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Maughan: I have great respect for clubs so I don’t want to put them under pressure but we’d love to see a few of our guys
OFFALY manager John Maughan reckons it would make sense to let certain players train with county teams before September 14.
County training isn’t permitted before then, though Maughan said he knows of ‘a number of intercounty teams around the place that are meeting up regularly’.
It follows the Club Players Association’s statement of Friday that ‘we have firsthand on the ground information that these breaches are happening’.
The CPA has proposed bans of 24-weeks for rule breaking managers and recommended that their teams be thrown out of all competitions for 2020.
Ex-mayo boss Maughan has managed extensively at club level and vowed to ‘honour’ the current club window and to ‘respect the clubs in Offaly’.
But speaking to Midlands 103 Sport he said he’d like the rules relaxed to allow players knocked out of club championships before September 14 to train with their counties.
Mayo legend Maughan said: “The one thing, and I mentioned this to our chairman only about a week or 10 days ago, is the lack of consistency.
“I know there are a number of inter-county teams around the place that are meeting up regularly. I won’t mention them, that’s their own business.
“But it is happening and I know there’s an element of engagement and training going on, not too far from where I am down here.
“We’re going to respect the clubs in Offaly, we’re going to respect that they’ll get the players up to a level of intensity that they’ll have the players game fit for Championship.
“In Offaly, we’re lucky enough that the boys have three rounds of Championship, at all grades, so that will certainly help the guys get to a situation where they should be in good shape by the time they return on the 14th of September.
“But I would hope that maybe that window would be relaxed a little bit, that if we maybe wanted to meet with them to assess them and maybe get our medical team just to review and see how they are prior to the 14th of September... the last thing we want is guys lying on treatment tables and not being able to train or play football when we get back.
“I’m not being disrespectful, there’s lots of clubs around the place that mightn’t have the same level of intensity. There are a lot of very good managers and coaches out there who are doing fantastic work with clubs but some mightn’t have the luxury.
“I’m open to any suggestion, I’m not going to exert any pressure or anything because I do have great value and respect having managed club teams here in my own county.”
I know there are a number of inter-county teams around the place that are meeting up regularly.