Managers must be judged on results not place of birth

IT WILL be no surprise if the same basic conclusions are drawn from this Saturday’s Ulster championship clash in Armagh and the Champions League final in London.

A Down man, James McCartan, whose name will be forever linked to the Mournes, will lead his county into the Cathedral city. However, another Down man, Paddy O’Rourke, a figure also totally synonymous with the red and black jersey, will be standing guard for the Orchardmen.

Meanwhile, in London, Pep Guardiola, a proud Catalan, will take charge of his beloved Barcelona. From Guardiola’s first choice team, eight are Spanish and eight are products of the club’s youth system. The Barcelona fans effectively own their club.

Barcelona will be taking on a Manchester United team that is managed by a Scot who has drawn players from Holland, Brazil, England, Serbia, France, Ecuador, South Korea, Portugal, Mexico and Wales. They are the Old Trafford Globetrotters, owned by the Glazer family, who live in America and watch baseball. If Barcelona win, much importance will be placed on the superiority of a culture which promotes home-grown players.

Meanwhile, if the Orchard county lose, a massive significance will be placed on Paddy O’Rourke and the failure of the county board to select a native manager who understands the nuances of Armagh football.

In the current debate about the rights and wrongs of outside managers, the ‘No’ camp has adopted the ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ approach. Allorganically-produced managers are ‘good’ and all ‘outside recruits’ are ‘bad’. When trying to dismiss the benefits of importing managers, the ‘No’ camp will point to the lack of success enjoyed by outsiders in the race for the Sam Maguire Cup.

This is a totally spurious argument that doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny. For starters, for much of the 126-year history of the GAA counties just haven’t used hired hands.

More significantly again, during the past 20 years when the practice has become more commonplace, it’s still only the developing counties that have sought assistance from beyond their borders.

Between 1990 and 2010, Kerry (six), Tyrone (three), Meath (two), Cork (two), Down (two) and Dublin (one) won 16 of the 21 All-Ireland Championships (76%). During that period, none of those six counties employed an outsider.

Unless a manager is in charge of one of those aforementioned counties, he will face a major job winning an All-Ireland. Galway, the third most successful county in the history of the championship, was one of the few traditional powers that bucked the trend. Starved of success since 1966, they took on Mayo’s John O’Mahony, who led them to glory in 1998 and 2001.

It’s ridiculous to suggest that Kerry, Cork, Meath, and Tyrone won All-Irelands because they recruited from within. Are we to believe that Mickey Harte wouldn’t win titles if placed in charge of Kerry or that Jack O’Connor couldn’t have enjoyed success with Tyrone? The effectiveness of outside managers only becomes apparent when we look at the lower tier counties that have used them.

In reality, it’s really only the emerging counties that employ the outsiders. These are the downtrodden homesteaders who are searching for the ‘Shane’ figure who will ride into town and slay the big ranchers.

Unconvinced that such skill or expertise lies within their own humble pastures, they place greater faith in strange faces. Kildare found their ‘Pale-Faced Rider’ in Kerry.

In 1998, Mick O’Dwyer led Kildare to their first Leinster title in 42 years. In 2003, Micko proved to be the oracle in Laois. He led them to their first provincial title in 57 years. Páidi Ó Sé brought Westmeath to their only Delaney Cup in 2004.

Indeed, most of the iconic breakthrough victories of the past 25 years have all been achieved by outsiders. It was Mayo’s John Maughan who took Clare to a Munster title in 1992 while John O’Mahony caused a similar upset when guiding Leitrim to a Connacht crown in 1994.

Of course, this is not to suggest that all outside managers are good. During the past few years, there have been some absolute disasters and readers will not need to be reminded of the nincompoops that were put in charge of various counties.

However, one of the advantages of staff with no contracts is that they can be hired and fired with ease.

The outside manager falls into this category. Getting rid of a local man can be a messy business. There is generally always some type of upheaval.

Ultimately, it is stupid to draw a distinction between outside managers and organic ones. There are only good managers and bad managers, successful managers and unsuccessful managers.

If things are going well, GAA supporters couldn’t care less if their bainisteoir was born and raised in Buckingham Palace, or for that matter, Burren. But it’s not just about managers.

We can’t forget the people who choose them.

There are also smart appointments and those that are not-so-smart.

Putting a Down man in charge of an Armagh team was always going to be a massive gamble.

The Armagh County Board will soon find out if their people think it was a worthwhile risk.

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