FOUR ALL-IRELAND triumphs, five Leinster titles and four National League successes.
Jim Gavin has overseen an extraordinary run of glory since he took over at the helm of the Dublin footballers in October 2012.
Yet that did not stem the tide of criticism that flowed his way in the aftermath of this year’s All-Ireland final with some media commentators unimpressed with his performance in the press conference after the victory over Mayo.
It’s not something that Philly McMahon can understand.
Considering the volume of trophies that Gavin has accumulated, the Ballymun Kickhams man wonders why his manager is criticised for his conduct.
“Nobody can actually argue with the way Jim is, the way he manages. With the success he’s had it. I don’t get it. How can you?
“How can you argue with success. It’s strange isn’t it? I don’t get it and I don’t buy into it.
“You can’t argue with someone who has won what he has won with us. And the respect that he has gained from the players, from people that know who he is, what he’s about.
“I think people don’t like change. This fella is a different style of manager, ‘so that’s wrong isn’t it?’ No it’s not wrong.
“He’s won things, so the way he does it is working.”
For McMahon, speaking yesterday after his memoir ‘The Choice’ won the eir Sport Book of the Year’, a manager is judged on the results he generates.
He has been part of teams managed by Gavin for a decade and has no qualms with his boss being inscrutable.
“I don’t think anybody takes on a job to satisfy the public. Jim Gavin didn’t go into John Costello and say: ‘I want this job because I’m going to help make the pundits and media understand that this is how I manage.
“He manages the way he manages to help the team win and that’s what’s working.
“I’ve been with him (Jim Gavin) since 2008 with the U21′s, then Pat Gilroy and back to Jim.
“He hasn’t changed one bit. You’ll never know him. But he never changes, that’s who he is. In a different setting, or you’re at training with him, he’s the exact same.
“But I’m sure a lot of the lads take traits of who he is and bring it in to the way they are.
“You’ve just seen him a few weeks ago doing charity work for Bóthar. There’s no surprise that there’s a lot of lads on that team that do charity work as well.
“It breeds down from the top to the bottom.”
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