Carr blames Bailey over manager's post

Dublin football manager: Former Dublin manager Tom Carr yesterday strongly criticised the Dublin County Board chairman John Bailey over the handling of the appointment of a new football manager. On Saturday the Dublin board rejected Brian Mullins' conditions for his acceptance of the post.

"The common denominator in all this is the fact that every management set-up has been mishandled in the last five to six years. The county chairman has to take the blame for this," said Carr, current manager of Roscommon.

As head of sport at UCD, Mullins has access to the ideal fitness and conditioning facilities, along with the best sports science expertise for players. Also, he wanted to replace the team holiday with an intense training break abroad in the New Year. This was refused.

"It is now more difficult than before," continued Carr. "Brian went with a package that other counties already have in place. We certainly have some of these systems in place. Maybe they thought his plans were over-stretching but when a new manager does finally come in he does so under the perception that the same standard and resources in other counties will not be made available to him."

From the first contact with Mullins to his eventual refusal to take the job over the weekend, the rumour mill had kicked into overdrive with Mick O'Dwyer and Pete McGrath both being mentioned as alternatives.

"It has been very messy from beginning to end," Carr continued. "The county board went on a solo run of their own by talking to other potential managers. Brian Mullins must have felt undermined by all this. He must have felt undermined again when the package he presented for the progress of Dublin football was refused.

"To compete at the level Dublin aspire to they have to at least have the same resources in place as others. No manager is going to take them out of the manure they are in until they sort out their own house."

This is not the first time there has been confusion over the appointment of the Dublin manager. After guiding Kilmacud Crokes to the All-Ireland club title in 1995 Tommy Lyons was practically guaranteed the county job but it went to Mickey Whelan. Then, in 2001, Carr was unceremoniously removed from the post by the casting vote of chairman Bailey.

Now, the treatment of Mullins, the time it took to offer him the job and subsequent refusal to match the demands he put forward as essential for Dublin to be competitive at the highest level, suggest a lack of unanimity at executive level.

In an effort to bring some semblance of order to the panel, several senior players will meet tomorrow evening to start preparations for winter training as the county board stated it could take up to 10 days before they have a new candidate in place.

Players are keen not to let it hinder their preparations ahead of the opening National League match against Mayo on Saturday, February 5th, a game that was initially set to be Mullins' first competitive match in charge after he stated yesterday an intention to pull Dublin from the O'Byrne Cup to facilitate an improved pre-season.

One of the players, Jonny Magee, said: "At this stage I know that a couple of senior lads including myself have arranged to meet on Tuesday night to start our own training sessions. Get back in the gym, as we have to do something.

"Hopefully they will sit down and thrash it all out in the next couple of days," continued Magee. "Hopefully there will be someone appointed tomorrow night, they may have somebody in mind, someone who is going to stand in. It's a pity Mullins didn't take the job but that's his choice.

"Obviously it's disappointing. From a players' point to view we want to get back training. I know Kerry are back in the gym once a week before they are going on holidays."