Former Monaghan boss Seamus McEnaney believes that inter-county managers should be paid a weekly salary by the GAA.
The topic of paying managers at the highest levels of Gaelic football emerged after comments were made by GAA President Jarlath Burns this month.
"I think there will be a debate on whether we should put managers on contract because it is nearly a full-time job, with the amount of accountability there. Even when you are winning, there can be difficulty listening to criticism,” he said on RTÉ’s Sunday Sport programme on October 15.
Burns' suggestion to potentially compensate managers was also supported by a survey conducted by the Gaelic Players Association.
The GPA survey stated that "92% of inter-county players believe managers should be compensated for their work."
“An intercounty manager or a club manager is very close to a full-time job”
Former #GAA manager @McenaneySeamus on the realities of the role and why GAA Managers should be paid #RTÉUpfront pic.twitter.com/VHiu79Mxcj
— Upfront with Katie Hannon (@RTEUpfront) October 21, 2024
It is well known that high-profile figures are compensated in some shape or form by the GAA. GPA CEO Tom Parsons said, “Players are supportive of managers being compensated and believe they already are."
Adding to the topic, Monaghan's McEnaney, speaking on RTÉ’s Up Front with Katie Hannon this week, stated that he believes the GAA needs to get its house in order and compensate individuals.
“The minimum wage is €14. Pay them €20 an hour, €1,000 a week. Another employee of the county board, and it brings it official. It brings it under the umbrella because this discussion needs to be had," he said via the Mirror
“It needs to be sorted because it’s getting out of control. Plus, we could have a scenario where there’s a sliding scale from Division Four to Division One, but all centralised and paid from Croke Park.”
Former GAA president Nickey Brennan, speaking alongside McEnaney on the same program, believes that any decision to pay inter-county managers should be made carefully, as reversing such a decision if it turned out to be a mistake would be difficult.
“If we’re going to have the association moving into the area where more and more people are getting paid to provide services that were once provided by volunteers, we do need a certain cohort of professional people in the GAA who need to get paid; of that, there is no question about it. I’m very much in favour of that, but we need to be very careful we don’t go over the edge here because if we do, there may be no comeback," Brennan added.
