Former Déise chief blasts players’ role in Ryan exit

Former Waterford county board chairman Paddy Joe Ryan has lashed out at the treatment of Michael Ryan by the hands of the players in the wake of his decision not seek a second term as senior manager.

The timing of the players’ meeting on Sunday angered him as it clashed with the All-Ireland minor semi final. “We only had one thing on our mind and that was the minor hurling semi-final,” Ryan said. “To be told at half-time that there was a vote of no confidence in Michael Ryan, it shook us. As a club colleague of Michael Ryan’s and as a true Waterford man, it would be disappointing when Waterford people turn on their own.”

Ryan added: “It’s easy to say to bring in this fella and that fella but they all have to be paid. It’s disappointing. Today I got a message from a good friend of mine up the country and he said, ‘Managers pick players but in Waterford, players pick managers’.”