IT WAS A SOMEWHAT uncomfortable and edgy Jim McGuinness who appeared on Second Captains Live on RTÉ last night.
The former Donegal manager was the main guest on the show, where the Glenties man was discussing his new autobiography, Until Victory Always.
His fall-outs with former All-Star Kevin Cassidy, whom he axed in 2011 for contributing to a book, This Is Our Year, by Declan Bogue, and former assistant manager Rory Gallagher, who is now the Donegal manager, have dominated the headlines since the release of McGuinness’s book.
Gallagher has taken issue with McGuinness’s account of their split in 2013.
“I don’t think that there’s a need to react to that,” McGuinness said last night.
“I’ve said in the book what I wanted to say in the book and that’s my perspective of what happened.”
McGuinness was asked by Eoin McDevitt about possible double standards between the case of Cassidy being dropped for his part in a book and McGuinness’s own decision to release an autobiography.
“In the same context as Alex Ferguson writing a book after he stepped away, it’s after the event,” McGuinness insisted.
“The situation with Kevin was, everything we were doing in that moment, we were trying to win the All-Ireland, we were putting our lives on hold.
“And everything we were doing was laid bare for every single manager in Ulster and the country. Every single method that I was bringing to what we were trying to achieve was laid bare in that moment.
“I’m gone now and there’s another man managing Donegal. That’s why Alex Ferguson has written his book now, because he’s gone from the Man United job. It’s the exact same context with me. That’s what people do. They explain what happened in a job after the event, not during the event.”
McGuinness is irked that the fall-outs have taken centre stage and he did convey good wishes towards Gallagher and the team.
“Rory’s in the job now and I wish him well and I wish the boys well,” he said.
“They need to get after that Ulster Championship and everybody needs to move forward.”
Watch the show by clicking on the link below …
http://wwwrte.ie/player/ie/show/second-captains-live-30002430/10491815/
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