By Paul Kelly

The funny season.

"Im tellin ya Liam, he's gettin an extension to the house, a car, and they are throwing in a few barrels of diesel too"

No county matches, no championship, no training; just club games and brawl investigations.

In October, November and December the GAA goes through a period of introspection so thank god for the managerial merry-go-round, at least we’re guaranteed a laugh.

Up and down the country there has been resignations, recriminations and finger-pointing all played out in the full glare of the media.

And with players flexing their muscles and clubs all wanting a say, I’m amazed that anybody would put themselves forward as a county manager.

They put themselves through ‘sham’ processes, are interviewed by panels of 25 and then when they get the job, the public really stick the boot in.

We love to gossip in Ireland. We love to know what our neighbour is doing and we love it even better if there is a wee bit of scandal in the air.

In the last two months I have been given chapter and verse on the alleged deals agreed by a number of county managers.

As the weeks have gone by the amounts have risen and the perks have grown beyond all recognition, and to be perfectly honest I’ve had enough of it.

Now I want to be clear about this. I am not on first name terms with any senior county manager, I have not been party to any processes involved in appointments and I do not know what contracts have been agreed between managers and various county boards.

To be honest I don’t really care if a county manager is getting paid or not – what really frustrates me is that the whole process is done behind closed doors and the result is that rumours and innuendo fill the gaps which reflects badly on the Association and leaves the reputations of the people involved in tatters.

I want the GAA to set out rules and regulations about how these appointments should be conducted and more importantly I would suggest that county boards are open and transparent about who has been approached, interviewed and appointed.

However, I would go even further than that by insisting that managers become paid employees of county boards.

As a paid employee, they would be expected to take on development, coaching and public relations duties as directed by the county board.

The salary level could be set by Croke Park and standard across the country. A manager in Wicklow could earn just as much as a manager in Armagh but no-one could earn more than the stipulated amount.

I understand that the whole ‘payment’ issue may be a step too far for GAA die-hards who want to stay true to the amateur/volunteer ethos but county boards and provincial councils already employ numerous development officers and coaching staff.

They are out there in the community, spreading the GAA gospel, raising standards and increasing interest in the games.

Surely it makes sense that a county board and the wider GAA family gets to make the best use of the skills and profile that a manager enjoys but in an open, transparent and accountable way.

Many committed county managers already give up time to visit schools, speak at events and help out at coaching clinics. Think of the people they could inspire and influence if they were doing that every day.

I don’t believe that by taking these steps the amateur ethos of our games would be eroded, in fact, it may actually have a positive impact.