Monaghan players behind McEnaney

The members of this year’s Monaghan senior football panel have released a statement outlining their support for manager Seamus McEnaney.

McEnaney looked set to continue as Monaghan manager for another three years until a meeting of the Monaghan County Board on Monday night, when delegates present voted 29-19 in favour of seeking other nominees, meaning that ‘Banty’ would have to reapply for the job if he wished to continue as manager of the Farney men.

Such developments provoked a response from the Monaghan players, who released the following statement:

The full Monaghan senior panel of 2010 convened on Wednesday 18th August and wish that the following points be made known:

a. The players unanimously back Seamus McEnaney to continue as Monaghan team manager.

b. We were delighted when Seamus indicated that he was willing to continue in the post as team manager. We as a team all know we have made significant progress under the regime of Seamus and his management team and feel we can continue to make progress under the current management team.

c. As players, we are very unhappy with the way our manager has been treated. We do not understand why the County Board publically backed Seamus McEnaney for another 3 year term and then behind the scenes set up a process to invite nominations. We feel we have one of the best management teams in the country and cannot understand why we would be seeking nominations.

d. At a meeting of the County Committee, the club delegates voted in favour of seeking nominations for the post of Senior Team Manager. Our players’ meeting revealed that only two club delegates out of 15 clubs consulted with their county players prior to the decision the board came to. This raises serious concerns about how delegates who were supposed to be representing their clubs came to their decision without contacting the people within their clubs whom this would affect the most, their county players.

e. We do not want this issue to escalate as it is not in the best interests of Monaghan football. We want this issue put to bed straight away so we can continue to make progress under this management team.

f. We have the interests of senior football in the county at heart. We unanimously back Seamus McEnaney to continue as manager of Monaghan Senior County Football Team.

Signed: The Monaghan Senior Football Panel 2010