There was lots of love for the interview with Jim McGuinness on Second Captains Live last night.
Expertly grilled by Eoin McDevitt on accusations of double standards, Donegal’s All-Ireland winning manager finally gave an explanation for why his writing a memoir, Until Victory Always, is different from Kevin Cassidy contributing to a book.
All-Star wing-back Cassidy was booted off the Donegal panel by McGuinness in November 2011 after the release of Declan Bogue’s This is Our Year.
McDevitt asked McGuinness to explain the difference between what Cassidy had done and what he himself was doing by writing his memoirs, which are very revealing about his four years in charge of Donegal.
“In the same context as Alex Ferguson writing a book after he stepped away, it’s after the event. 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.”
A performance consultant with Celtic, McGuinness has been assuming a greater coaching role with the Scottish champions and has been studying for his UEFA badges, perhaps with a view to moving into football (association) management.
Therefore we would love to know what his thoughts are on one release that will be competing with Until Victory Always in the Christmas market.
That’s right, Celtic’s captain has an autobiography coming out for Christmas, and given the combative midfielder’s outspoken nature we reckon it could be an explosive read.
We wonder if he will reveal any of the contents of his one-on-ones with McGuinness and, if so, what will McGuinness do?
