Gaelic Games

David Brady says he's witnessed illegal payments of GAA managers

Ex-Mayo midfielder plans to jump ‘headlong’ into management within two years

Former Mayo midfielder David Brady also spoke of his concerns about the number of injuries being picked up by Mayo players in recent seasons. Photograph: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Paul Keane
Thu Feb 20 2020 - 06:00

Former Mayo midfielder David Brady has lifted the lid on the apparent culture of illegal payments to GAA managers, particularly at club level, admitting he has seen it with his own eyes.

Brady, a four-time All-Ireland finalist, has promised to jump “headlong into management in a year or two’s time” when his young family is a little older and admitted he’s already been sounded out about his “fee” for potentially managing a team.

Brady was speaking in the context of GAA Director General Tom Ryan’s suggestion that “spending caps” may be required to limit expenditure on inter-county teams.

“Let’s be straight and honest, what we’re seeing being spent on inter-county teams is not including the managers,” said Brady. “So you’re going, ‘We have to cap everything else but the managers are still getting paid?’ I myself am not [a manager], I deliberately didn’t go out and get into management because I have a young family and it was something that I decided, myself and my wife decided, it’s going to be three or four years until the kids are five or six, so in a year or two’s time, yes, I’m going to go headlong into management.

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Conversations

“But the conversations I’ve had, sometimes the first question is, ‘What is your fee? What do you expect?’ This is at club level. And I’m going, ‘Jesus Christ almighty, what about, ‘Tell me about your ethos, tell me about your structures, tell me about your . . .’ I said, ‘Jeez, that’s the first question you ask me!’ And I know in the back of my mind in the conversation he’s thinking, ‘How much is this guy going to cost? He’s talking a serious game’.”

Brady, who will be the subject of a Laochra Gael episode on April 2nd, also spoke of his concerns about the number of injuries being picked up by Mayo players in recent seasons, Colm Boyle the latest with a knee problem.

“Are we asking these players to come back too quickly, too repeatedly year in, year out?” he asked. “Okay, yes, we are looking for the likes of Cillian O’Connor to carry us on his shoulders at times. But sometimes you need to say, ‘Is a year out the best thing for Cillian O’Connor?’”

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