FORMER MAYO COACH James Horan says he has no interest in getting back into management despite high-profile vacancies in Roscommon and Cork.
John Evans bowed out of the Rossies job this week but Horan insists it isn’t one for him.
“If you like at the form guide and the underage structures, the four U21s in a row, we know they have some very good players… so from that point of view it should be an enticing job,” he told Off The Ball last night.
“John Evans has brought them from Division 3 to Division 2 back to back, won an FBD League and has done very well. So you’d think the direction is the right way but it’s a really tricky one because you go into Roscommon now, they’re in Division 1. It’s probable or likely — let’s not say probable — that will be relegated from that. Because Division 1 is dog territory, it really is. They haven’t been there for a while so they might find that tough.
“That can bring stresses and strains to a young team that are trying to make it – they go down and confidence goes with that and then you have Mayo coming back again strong again next year. So there’s that element to it but it certainly would be a challenge. I think the framework there is pretty strong so I’m sure there would be plenty people lining up for a crack at that one.”
When asked by Colm Parkinson about the position on Leeside which opened up with Brian Cuthbert’s resignation, horan added: ”I’m not interested in any job at the moment, to be honest, Wooly, you can take that form me.
“But the John Evans one is an unusual one because whichever way you evaluate it — and this is from the outside — his record in the league has been one of progression.
“Now the championships haven’t been great and the way they lost to Fermanagh hasn’t been great but I just think it’s difficult for an outside manager and maybe a guy with the type of character of John Evans; he’s in your face, there’s no question about that. So when you have that and an outside guy going into a county and some results go wrong, it’s very quickly they get it in the neck, much more so than a local guy. There’s been that undercurrent all year of unrest,” he said.
