Departing Brennan blasts Derry board

August 30, 2012

Derry manager John Brennan
John Brennan has fired a parting shot at the Derry county board.

In confirming that he won't be seeking another term as Oak Leaf football manager, Brennan criticised the county board for not supporting him and also accused them of "penny pinching".

"I know that I was disappointed that Paddy Bradley went on a bit of a solo run after the Longford game but, unfortunately, Paddy was right with some of the things he said," the Lavey man commented in The Irish News.

"I just wished he had come to me before he made the statement."

Brennan recalled how county board officials were against the idea of the Derry team staying in Dublin the night before last year's All-Ireland fourth round qualifier against Kildare in Croke Park. He also claimed that he had to ask Ladbrokes - who sponsored Derry GAA at the time - to pay for the post-match meal.

"We had the six-day turnaround (after losing the Ulster final to Donegal). We went down to Dublin on the Friday night to have a look about Croke Park and see the changing rooms etc," he continued.

"The majority of the players hadn't been in Croke Park before. That was objected to by the county board, it left a very bad taste and we had very strong words with our chairman (John Keenan) and secretary (Liam Peoples) after that game. I had to go and request that Ladbrokes buy us a meal.

"It hurt the players. They were looking forward to the match. There were objections to us staying overnight and then we had to ask someone else to put up a meal for us. I don't like begging and, basically, we were begging."

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