past their own. These are the same clowns who scrounge their way into games in Newbridge every week and shout at the top
of their voices "drive it in will ya". They'd sicken yer b****x...

How does a full time secretary equate to a CEO?
If memory serves me correctly, the financial problems surfaced in this county when Richie Whelan was ousted from his position. Long before the full time sec or Geezer were appointed!

Good point on the high expectations Fionn. Been saying similar things but lads think we should be winning senior All-Irelands, that it's the manager's fault when we don't, and that the lad they saw scoring 0-3 for their club in the intermediate quarter-final will make the difference.

What will make the difference is having a production line at minor and U21. We are improving at underage, but we are improving from a position of complete mediocrity. In this county, we go mad when a player like, for example, Paul Cribbin emerges every two years or so: but Dublin and Cork are producing three or four players of that standard every year. It will take time and money and a lot of (at least) provincial minor and U21 titles before we can start thinking about expecting a senior All-Ireland.

In the meantime McGeeney has over-achieved if anything in getting us to four quarters and a semi. To be honest I think we got a bit lucky with the draw in 2010 and therefore thought we were better than we actually were. People see that we have a good team and think that should equal All-Irelands, but they forget that about a dozen counties have similarly talented panels, and that three or four counties have better ones. Therefore, being in division one and always reaching the AI quarters is not a bad show.

Well put Fionn.

In my opinion , the last few posts while correct in many facts are misleading. I go to as many games as anybody ( and support my club ) but all I was hoping for this year and the last five was a Leinster title and anything else was a bonus. In 2012 , I was hoping for a win over an absolutely useless Meath team and a crack at a very ordinary Dublin team in the final. I got neither.

However the Geezer fan club are on in their droves throwing out numerous excuses and feeling vindicated. I do not know why. Anyway , one more year and we will see what it brings us.

Well tomcruise I've been a fan of McGeeney's but I felt that 2012 was a shit or burst year and as it turns out it has been burst. I'm disappointed in that but I feel its about fixing the problem not the blame.

People have been hiding behind the finances myth but that is not the real problem as to why we have not achieved. Its not about teams copping on to Tomas O'Connor either and I feel we have players to compete at the top level. To me its about us, as in Kildare management, copping onto to the tactical changes the opposition make in a game and counter-acting that is where we are lacking. So he needs a strong tactician that can read the game because I feel thats all we are short of.

Your post is misleading Tom. You say you were hoping for one.

We were all hoping for one. You were in fact expecting one.

Club Kildare Money was used to Buy a set of jersies for Coill Dubh as a thank you for facilitating Seanie! Ridiculous!

analysis wrote:

Club Kildare Money was used to Buy a set of jersies for Coill Dubh as a thank you for facilitating Seanie! Ridiculous!

fuck sake. Nothing ever ceases to amaze in GAA administration!!

Loads of Pints wrote:

analysis wrote:

Club Kildare Money was used to Buy a set of jersies for Coill Dubh as a thank you for facilitating Seanie! Ridiculous!

fuck sake. Nothing ever ceases to amaze in GAA administration!!

I ahve heard rumours about that but is that fact?

jim wrote:

Pat Doyle stated that the problems with finance only arose since Mcgeeney arrive but if my memory serves me correct its the same time we've had a full time secretary / Ceo. Who is supposed to be managing the day to day running of the county board .......

.. and also coincides with the biggest recession in how states history

tomcruise wrote:

In my opinion , the last few posts while correct in many facts are misleading. I go to as many games as anybody ( and support my club ) but all I was hoping for this year and the last five was a Leinster title and anything else was a bonus. In 2012 , I was hoping for a win over an absolutely useless Meath team and a crack at a very ordinary Dublin team in the final. I got neither.

However the Geezer fan club are on in their droves throwing out numerous excuses and feeling vindicated. I do not know why. Anyway , one more year and we will see what it brings us.

well you dont go to as many games as me, you are the very man who was boycotting the unattractive poor leinster championship games at the start of the year, im sure if you have a scroll through the archives on here you might remember.
he has a fan club because he took us from the bottom of the pile to the top and if we are still competing in august every year i could care less. yeh of course we would all take the dubs arm off for a leinster and maybe he has got it wrong a few times this year but there was always going to be a less successful year after the 2 previous ones. players like rob kelly starting midfield who were always fringe players had the alarm bells ringing for me early on and i have questioned other decisions over the year but the man has another year to go with it being reviewed at the end of each year so why people are calling for him to go baffles me. im waiting for the day he leaves and i guarantee people like yourself will realise how good he was

From what I'm told that's not what Pat said, his point was that since 2007 Kildare had a cash deficit every year, he blamed McGeeney for that and had a go at Syl Merrins for appointing him, now I don't know what Pat does for living but he must lead a very sheltered life, we're in a recession since 2007 and most of us are suffering deficits in some form or other. If you were to use his logic McGeeney is to the blame for it all.

well from what i heard of the meeting pat is feeling the pinch too, apparently he left it fairly red faced

I hope McGeeney stays on for at least 2 or 3 more years.

As a Liverpool fan the words of a journalist who's name i've long forgotten haunts me to this day. He said Liverpool fans would not realise how good they had it with Rafa Benitez until he was gone. How true that has proved. I have a feeling that thoose knocking Geezer will be feeling that way when ever he does go again and we are back to loosing to Offaly In Newbridge in a 1st round qualifier.

Fionn, I agree with most of your post but not the lines, "The fans. Maybe our expectations are too high". We are not one homogenous bunch of people. Certainly the people I talk to before games never expect to win All Irelands or even Leinsters but do have an expectation of being competiitve in those competitions. That expectation is usually based on current form and nothing else. That is why we were all so disappointed with the abysmal display agianst Meath after the promise of the win over Tyrone and promotion to division 1. That is why we were all so upset after the Down game after the brilliant display against Meath. McGeeney has shown us what a professional setup can achieve and naturally our hopes and expectations have risen. It's not the fans fault that things went so wrong this year. The reality is for some unknown reason the team disimproved after the Tyrone game instead of kicking on and having a real crack at what turned out to be a very winnable Leinster. If you're in the blame game then look elsewhere.

Fionn I agree with your post as I said we have to lower our expectation level we are a good solid team in the top 5/6 teams in Ireland, if the players would like geezer back for another year then that is good enough for me, he has a lot of thinking to do with regards to our style of play, some people say that the player looked over trained maybe they are, Julie is one of the best fitness coaches in the country she may have to modify the training to make the players more explosive and flexible. We need to look at the way cork Donegal and mayo prepare there players and take it from there. We are where we are, and we have cause for optimism I hope we get it correct next year and have a great champship.

umpireonditch wrote:

I hope McGeeney stays on for at least 2 or 3 more years.

As a Liverpool fan the words of a journalist who's name i've long forgotten haunts me to this day. He said Liverpool fans would not realise how good they had it with Rafa Benitez until he was gone. How true that has proved. I have a feeling that thoose knocking Geezer will be feeling that way when ever he does go again and we are back to loosing to Offaly In Newbridge in a 1st round qualifier.

While I would be of the opinion that maybe the time is right for a change, I agree that if we are to retain McGeeney it should be for 2 or 3 years. That probably sounds like the most paradoxical statement ever made but I think there is some logic behind it.

I don't think anyone would dispute that things went stale this year. The problem is that once that decline sets in, it can be very hard to arrest it. I think we need a change both in terms of personnel and approach in order to at least remain around the level that we're at. That will take time and it's not realistic to expect that to be achieved in one year. We need to look at 2013 as an opportunity to blood a number of younger players and let them gain experience. There'll likely be a few bumps along the road but that's what happens when you're experimenting and developing a new team. We'll be the better for it this time next year.

My fear is that this is just going to become a case of "one last hurrah." If that's the case then we'll be all sat here this time next year arguing the exact same points and there'll be a handful of young lads another year behind in their development. I hope I am wrong but I would not be optimistic if it's just a case of McGeeney seeing out his final year and maybe thinking about what managers might be available next year rather than now.