McGuinness pours cold water on Donegal reports

Donegal football manager Jim McGuinness has denied reports suggesting that he has agreed to stay on for the final season of his four-year managerial term.

McGuinness met with the players in Letterkenny yesterday morning and then had a subsequent get-together with County Board officials, leading some media outlets to report that he will be in charge of the Tir Chonaill men in 2014.

However, McGuinness said that those reports were untrue when appearing as an analyst on BBC Northern Ireland's TV coverage of today's All-Ireland SFC semi-final between Tyrone and Mayo.

Asked if he had committed to Donegal for another season, he said: "I haven't decided yet to be honest. I suppose at the end of every year, we do an analysis of everything - players, medical, staff and so forth. That hasn't been finalised yet.

"I don't want to be Donegal manager for the sake of being Donegal manager. I want to be there for the right reasons and also for every system to be in place to be successful."

Regarding the press reports, he added: "There's no truth in that. I haven't given my intentions to anybody. I'm still thinking things through. I think it's very important to do that.

"As I said earlier, all the systems have to be in place. The biggest thing for me is to be able to prepare the team properly and I don't think we got that opportunity this year in some levels. So that's one of the issues we'll be looking at and there's also a few other things as well."

One of those issues is believed to club fixtures and the structure of the county Championships, but McGuinness did not go into specifics.

"Regarding the issues over team preparation, it's something which I raised with the County Board yesterday and spoke about with the players. We'll see what happens."

The Glenties man, who is employed as a performance consultant with Celtic Football Club, seems agreeable to continuing as Donegal manager if the right conditions and structures are put in place by the board.

"If the conditions are correct then you feel you can do your job...but I don't want to be there for the sake of being there," he added.

McGuinness' third season at the helm ended in disappointment as Donegal suffered a 16-point demolition at the hands of Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-final, losing their grip on both the Anglo-Celt and Sam Maguire Cups and suffering relegation from Allianz League Division 1.

Donegal legend Martin McHugh, appearing on the same programme on BBC Two, urged McGuinness to remain in charge, while McHugh's son Mark, a key figure in Donegal's All-Ireland success last year, told Newstalk that the players want McGuinness to commit for a fourth year.

"We never questioned the relationship between ourselves and Jim. We're fully behind him and we're hoping that he will commit for another year. It is tough for him going over and back with Celtic but I'm sure he'll be thinking about it over the coming days and weeks," said the 2012 All-Star wing forward.