The Mayo County Board is coming under fire for the way in which they have appointed joint managers Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes as the successors to James Horan.
The Mayo News reports that one member of the county board executive has resigned from his position in protest the appointment process, which appears to have taken place without an interview process.
Newstalk learned over the weekend that Kevin McStay had not been given the job even before the new managerial team had been informed that they had been chosen.
To get to the bottom of the matter, we were joined on the line by Ed McGreal of The Mayo News and former All Star Liam McHale.
Listen to the full interview above via the podcast
McGreal, who described the events as a "sham" and would not be surprised by more board resignations, took Off The Ball through the minutiae of the seemingly shambolic events of the weekend.
McHale, who was part of the McStay ticket described the situation as an "unfortunate mess" and spoke about McStay's disappointed initial reaction to the news.
Liam McHale ©INPHO/James Crombie
"I was talking to Kevin on Saturday morning and he looked very down. The minute I walked into the room, I knew he was in bad form. He said to me that 'unfortunately our presentation wasn't successful and Noel and Pat are getting the job.' We spoke for a while and whilst we were very disappointed, we were quite happy to see Noel and Pat get the job."
Liam McHale says he'll never be involved with Mayo again. His dream since he was 18 was to win an All-Ireland with Mayo...
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 23, 2014
Yet, McHale explained that McStay got another phone call asking him to go for an interview for a position that had already been filled.
"I got a call to say that Kevin had got a call from [chairman] Paddy McNicholas trying to arrange an interview with him for Tuesday. Kevin said: 'Paddy, let me get this clear. You want me to go to an interview for a job that's already gone. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me'. And Kevin felt that Paddy was trying to influence him into stating that he was going to pull out," said McHale, who went on to explain how McStay reacted and how that put "a spanner in the works". He also explained that Mayo's county board regarded McStay's presentation as "too radical".
McGreal also said he felt sorry for Connelly and Holmes whose appointment has been overshadowed by the conversational events, while McHale also wished the best to the duo, also explaining that he is highly unlikely to ever get involved in Mayo inter-county football in the future.
Listen to the full interview with McGreal and McHale via the podcast.
