Bonner and Mulgrew to call on DRA

DONEGAL FOOTBALL: THE INCREASINGLY embittered business of county managerial appointments took another hostile turn yesterday when Declan Bonner confirmed he and fellow Donegal football candidate Charlie Mulgrew are calling on the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) to examine the process which led to former county colleague John Joe Doherty being ratified for the position on Monday night.

It marks the latest in a series of disturbing fallouts from the so-called manager merry-go-round season, following on from the crisis in Cork hurling, and also the increasingly apparent influence of player power which clearly contributed to the recent removal of Wexford and Galway hurling managers John Meyler and Ger Loughnane respectively, and also of Waterford hurling manager Justin McCarthy at the start of the summer.

However, Bonner was adamant yesterday the decision to call on the DRA was nothing to do with Doherty getting the job, per se, but rather all to do with the process of how he got it.

Two weeks ago Bonner and Mulgrew were announced as the candidates of the selection committee ahead of a county board meeting, only for Doherty, who was the original choice of the selection committee, to address that meeting, and thus throw the process open again - with Doherty ending up appointed on Monday night on a vote of 27 to 19.

"Basically we want the selection process under which the new football manager was appointed to be thrown out," said Bonner, "because in our opinion it's flawed and has been from day one.

"We went to the meeting (on Monday night) and we made it quite clear that no matter what happened we were not putting our names forward. At this stage neither Charlie nor myself have any interest in the position but we want to have the selection process thrown out for what it is, a flawed exercise. And in our opinion it's still flawed."

But speaking yesterday evening, Doherty replied with what he said was his legitimate claim to the position having been offered it ahead of the Bonner-Mulgrew joint ticket: "The way it was left, I felt I had to go to that county board meeting, because I was left in a very unfavourable situation. So I gave my side of the story to the delegates, and obviously the clubs gave me a big backing.

"Basically, the job was offered to me, and the first thing the delegates would ask was how come the first-choice candidate was not up for ratification. So it was important to give my reasons as to what happened."

Doherty admitted he did initially delay in giving his commitment, but not, he said, because of the rumour it was over money: "There were a whole rake of issues. I tried to put together a good back-up team, and there was questions the back-up team needed answered. In fairness the county board mightn't have had anything else planned other than a yes or no answer, and then when the decision was made, they were keen to get it out there. It just put them in a very awkward position."

Despite the angry tone with which Bonner and Mulgrew addressed Monday's meeting, Doherty seemed something sympathetic: "They are friends, and hopefully still are. Hopefully things will just move on. It was just one of them situations that snowballed, and got out of everybody's control."

Monday's meeting also saw Bonner put forward a vote of no confidence in the main officers, but this was deemed out of order: "We went through the proper channels to have this motion put on the agenda but there was no sign of it and when I tried to propose it from the floor I was ruled out again.

"Now the county convention is on in a few weeks and I hope that the clubs will now stand up and be counted and vote these people out of office because we have had nothing but problems for the last two years.

"It's not as if Charlie and myself were two blow-ins from another county. We both gave many years to the county team and have been involved in team management. And having been involved with Donegal football for 20 years I told delegates that this was not the way I had planned to end my association with Donegal football and now I feel that would never want to put my name forward ever again and that is sad for me to have to say."

In the meantime, Doherty presses ahead with preparations for 2009, having agreed the back-up of two former 1992 All-Ireland winning colleagues Tony Boyle and Tommy Ryan, with Michael McGeehan named as team trainer.