Richie Connor set to become new manager

[sIR bIFFSALOT]

Your thoughts.

[Hocker]

No surprise here.... As good as we could have hoped for within the boundaries of this faithful county anyway.
let's hope he's up to the task.
He'll need to bring in about 100 players for trials after the championships have finished and pick an established 24/30 man panel to train over the winter.
We need to weed out a few old tired players, try out at least 4 or 5 that have just come out of minor grade and start from scratch.
Surely we aint as bad as the last 2/3 years have shown.

[gutless08]

Your thoughts.

no surprise

[Mr Faithful]

I suppose its not a bad choice if it goes ahead. Hopefully he can instill some of the pride in the faithful shirt that Joe Dooley has done with the hurlers. I was hoping that somebody like Tommy Carr would get the job, he would have been an ideal canidate, in the sense he would command respect & not have ego's dictating what should be done & who should play. A clean slate is what's needed now, like you said weed out some of the old guard & allow some of the hidden talent in the county be put on display. We crave a little success, travelling around to all the games drains the auld soul when there is nothing to shout about.

Mr Faithful.

[sIR bIFFSALOT]

Would it not be the football equivalent of giving Steve Staunton the Ireland job? Great player in his day no doubt but he should obviously be chosen for his managerial record. As far as I know he has been at the helm with Walsh Island for the last few years (doing reasonably well) and managed Laois for a short time in the early 90's. There must be someone with more experience interested in the job.

[Bord na Mona man]

A couple of points about Richie Connor.
Even his playing days he was known for being a leader in the dressing room and a sensible thinker.
Reading "Kings of September", it was his influence that from time to time persuaded the county board to stick with Eugene McGee, whenever the knives came out for him.

I often wonder about when Paul O'Kelly and Gerry Fahey were up for the chop. It was a pity that we didn't have as many strong leaders on the panel at the time to speak up on their behalf.
Players who knew and understood what it takes to achieve success. Rather than having their fate decided by random club officials from around the county with petty agendas. Ones who probably think a manager warrants firing for spending too much on bandages and plasters.

Anyway, I would barely know Richie Connor, but on the odd occasion I have spoken to him, he came across as a sharp fellow and a decent football analyst.
Like with Joe Dooley and the hurlers, I think we need a passionate Offaly man in charge.
The apathy of the Roe era needs to eradicated. If the last Offaly man to lift Sam Maguire can't inspire a bit of guts and determination in the Offaly footballers, then we should pack it in!

[sIR bIFFSALOT]

I have no doubt he would inspire guts and determination, it's the other aspects of management I'm worried about, such as experience at the highest level. Great players do not great managers make (going back to the Steve Staunton comparison).

[the Untouchable]

I think we have to be realistic here. As its been discussed numerous times before, Offaly don't have a wealthy businessman whose pumping money in to the team...as a result we can't go after the high profile appointment. Richie at least is involved with Walsh Island which means he should have seen a fair few teams play this year and would have a good knowledge of the players he can bring in to improve the panel, although to be fair I can't see there been too many changes in personnel, as Offaly are limited in the players fit for county standard and the few lads that are fit for county football that aren't already in there don't have the commitment to give to playing for the county.

I think what Offaly players/manager/county board need to do is put realistic targets in place, put a 2 or 3 year plan in place and start to work their way back out of the hole their in. There's no point dreaming that what happened in 97 under Lyons will happen again...it won't!! Offaly are at the minute well down the ladder in challenging for a Leinster and that's not going to change in a year under a new manager...no matter who we brought in.

The focus for this management team should be to clear out the deadwood on the panel. Tailor training programs to improve the players physically, so teams like Meath and Dublin don't just roll over us everytime we play them. Don't scrimp and try and save on the important things like players physio bills or expenses. Try and keep good young players like John O'Hara and Ken Casey on the panel because their the future of Offaly football. Get the players to focus on the basic skills of the game, they all seem to want to hit a 60 yard pass with the outside of the boot, but ask them to play an intelligent handpass to a guy standing in space and they can't do it!!!

I'm not sure if Richie has got the job or if its all just media speculation still, but whom ever gets the job I hope they approach it realising that there's an awful lot of work to be done to turn our footballing fortunes around. I don't expect silverware in 09, but I would take promotion to Division 2 and a decent run in the championship, with at least 1 big scalp taken along the way!!!

Slan!!!

[Hyper]

Word is that Richie has the job with Mark Plunkett and Ollie Daly. What a shambles! Does this have to be ratified by the county board? I hope so and they can throw it out the gap..............

[Lone Shark]

Word is that Richie has the job with Mark Plunkett and Ollie Daly. What a shambles! Does this have to be ratified by the county board? I hope so and they can throw it out the gap..............

If the selection committee have agreed and the management committee are on board, it'll be a brave delegate who stands up to fight against it. You can take it that it's done and dusted.

Nobody expects us to be Leinster Champions in a year or anything like that, but even so it would be nice to think that we're giving ourselves the best possible shot at substantial improvement. Right now that would be consolidation in division three, playing to a clear plan with real intensity and unity in the championship, and no easy rides for any opponents. That may seem a small shopping list, but right now I'd take it. We also have to be realistic at the situation facing the county board - let's be realistic, we're not exactly in the same position as the Dubs when it comes to looking for a manager, and that's on a lot of levels. It's not like we turned down Joe Kernan here.

One thing I would love to hear, for a couple of reasons, was that there was no money involved. I think in this day and age, when players are expected to sacrifice so much for non-monetary reasons, there would be a lot to be said for the sense of solidarity that would be gained from playing for a man who was only getting the expenses he needed to not be out of pocket, and no more. Management and players have been on a different wavelength for some time now in that regard, and while nobody could possibly compare Pat Roe's interest in Offaly to that of Richie Connor, I think it would be a positive step if there was no such thing as €xxx per session, like there was last year. A decent mileage rate, including the right to travel to any games the length and breadth of Ireland that he felt were of value, support for any initiatives he wanted to bring in, all this, definitely. Just no more flat rate wages.

As regards the team, there is certainly no obvious geographical bias, though I would have similar concerns to last year about the respective "weight" attached to each voice. I really hope there are no inclusions for political reasons, put it that way. You may as well have no one there if that's the case.


I believe Mark Plunkett has charge of the under 21s as well. That's not confirmed, simply what I've heard.

[bazza]

would stephen darby not deserve the job ahead of Richie Connor? 3 in a row wit rhode and countless u-21 titles..

[sIR bIFFSALOT]

Yea bazza that would make sense, but I don't think past managerial achievements were considered. I'm not slating Richie I'm sure he will do well but can anyone tell me any reason he got the job other than being captain in '82, it doesn't make sense to me.

[the bare biffo]

I have nothing against Stephen Darby, but I would not attach any huge relevance to managing the club with the best group of players to win a few Offaly county titles. They never looked like seriously threatening to win Leinster.

As for Richie, not only was he, as was pointed out earlier, a very influential captain in 82, he also headed up the forerunner of the GPA. A players group, which never really took off, only because it was a little before it's time.

No matter who was given the job and included in the management team, there would be complaints from some quarters, bar Mickey Harte taking it on, so forget about personal oppinions and get behind the whole team, management and players.

1982, even 1997 is a world away at this stage, we need to be realistic about the state that Offaly football is in.

[DD]

I have nothing against Stephen Darby, but I would not attach any huge relevance to managing the club with the best group of players to win a few Offaly county titles. They never looked like seriously threatening to win Leinster.

In fairness, they were somewhat unlucky when they came up against Moorefield in 2006. Moorefield were the better team but thay also got every break going that day and there wasn't all that much between them.
In any case I'd sooner a manager that has a record of winning (at any level or in any county) rather than no track record of success at all.

[lovelyhurling]

Prob stephen darby would be a slighty better option. But richie connor is a far better option than Laz molloy and ollie daly. They have some cheek going for the job esp. molloy.