Ryan feels time is right for change
Honesty was what you got from Michael Ryan in his playing days and as manager of the Tipperary senior hurling team, and it was the same trait which saw him reach the decision to step away from the position.
The announcement came as somewhat of a surprise to everyone last Thursday but for Michael Ryan is was about finally making a call on a thought process that began not long after Tipperary's defeat to Clare on June 10th last which brought their championship to and early end.
“Being selfish about it, losing is a disaster. You never want to go out on a losing note like that,” he began.
“Row back to when these (new) structures came in and it was one of the things that occurred to me straight away that there are going to be two really disappointed teams in Munster this year. It was always a risk.
“Behind that when you get cold about this kind of thing, at that time when the maths were what they were and you were looking ahead, if Tipp don't qualify, we are done.
“When you take yourself out of the equation and coldly look at it, that makes sense. We are in the results business at the end of the day.”
Ryan still had two years to run on his current term as manager but in an honest appraisal of the situation, he saw the signs that change was need, purely for the betterment of Tipperary hurling.
“If you are there nine years you are there a very long time,” Ryan said of his first involvement going back to 2008 as a selector under Liam Sheedy.
“While the voice gets incremental depending on the role you do, you are still there a long time.
“Some of the players have been there from the start, Seamie Callanan has been there since we kicked off in 2008. Brendan Maher, Noel McGrath, Paudie Maher came in 2009 and we added a few more in 2010 so there is a cohort of players that have been listening to me for the bones of nine years.
“There is a bigger picture here all of the time. It is not about me and it's not about the players, it is about Tipperary at the end of the day and what is going to be good for Tipperary.
“It needed a change, it is as simple as that.”
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