McGrath has work to do to get players back on side
MY initial reaction to the appointment of Pete McGrath as Louth team manager was surprise and uncertainty.
There was no questioning the Rostrevor man’s previous record or footballing pedigree, but was he making the decision to throw in his lot with the Wee County for the right reasons?
County chairman Des Halpenny unveiled the new manager in September last year, only weeks after he had suddenly stepped down as Fermanagh boss following a player revolt.
The two time All-Ireland winner had spent three years at the helm with the Ernesiders and brought them to the 2015 All Ireland quarter-finals.
But he resigned just a week after it was announced he would be taking the reins for a fourth year. Player unrest had reached a level where he simply could not continue.
I have great respect for Pete McGrath and found him an absolute gentleman on any occasion we met in the past.
I also have great admiration for what he achieved as manager of St Colman’s College where he nurtured many of the players who back-boned his Down All-Ireland winning teams of 1991 and 1994.
Those Down players of the 1990s speak of him in glowing terms and his popularity among that group is unquestionable.
However Pete was approached and interviewed about the Louth job, to my knowledge, at least twice in previous years and for various reasons chose not to pursue or take up the position.
And it’s arguable that the panel of players available to him previously were a much stronger bunch than the present group.
My initial reaction to this appointment was that it was not going to work. I felt that Pete’s decision to accept the Louth job may have been a knee jerk reaction to his sudden departure from Fermanagh.
I’m not sure whether he had fully thought the job through and accepted the position for the right reasons. As the season has progressed and the defeats have mounted up, his post-match interviews have convinced me further that my initial gut reaction was correct.
There would have been great disappointment in the Louth dressing room following last week’s defeat to Carlow.
I know, I’ve sat in those losing dressing rooms as a player and as part of a management team. They are pretty horrible places.
Players and management are both hurting. Everything is a little raw.
Seven or eight months sacrifice and preparations has just gone up in smoke. Harsh words are exchanged between player and player and between management and player. Some of it is not nice.
But there is a real honesty to this process and most times it can be hugely beneficial to improving the individual and the team.
Everyone needs a bit of space for a few days and then you regroup and resume for the next battle. There can often be some collateral damage and some player may not arrive for the next training session. But hey, that’s life.
The important thing though is that what’s said in the room remains in the room and everyone sticks together. The entire group must remain as one. Leadership and management are crucial at this time.
Pete McGrath’s radio and TV interviews following the eleven point defeat to Carlow would suggest that he has distanced himself, or perhaps even removed himself, from the main body of the group.
I would be extremely disappointed with my manager if those things were said in public about me or any of my fellow players.
His specific comments about regret in accepting the role - ‘I’ve made better decisions in my life’ - are simply unacceptable.
Maybe his comments were borne out of frustration that his instructions are not being carried out on the pitch or that players are not giving the required commitment. But it should stay in house.
I’ve heard some suggestions that the manger’s post-match comments were simply a way of him absolving himself from any blame and protecting his reputation for the future. These are not characteristics I would have normally attributed to Pete McGrath.
But whatever his thinkings or motivations, he has lots of work to do in order to get his players back on side before the Qualifiers on June 9th.