Jim McGuinness: ‘It makes it very hard to knock teams off their perch if you’re only copying’

His move back into intercounty management was, according to Jim McGuinness, a matter of timing. He means the confluence of events in his own life that made accepting the appointment feasible but from Donegal’s perspective, it has come as exceedingly timely.

A year of turmoil — proper chaos with resigning managers and a well-regarded academy system collapsing because of inadequate support from the county executive — has been calmed and a sense of optimism restored by the return of the man whose alchemy put Donegal on top of football two years into his previous appointment.

He points out that by the time the first ball is kicked next season, it will be 10 years since that first tour of duty concluded, after a disappointing All-Ireland final defeat by Kerry.

In the meantime, McGuinness has immersed himself in professional soccer, working with a variety of teams from Glasgow Celtic to Chinese team Beijing Sinobo Guoan and Charlotte Independence in the US. He has also earned his Uefa Pro Licence badge.

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Yet there was a sense that those experiences could have worked out better. Ask him is he surprised at how hard soccer proved to crack and he turns around the question.

“I’m not finished with it. If I want to do it again in the future that’s my decision. I enjoyed working with Derry City and have good friends there. I don’t feel that door has closed. Maybe people will say it has and that’s fine if it’s their opinion but I don’t see it like that.

“Since I’ve taken this position, the number of people in both codes that have reached out has been unbelievable. It took me back a bit. All those connections are there.”

The timeliness is obvious. He has been working on a project to create a platform for younger soccer players and has progressed that to the point where it is in development as a potential start-up business. The work will dovetail with the Donegal post in a way there was no guarantee it would with a full-time soccer appointment, potentially overseas.

After some extensive globe-trotting with the family, his wife Yvonne (sister of one of his new backroom team, Colm McFadden) is lecturing in Letterkenny IT and two of their children, Toni Marie and Mark Anthony are now at secondary school.

“It’s been great and hopefully a huge cultural experience for the family,” he says, “but we’re home now and the kids are starting to put down their own roots”.

Most importantly for the appointment, as soon as their championship was over in June, Donegal sent up the bat signal.

“Five of the players arrived in Creeslough the day after the preliminary quarter-final against Tyrone. One of them came down to the house, Patrick [McBrearty, given his championship debut at 18 by McGuinness back in 2011 and with Ryan McHugh and Hughie McFadden one of just three players he has worked with previously], and had a really long chat.

“That did pull at the heartstrings. There was a desire to change things and climb the ladder again and make things different. That emotional part was important. Then a few days later there was contact with the whole squad so that was a big part of it. At the end of the day, it’s your own county.

“It still wasn’t an easy decision for me because I’ve spent 10, 12 years in professional soccer and went on a long journey of development myself. I’m not long graduated with my Pro Licence and I’ve loved every minute of that. I’ve had great support from Celtic and the FAI and I don’t want to close the door on that, as I’ve put so much into it.

“The stars have aligned now and I’m happy to go with it. The business is at an early stage and it has taken me a long time to get it this far and we’re still mapping it out so it’s good in that regard. I’ll have the time to do it.”

Of course, over that time he hasn’t been absent from the world of football. He won’t be Oisín falling off his horse after 10 years in Tír na nÓg. Punditry on these pages, which has often promoted radical ideas as well as match analysis, and also on Sky Sports has kept him engaged in the intercounty scene and he has been coaching in the local club.

Intercounty is a different landscape. Since McGuinness inflicted the only championship defeat of the Jim Gavin era, Dublin have carved out a place in history, Derry are back-to-back Ulster winners and Tyrone got in for an All-Ireland two years ago.

Observation suggests one major change in how football is played since he was last involved at this level and why innovation is so important for teams hoping to challenge.

“The move to possession football although there was an element of that previously. Kickouts were always important for us — pushing up on kickouts and other teams pushing up on ours. Because of that, I think there’s been a regression in transitional football and that was important to us and would still be important to me.”

His belief in tactical innovation is not surprisingly undimmed after exposure to the inner workings of another sport. McGuinness doesn’t treat football and soccer as separate files, as there are enough similarities to make the experiences interchangeable.

“There are many similarities between them. They’re both invasion sports and both team sports, predicated on attack and defence and transitional moments. Equally there are subtle differences. When you spend so much time in your life doing one sport and then so much time in another, they all meld into one. It’s all part of how you see things.”

Whereas McGuinness has yet to assess the players at his disposal, he has a strong view of what he doesn’t want to do, which is copy the prevailing consensus.

If the tactics that he sprang a decade ago were controversial, the essential point is valid. You can’t really beat teams by copying the tactics that best suit them.

“Compared with hurling, where you can send the ball 80 yards and it forces the game to be transitional and vertical, football over the past number of years sees teams’, including Donegal’s, first pass going backwards or sideways. Everyone has their own opinion and a lot of people follow what’s going on at the highest level and study and analyse it.

“I’ve never bought into that concept because if everybody does that, the best players will win out and it makes it very hard to knock teams off their perch if you’re only copying. We need to find out what we want to do and what our own identity is. I’ve my own thoughts on that and the players will have an important part to play as well.”

One serious change for the worse is that unlike his first appointment in 2010, he doesn’t have the resources of an under-21 team that made it to the All-Ireland or the leader of that team, Michael Murphy, now a year retired.

Does he harbour hopes of a change of mind or has that bus left the station?

“I would love if the Michael Murphy bus pulled up outside! That’s a question for Michael and I think he’s made it quite clear that that moment has passed for him. I certainly wouldn’t be closing a door on him. I imagine he’ll be as strong as ever in the club championship.

“He’s played since he was 17 and he’s now 34. Half his life and you have to respect that. If he felt rejuvenated and his energy levels were restored and he was enthused, you’d love to have him but Michael has his life to lead.”

At least there will be no repeat of one of the most prominent controversies, the shutting down of Donegal’s senior and intermediate championships while the county remains in the All-Ireland.

Despite this, he’s not entirely happy with the scheduling necessitated by the split-season separation of club and county. He believes that some tweaking of schedules (“nothing crazy”) would benefit everyone.

“If you think about [it], it took just three weeks to get from Ulster preliminary round to the conclusion of the semi-finals. That’s one paycheque for a family to get to maybe three matches. I think that gets lost at the higher level. For the man and woman who are working Monday to Friday, those decisions aren’t where they need to be.

“It’s more about TV and financials than giving people the experience. If your team goes on a run, give people that experience: two weeks when they can enjoy what has happened. People don’t even talk about games any more — they hardly have time to absorb a brilliant game. I don’t know how that promotes the game.”

Among the many messages McGuinness received on holidays last week after confirmation of his appointment on Monday, was one which stood out for him. It simply read: “Enjoy the madness.”

“I think that’s what I’m ready to do. Embrace it and enjoy it!”

It’s what we’re all ready to do.