The sack race

The GAA’s season of Sundays turned into a closed season of sackings and resignations. How comethe manager giving seven days a week for nothing ends up with the same amount of thanks, asks Mark Gallagher.

IN ENGLISH football, they say the only managerial certainty is that one day he will lose his job. With the exception of a rare few, who can dictate when they want to leave even if it is past the official retirement age, the security of a manager is directly attached to his side’s last 90 minutes. Of course, in the Premiership, out of work managers can wipe away their tears with a far severance cheque while they pontificate on Sky Sports.

There is no such parachute landing for the GAA. Nothing but recrimination and idle pub talk about how much better you could have done. Or how the county board wouldn’t give you a chance, or how the bar-stool supporter knew it would all end in tears or end without a trophy.