AAI Team management

IrishTrackFan1

Tingle wrote: »

Ah come on, your thirst for McGonagle bashing is relentless. Was there any mention of him or Hennessy in her book? I read it and I can't recall. The vibe I got and also from the Chairmans was that it was the old BLE Dublin Mafia were the problem.

The only mention I can recall of any of the recent parties in AAI being mentioned was Brendan Hackett and indeed in a favourable light from Sonia. He never got to see out his tenure as CEO from the day he was walked from his office by Mary Coghlan and Gerry Giblin. Who knows what would have happened if he had stayed and been allowed to his job without interference. Who knows what would have happened if Coghlan had been allowed do her job without interference from McGonagle. Will history repeat itself and we'll be saying who knows what Foley could have done if there wasn't interference from whoever (the campaign that Fish N Chips and IrishTrackFan wage here for example). Who knows. Bit of a vicious circle really.

Best follow Derval's advice and do things yourself.

Back on topic, based on drrunner's post about the safe assumption now that seeing as McCarthy was allowed leave (based on myflipflops totally unbiased and trustworthy update) and Gillick's point in the Irish Times that he was never made aware he would be needed for the heats, this is purely down as a major Team Management cockup. Who are the big losers? Not Gillick really but the other 3 guys on the team - Kennedy, Murphy and Gregan. They lost out most and all did their part on the day.

Do you not question why we don't utilise the skills and experience of a Sonia or an Eamonn? They would be far more valuable to our up and coming athletes on the morning of a championship race than anyone we currently send out with our teams. Yet they have never been part of the setup in any meaningful way and there is only one reason for that - meaningful input from them would require the team manager to stop whispering in the ears of our athletes and that's not a job he's about to give up, much as I would wish he would.
As for the relentless McGonagle bashing, this is a thread on team management, he has been senior team manager for more than ten years and this seems to be about the only place anyone can discuss or debate the issue of his success or otherwise.
While I certainly would like to see McGonagle gone, I have no beef with Foley - just am waiting to see whether he does anything in the job but so far no sign of any initiative being shown.

thirtyfoot

drrunner wrote: »

All CEOs are the subject of criticism, some justified, a lot not - this is the way of the world. Criticism of performance is very different to interference in the fundamental ability to perform the role (aka McGonagle as mentioned by yourself). I would suggest that opinions expressed here are not interference in doing any job....they're just opinions!!!

.

Very true and opinions here or spins expressed have little influence on the real world based on past experiences and also inputs from irishtrackfan and Fish N Chips in particular.

My worry is that we will have a constant cycle of CEOs, in for a short stint, then getting hounded out for whatever reason. Hackett to Mary to Foley. Is he the next one to get hounded out. While postings here will have little effect, it may be refelctive of the opinions or actions of the camp that Irishtrackfan or Fish N Chips reside in in the real world.

I'd like to see stability. CEO given a chance. The postings of the two guys would leave me to suggest that there is a campaign underway to undermine the current CEO. Maybe not but it would be terrible to see what happened to last CEO happening to the current even if done by different people.

drrunner wrote: »

It's easy to be critical of posters because they stick to their guns and are consistent in their view of the world. Though I agree that it is boring if someone posts just on one topic and seems to have no interest in anything else. .

Very true and this might seem corny but I don't like it when boards is used for such purposes, ie, mounting a campaign or pushing an agenda. Its obvious that some people use boards exclusively to do that. I was similarly challenging to say tangle2 who seems to be defending Patsy McGonagle or irish_athlete who had a chip on his shoulder abour Derval and also Mary and was pushing the Patsy opinion. Same here with the lads, thats all they use boards for, fine and no law against it but it grinds my gears and thats why I challenge it.

In the real world I am more closely aligned to their and your opinions. I want to see things done right, I wanted Mary to succeed and be allowed do her job but she wasn't, I wanted to see Paul Doyle in the job etc etc. Believe it or not I am not in anyones camp. Never was, really. Not involved enough.

drrunner wrote: »

On the subject of McGonagle, I believe you yourself said in the last week that he should be gone as a result of the relay debacle.

Yes, have I said anywhere that I have changed that opinion? No. But I'm not going around blaming him for everything from the floods in Pakistan to the signing off of Ivor Callelly's expenses. Was only focusing on the question in hand and mentioned my fears for this thread in my first post.

thirtyfoot

IrishTrackFan1 wrote: »

I have no beef with Foley - just am waiting to see whether he does anything in the job but so far no sign of any initiative being shown.

Yes, I agree it'll be interesting to see if anything happens about the relay, that will be a test.

As for initaive, he has shown some elements that shows there are improvements being made. As per the finance update in the Congress notes he garnered the money to essentially cover the substantial losses that in the Euro Cross. Thats tangible and a success. The long awaited competition review finally got out of first gear with the member questionaire although we still need lots more done there but its a start. There is also the commencement of proper screening with Gardai of all coaches etc, again, very important to protect our largest group of members. So progress with obviously improvements still to come you would hope.

Its funny my defence of Foley and your questioning of him reminds me of my defence of Mary and irish_athletes questioning of her way back. Maybe I am a sucker for believing and seeing the good in people. I'll hit jackpot sometime and they will deliver.

myflipflops

Tingle wrote: »

Yes, I agree it'll be interesting to see if anything happens about the relay, that will be a test.
deliver.

It's a very simple procedure to find out what happened. I actually think we have done a good job of tracking the process of events surrounding the relay debacle here. That's mainly because you only have to cover a 14 hour period i think!

Effectively, the most basic systems within the team management broke down - nobody spoke to the athletes. Any review of the championships would have to result in a scathing assesment on management based on this alone. If a review fails to occur then something is wrong.


On a separate point, I'm not aware of Foleys credentials. Can somebody fill me in on his background?

ecoli

myflipflops wrote: »

It's a very simple procedure to find out what happened. I actually think we have done a good job of tracking the process of events surrounding the relay debacle here. That's mainly because you only have to cover a 14 hour period i think!

Effectively, the most basic systems within the team management broke down - nobody spoke to the athletes. Any review of the championships would have to result in a scathing assesment on management based on this alone. If a review fails to occur then something is wrong.


On a separate point, I'm not aware of Foleys credentials. Can somebody fill me in on his background?

Here is an earlier thread might help

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055677276

myflipflops

ecoli wrote: »

Here is an earlier thread might help

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055677276

Shows what my memory is like, I posted on this thread yet did not remember it.......

IrishTrackFan1

myflipflops wrote: »

Shows what my memory is like, I posted on this thread yet did not remember it.......

Actually read through most of it again myself (I was plain old IrishTrackFan in those days!) and if we wanted a list of the kind of deliverables a CEO might bring about, there's a pretty good starting point from various contributors to that thread. As for any relay review, don't hold your breath - I suspect that bar what gets written here, that episode is going to be forgotten about as quickly as possible.
<mod snip>.

Fish'n'Chips

This article sums up the farcical state of "High Performance" in AAI fairly well:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/athletics-a-silver-lining-but-why-did-we-drop-the-baton-2288963.html

One of the tests of how good Foley actually is as a CEO will be how he deals with McGonagle after the sham in Barcelona.

IrishTrackFan1

Word is that the High Performance manager Gareth Devlin is gone from AAI. Absolutely no loss and I'd bet a fair amount that no HP athlete will shed any tears on this news. Damaged his own career prospects (in and out of AAI) by his behaviour during the campaign to oust Coghlan.
At that time McGonagle organised a statement from the HP Committee that he was a wonderful HP manager and that he was doing a great job.
Suspect that Mr. McG. will be staying quiet on this one as Devlin will emerge as a suitable scapegoat for the Barcelona fiasco.
With Mr. Kilkenny entering a well-earned retirement from ruining Irish Sport and now being closely followed by Devlin I'm almost starting to having some hope about Irish athletics!