TYRONE defender Ronan McNamee has confirmed that the issues over expenditure are having a detrimental effect on the county’s attempts to win an All-Ireland title.
The Red Hands’ full-back, speaking at an Allianz League launch ahead of his side’s meeting with Monaghan this weekend, said that the timing and amount of expenses being paid to players was a constant issue for players.
He also confirmed the allegation that were contained in the email sent to radio station NewsTalk last week surrounding a one-off £15 payment made by players, for which they received equipment including a foam roller and resistance bands.
Tyrone county board had come under scrutiny following the email, which was signed ‘Tyrone Senior Player’ and hit out at “month after month of cut after cut”.
A recent newspaper survey revealed that the county had spent €484,127 on their county teams last year – just over a quarter of the €1.63m their conquerors Mayo spent in their pursuit of an All-Ireland.
Asked whether the issue with expenses was over when they were paid or how much was paid, McNamee replied: “Both. Some people don't get paid full amounts of what they would maybe claim.”
McNamee told reporters that “if we got nothing spent on us I would still be playing football because it’s what you want to do.
“You're not here to get whatever €400,000 is going to get you, you're here for the love of the game and because you want to win trophies and because you want to win medals.
“But I'm sure that they're putting it to good use some use somewhere, so they are.”
The email last week claimed that the situation was having a damaging effect on the Ulster champions’ hopes of major silverware later in the year, and McNamee admitted it was on the agenda around Garvaghey.
“If it's being talked about by players, it's obviously going to affect it some way. If it wasn't a problem, they wouldn't be talking about it.”
Inter-county spending on the whole last year topped the €23m mark, with Cork and Roscommon the only two in the top eight spenders that didn’t reach the last eight of the All-Ireland SFC.
Mayo (€1.63m), Dublin (€1.51m), Galway (€1.36m), Tipperary (€1.1m), Kerry (€1m) and Donegal (€900,000) all dwarfed Tyrone in terms of what they spent on their inter-county teams in 2016.
Of the Ulster counties, only Antrim and Fermanagh spent less than Tyrone’s €484,127.
“Well, the more money that would be pressed into teams, I would imagine, it would benefit them more, it would have to, for training weekends, for maybe equipment, for whatever it is,” said McNamee.
“I would say I would agree with it to a certain extent. Money is not everything but it would damn help. So if other teams are at the top of the pile, spending €1.6m, they're obviously spending it for a reason.
“Dublin are spending it, the top hurling teams are spending it, it must come to some use.
“I would say it's spent on training weeks, you know, a lot of teams go abroad for training weekends, they're constantly on trips away.”
With the ongoing issue over the Tyrone county board’s refusal to extend Mickey Harte’s contract beyond the end of the current season also hanging over the squad, McNamee admitted the players could end up looking back on the issues with angst if they fail in their pursuit of success.
“Probably, aye. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. Hopefully we can go and win the All-Ireland with four hundred and whatever it is [thousand spent], against the €1.6m.
“But I'd imagine if €1.6m was being spent on a county team it would be towards something beneficial, it wouldn't just be blowing money here and there.
“You saw the article that was released, we had [spent] €17,000 [less than in the previous year] maybe but the rest of them had jumped, I saw a couple of them jump €300,000 in expenditures.”
