Damian Barton has accused the Derry county board of penny-pinching during his time as the county's senior football manager.

Barton, whose two-year term in charge ended after last month's All-Ireland qualifier extra-time loss to Mayo, was restricted to working with a panel of just 26 players this year, prompting him to say his management were operating "with one hand tied behind their back".

"Our support network is not good enough," the 1993 All-Ireland winning centre forward is quoted as saying in the Irish News.

"I was told we could have a manager, a coach, a doctor, a physio, an administrator, a performance analyst and a strength and conditioning coach, that's seven people - the last two of whom were employed by the county board anyway. Our strength and conditioning coach to do all our teams? Absolutely impossible.

"I had one administrator, who was awesome, but he couldn't tell me how much it cost to run a team because he wasn't privy to that information.We ran 40 to 45 players last year. This year we were told we only could run with 26, which is an absolute joke."

Barton also revealed how he wanted at least one more year at the helm.

"I didn't step down, I wouldn't run away from anything," he continued.

"I failed some players, I admit. If we did get back for a third year, which I feel we were entitled to, there would have been changes - subtle changes, major changes. Let's just say I'm a lot wiser than I was at the start."

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