RYAN: I’D HAVE LIKED ONE MORE YEAR BUT HAD TO LEAVE

MICHAEL Ryan has revealed that his decision not to fight to stay on as Waterford hurling manager in defiance of the players was because ‘he did not want the hassle’. Despite evidence he retained the support of the board after completing his two-year term in 2013 , Ryan stepped away after players met and informed him they wanted a change in management. After initially accepting the players’ decision, Ryan appeared set to do a U-turn when he went on RTÉ television to indicate he was still interested in the job but changed his mind on the way home that night. ‘Driving back home from Dublin that night, myself and [his daughter] Michelle had a chat about it,’ he said. ‘We went through it, and I told her what I had decided... “I’m staying away from it.” I had thought it all through. I felt that I was leaving it in a very good position. I was packing it in almost from a position of strength, with regard to the world and the public. ‘There’s going to be hassle about this and I don’t want that hassle. I’ve never doubted, not once since driving down that night from Dublin, that it was the right decision. Disappointment remained, of course it did. We were in a good place at that time, and we haven’t set the world on fire since. We got to an All-Ireland final and could have won it... Would I have done any better? I don’t know. ‘I don’t like the term unfinished business, but I would have liked one more year to see what we could have done,’ said Ryan in his autobiography, which is published this month.