Donegal legend Jim McGuinness is leaving Celtic – and presumably his Sky Sports GAA pundit job – to work under former Bayer Leverkusen manager at Chinese Super League side, Beijing Sinobo Guoan.

Back in July 2013, Stuart Clark had this in-depth chat with Jim…

He’s transformed Gaelic football with his unique approach to player management and tactics. And he’s brought Donegal out of the doldrums, leading them to their first All Ireland title in 20 years. Super-manager Jim McGuinness talks about getting the most from his squad, professionalism in the GAA – and how he owes it all to his lucky whistle...

I’ve a lucky whistle, which got mislaid one day at training. I gathered the lads together and said, ‘No one’s going home till it’s back in my pocket!’ We had to tear the dressing-room apart but eventually we found it!”

No, you haven’t through some mysterious merging of sporting reality and religious satire magicked up in an episode of Father Ted. Jim McGuinness is recalling the panic that spread through the Donegal football panel and coaching staff when his silver companion of 25-year’s standing went missing. His beloved whistle aside, there’s been very little luck involved in the way McGuinness has led Donegal to their first Sam Maguire in two decades.
Such success had seemed unlikely in June 2010 when he took over what one senior GAA writer reckoned to be the 23rd best footballing county in Ireland. McGuinness had succeeded John Joe O’Doherty, a former county teammate who jumped before he could be pushed after Donegal were dumped out of the All-Ireland qualifiers by Armagh.
With the senior players looking disinterested and the youngsters on the team bereft of coincidence, it was hard to see how their fortunes were going to be turned around.

STUART: Jim, the job you landed wasn’t exactly a dream one.
JIM: I’d applied twice before. There were no other candidates this time round, but I’ll be honest with you – for several reasons I nearly didn’t get it. Thick-skinned as I am, that would’ve been hard to live down. I can understand people regarding the job as a bit of a poisoned chalice. 23rd best county was about right – things weren’t going well. When you’ve pride in your team and other people are scoffing, it hurts. It was a matter of trying to go in a different direction, create a new identity and culture for ourselves and get the players to come on board. Obviously as a coach you have ideas of how you want the game to be played, but in reality it’s the players’ game plan. If that game plan’s going to be delivered with conviction, they’ve got to believe in it themselves. They must feel ownership of it.
STUART: How did you manage to make demoralised and humiliated players feel like winners again?
JIM: I had a coffee with each member of the panel individually, looked them in the eye and got a feel for how far they were prepared to go. Did they believe in what was happening? Could you light a fire inside them? Could they come on board and not be divisive and want to move forward in a positive fashion? That first meeting – I think it was November 6, 2010 – was a very important day for us. That was when everything negative that had happened in the past was banished. The cord had to be snipped. We were able to say things like, “In the past the gym work wasn’t structured properly. People have been cutting corners and not working hard enough.” I made, if you like, a contract with each of the players – “This is what I expect in terms of discipline, this is what I expect in terms of commitment and this is what you can expect from myself and the coaching staff in return. Are you willing to sign up to that?” The answer, I’m pleased to say, being a fairly resounding, “Yes!”
STUART: I remember you saying you wanted to develop an “all for one/one for all” mentality that was only sporadically there when you were a county player.
JIM: When I came into the senior Donegal team as a teenager some players were definitely more equal than others. I don’t want pecking orders or hierarchies in my dressing room. A key word with me is ‘respect’; if somebody disrespects somebody else – and the coaching staff are included in this – we’ll do a hundred press-ups together as a group. If we can’t get to a hundred, we’ll pause at 80 or 90 or whatever, have a breather and then finish them off. If there’s a grievance no one’s allowed to go home until it’s solved.
STUART: It’s often said that the art of being a manager is knowing when to put your arm around somebody and when to give them a bollocking. What wattage is your hair-dryer?
JIM: (laughs) Nowhere near as powerful as Fergie’s was! I don’t really do bollockings. We base everything on honesty and hard work. If somebody’s not delivering on either of those fronts, I’ll take them to one side and usually not have to say much because in their heart of hearts they know they’re coming up short. You can’t treat grown men like naughty school kids. In fact you shouldn’t treat kids like naughty school kids! You get far more out of people of all ages if you’re positive rather than negative with your encouragement. We’re fortunate in that we have a group of players who are very focused. They’ve been heavily criticised in the past. They’ve come from a very low base and are going through a rich vein of form now – a rich time in our history.
STUART: Winning what?
JIM: Let me just work it out… in 2011 we won League Division 2 and the Ulster Championship. Last year we won the Ulster Championship and the All-Ireland. That’s four cups in two seasons and we’re up against Monaghan in the Ulster Final again on July 21. We had a lot of players who were really, really hanging in there to try and win one provincial championship and now they’ve surpassed all that. That’s more than they could possibly have dreamed about in a Donegal jersey. People look at you differently and you view yourself differently.
STUART: There was a brilliant story recently about you deploying SAS-style tactics and making players train in the dark.
JIM: (laughs again) The only way that would happen is if we had a light failure at McCumhaill Park! There’s also been stuff in the media about teams around the country training for 2½, three hours because “that’s what Donegal do.” Very, very rarely would a session last that long with us.
STUART: So no blindfolding and chaining players to radiators to toughen them up mentally?
JIM: I don’t think those kind of bootcamp-style tactics work in sport. Everything we do is designed to build confidence. If there’s not a real strong collective thrust towards your goals then at some point you’re going to come unstuck. Obviously there are decisions to be made on the sideline, but the most important thing is getting your preparation right. If we’ve trained well and the information we’ve given players has been taken on board, I always feel relaxed and comfortable going into a game. It doesn’t always mean you’re going to win, but you know that you couldn’t have done any more.
STUART: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more complete footballing performance than your turning over of Cork over in last year’s All-Ireland semi. Was that the day when all the different strands of your Donegal masterplan came together?
JIM: 2011 was about getting a defensive base and a system put in place. We were in a famous semi-final with Dublin where we ruffled a lot of feathers nationally in the media by going very defensive. Unfortunately, we just failed to get over the line. 2012 was about developing that and, yeah, the Cork game was when the players let go and did everything we’ve done subsequently for the first time. It was nine points each at halftime; we won 16 points to 1-11 or something at the end and probably could have got a few scores as well. It was a complete performance on a very hot day against very challenging opposition. The prize to go to the final was fantastic.
STUART: Every epic adventure needs a soundtrack; what gets played on the Donegal boombox before games?
JIM: Mainly house and R ‘n’ B.
STUART: Would the Jim McGuinness of twenty years ago have been good enough to earn a place in the current Donegal set-up?
JIM: I worked very hard and kept myself fit, so obvious bias aside I think I’d have been worth a place on the bench at least! A teammate of mine I’d love to have in this current Donegal side is Damien Diver. He was athletically very strong and a good footballer on top of that. You have to be able to do your job defensively and then have the aerobic capacity to go up the field and threaten at the other end. Damien definitely had those qualities.
STUART: I’m going to embarrass you now, Jim. I interviewed Killybegs native Seamus Coleman in December and he said – I quote – “Jim McGuinness is a top man – you know just by speaking to him that he’s a real motivator. The passion floods out of him. No matter what sport it is he’s a winner.” I think he’s trying to ensure there’s a place for him on the Donegal panel if this soccer lark doesn’t work out!
JIM: In the unlikely event he took up football again he’d be one of the first names on the team-sheet (laughs). He played for Na Cealla Beaga and Donegal in the Minor Football Championship and had the same attributes as he does on the soccer pitch – a cool head, great strength and pace to burn. Everybody’s talking about Baines to United, but it wouldn’t surprise me if David Moyes went for Seamus instead. The improvement he showed last year – both for club and country – was phenomenal. He’s on his way to becoming a top, top player.
STUART: As an Everton fan I refuse to countenance anything other than him growing old and grey at Goodison! Seamus also said that he watched last year’s All Ireland Final with some of his English teammates who were gobsmacked when he told them that no one on the pitch or in the dugouts was getting paid.
JIM: In my programme notes for the Tyrone game I thanked the players for their commitment and sacrifice to date this season and qualified it by saying it’s something we never, ever take for granted. I was very aware, for instance, that Colm McFadden had had a baby that week. The players have wives and girlfriends and children who are supporting them on this journey and it’s not for financial reward. It’s for them to be the best they can at their sport – and only that. They’ve surpassed anything that I could possibly have imagined; not only in terms of what they’ve won, but also the smiles they’ve put on people’s faces during these tough economic times we’re going through. They’ve given the whole of Donegal a reason to feel proud.
STUART: A few weeks ago in the Irish Independent there was a preview of the Donegal v Down game – which you won of course – alongside a piece about former county players who’ve fallen on hard times. One had been declared bankrupt; another needs €15,000 to repair teeth damaged during his hurling career and a third guy faces life in a wheelchair unless he can find a similar sum for a hip replacement. That itself is a pretty persuasive argument to pay players more than the bare bone expenses they currently get.
JIM: Nothing for me is non-negotiable. If there were a sustainable model for remunerating the players whilst protecting the values of the association you’d have to look at it. Personally I think it’s a case of chimney pots – we don’t have enough of them in Ireland to support two more professional games. Unlike the League of Ireland, we can’t make money by selling players to English clubs. There are no lucrative European competitions to qualify for, no Hurling or Football World Cup to drip-feed money down to the national association. Rugby in Ireland’s worked well as a professional sport because of the international dimension that the GAA doesn’t have. Yes, there are people in the UK and America who’ll watch Donegal v Tyrone, but it’s a fraction of the audience you’d get for Leinster v Harlequins or Munster v Clemont. If we were a country of 10 or 15 million perhaps it’s work, but I don’t think we’d be able to sustain professional football and hurling here with an island-wide population of half that. The last thing you’d want is a county to go bust.
STUART: So, is that the beginning and end of it?
JIM: What we can do is ensure that players are fully compensated for any time they take off work. That’s especially important given the introduction this season of Friday night games. To address your point about former players who are in financial difficulty, there needs to be a constant review of things like benevolent funds. As an association we need to ask, “Are we doing enough?”
STUART: In addition to managing Donegal, you’re spending three days a week at Parkhead as a performance consultant. How did the Celtic hook-up come about?
JIM: I’m friendly with Paul McGinley, the golfer. We’d spent a few hours down in Dunfanhey before Christmas 2011 chatting about the next season, and I think he tipped Dermot (Desmond, Celtic owner) off about what we were looking to do. So he was kind of tracking me, as was Neil Lennon – who having played at minor level for Armagh would have been keeping an eye on us Donegal lot as well! Neil was at the All-Ireland Final last year and has given me a few weeks off to prepare for the Monaghan game, so he understands what it’s all about.
STUART: A few eyebrows were raised locally when you started double jobbing, but despite your Celtic commitments you’ve never missed a Donegal training session.
JIM: I’m very lucky because we’ve an airport in Donegal, which I live only 25 minutes from. There’s no real security checks, because you’re only ever going to have ten or 15 on the flight, and if the plane’s delayed they’d ring me at the house and say not to come down yet. I can be door-to-door in 2hrs 15mins, which is quicker than if I were travelling to Dublin.
STUART: I’m going to make you blush again! A recent Neil Lennon quote: “Jim’s a very intelligent man and I’ve learned a lot of little snippets from how he works. We’ve chewed the fat on a lot of things, really – not just GAA and soccer. We’ve talked a whole lot about the psychology of sport more than anything else.”
JIM: He’s a great guy... for an Armagh supporter! The whole Celtic experience has been brilliant. My desk is next to (Parkhead legend) Danny McGrain’s, so I’m constantly star-struck.
STUART: How tangible is the Irishness of the club?
JIM: It’s almost that thing of being more Irish than Ireland! Celtic’s a very friendly club. It was built on a charity ethos of creating funds to feed the poor. That sense of purpose and community’s still there: you never get the feeling that people have got ahead of themselves. Like Man United and the GAA, they’re a huge institution, but one that’s never forgotten its roots.
STUART: Is there any football fixture – Donegal v Tyrone perhaps – that compares to the Old Firm?
JIM: It’s a remarkable fixture, yeah. It’s a different sport and a different dynamic, but us versus Tyrone would be another game that everybody wants to win for the local bragging rights. Championship football in Ireland and everything it brings is special, and I think it’s the same for the Celtic boys. They’re all very grounded and down to earth people. Again there’s that respect thing of when you meet somebody giving them a high-five or a shake of the hand.
STUART: The Celtic and Donegal ethoses may be similar, but the pay-packets aren’t. Is it harder motivating players who are either millionaires or well on their way to becoming one?
JIM: The thing about the Celtic lads I’m working with is that they haven’t made it yet. They’re 17/18/19, in the development squad and trying to get that illustrious contract. A turned ankle or torn hamstring can mean six to eight weeks out, which seems an eternity to a teenager desperate to prove themselves. I’m kind of managing that and trying to work with them in terms of maintaining confidence and form.
STUART: Any Irish development squad lads that we and, even more importantly, Signor Trapattoni should be looking out for?
JIM: Yeah, there’s Paddy McNally, a Belfast defender who started out at Cliftonville and Paul George, a winger from Down. But it’s a very broad range. I work with a young Australian, Jackson Irvine; there’s Bahrudin Atajic from Bosnia and the Twardzik twins from the Czech Republic. There are players from all over the world who could have an okay year and still find themselves released at the end of the season. It doesn’t matter whether it’s tennis or football or ice hockey: it’s very difficult to make it at as a professional. Celtic are good in that, if a trainee’s released, they’ll try and find them a new club. There’s a duty of care element, definitely.
STUART: You’ll be taking on a third job next year when you help team captain Paul McGinley prepare Europe for the Ryder Cup.
JIM: It’s not in an official capacity, but yeah, Paul and I have conversations from time to time. His father, Mick, played football for Donegal, so there’s an understanding of what I can bring to the table in terms of a team dynamic. There are a lot of things we do that wouldn’t normally be relevant to golf as played by individuals, but the Ryder Cup is about making seven Europeans believe they can beat seven Americans. Martin O’Neill is a good friend of Paul’s as well, so you’ll have a wee bit from the soccer background and a wee bit from the Gaelic background.
STUART: Finally, along with The Script, Dylan McGrath and Chris O’Dowd you’re one of the ambassadors for the 2013 Arthur Guinness Projects. What do you hope will come out of the sporting side of the initiative?
JIM: That perhaps by funding a club we’ll help the next Katie Taylor get their start. People like her are an inspiration. Last year when we were trying to win an All Ireland, I should’ve just shown the lads pictures of Katie and said, “Look at her, she’s locked on.” It’s back to that thing of positive encouragement and creating environments in which people can flourish. We talked earlier about chimney pots; well, in terms of population Ireland probably over-achieves all the time. We’ve successful athletes in all sorts of areas and disciplines. There’s an Irish spirit there, underpinned by a strong level of professionalism.