FORMER Donegal manager Jim McGuinness is adamant that Gaelic Football remains in a ‘strong place’.
Debate continues to swirl about the current state of the game, but McGuinness, who will act as a pundit for Sky Sports this summer, is encouraged that so many counties are improving.
“For me, I think football is in a very strong place,” is McGuinness’ verdict. “I think there’s a lot of work going on in every single county.
“I think what’s happened in the last number of years is counties that maybe traditionally weren’t at the top table are fighting very hard to get to the top table. That’s a good thing.
“I don’t see it as the death of football. I think there’s definitely been changes and people have been asking questions and the established norms have been questioned. That’s a really healthy thing.
“A lot of debate is a healthy thing. There’s been a lot of very strong opinions, but just because somebody’s got a strong opinion or they’re a high profile pundit, that doesn’t mean they’re right.”
Currently working with Glasgow Celtic as a performance consultant McGuinness will start his UEFA B Coaching badges in the next fortnight.
“I'm going into it with an open mind," McGuinness said. "What I want to do at the moment is use the badges to make myself better in my own job.
“I do a lot of one-to-ones with players every single day and you do get into very in-depth conversations with them in terms of where they're at and where they want to go, the position they play on in the team. And there's a lot of tactical stuff as well, it's just not conversations.
"I think that will help me in my job. Obviously I've been a coach and I've really enjoyed coaching and I'd like to challenge myself in that area to see what I can do and what I can offer and how much I would enjoy that dynamic.”
