COLUMN: CEO decision 'most important Mayo GAA will ever make'

The appointment of a full-time CEO for Mayo GAA is one of the important decisions for the organisation in its recent history.

Bigger than any manager. Bigger than any chairman. Bigger than any player or board member who has come before.

And for many reasons.

Last week at the county board meeting, Donal Walshe and Daithí Gallagher of the Mayo Strategic Leadership Committee presented their vision for this position. 

Listening to them speak on the Mayo Football Podcast, it’s clear they are very aligned in what’s required at this stage.

Mayo GAA will actively headhunt candidates for this role. That is how proper organisations operate. That is how you get the best person for the job, not just whoever applies.

The committee also made clear that cost will not hold them back. They will put together a generous package for the right candidate.

It will no doubt cause some people to balk at this. The same ones that say the GAA or any not-for-profit should not be paying big salaries to top people.

Those people are so wrong.

NUMBERS GAME

Look at the numbers.

According to Payscale and Glassdoor, the average salary for a CEO in Ireland for a company of Mayo GAA’s size is anywhere between €100,000 and €170,000 annually. 

Mayo GAA is a multi-million euro organisation. The senior football team alone cost €870,000 to run in 2024. Total expenditure runs into the millions.

You want the best person to manage that kind of budget? You are going to have to pay them what they are worth. This is not a charity. But even if it was, no one should apologise for paying professionals a professional wage.

VOLUNTEER MODEL BROKEN

The days of running a county board solely with volunteers are long over. Seamus Tuohy said it himself at last year's convention. The demands placed on volunteers have become unsustainable. I vividly remember covering County Board meetings nearly 10 years ago when former treasurer Kevin O'Toole was saying he was putting in 40-plus hours a week in a volunteer role.

That is not sustainable. That is not fair. That is not how you run a business turning over millions.

Mayo GAA operates with the complexity of a medium-sized company. Volunteers are brilliant. They are the bedrock of everything we do, and Daithi Gallagher eloquently outlined this.

But you cannot continue to expect amateurs to manage and run a beast like Mayo GAA. 

A CEO can do that. The appointment fills a gap that has been getting wider every year.

POLITICS PROBLEM

GAA county boards are political by nature. People campaign for positions. Factions form. Loyalties shift.

I have seen it first-hand covering county board meetings as a journalist. So much of what gets done is about who knows who. About who can work the room. About personal agendas rather than what is best for Mayo football.

That’s just how politics works.

Every chairman comes in wanting to put their stamp on things. They want to build their legacy. When the next chairman arrives after three or four years, the strategic vision often changes direction.

A CEO fixes this problem.

They set a strategic vision for five, six, seven plus years. The musical chairs underneath does not matter as such. The committee members come and go.

The CEO stays. The plan stays. The vision stays.

BRAND NEEDS REPAIR

Mayo GAA has had a brand problem in the last few years.

The ongoing Revenue investigation and the reoccurring issues that make the county a national focus – in a bad way - for months every year. It follows Mayo around like a bad cold. 

These issues have damaged how people view the organisation.

There are probably people who want nothing to do with Mayo GAA right now. People who could help but choose not to because of the hassle. Because of the reputation.

The new CEO has to have the ability to rebuild those bridges. Get the Mayo GAA brand to a position where everyone wants to help out again. To a place of inspiration and belief.

Because brand is worth a hell of a lot more than our current stock price.

And tapping into those unexplored markets is crucial for our success.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

A few weeks ago, the county board signed off on building a Centre of Excellence in Bohola. The cost? Over 15 million euro.

That is a massive undertaking. That requires fundraising on a scale Mayo have never attempted before.

Who is going to lead that project? Who is going to develop sponsorship opportunities? Who is going to navigate the grant applications? Who is going to manage the commercial side?

Not volunteers working evenings and weekends. 

Otherwise the project is at risk. History has shown that infrastructure projects in Mayo GAA do not always end well. 

This one needs to be different.

NO FEAR OF CHANGE

It was encouraging to read reports of unanimous backing for this move from the County Board Delegates.

Daithi Gallagher also made it very clear in his interview afterwards that the volunteers are not going anywhere.

In fact, he stated that the CEO needs to ‘make volunteering fashionable again’. A catchy marketing tagline. 

Because the reality is they remain central to everything Mayo GAA does.

They need support. They need professional structures around them. More evolution than revolution, recognising where Mayo is and what it needs to move forward

The next five to ten years will define this organisation for a generation.

The Centre of Excellence. The brand repair. The financial stability. The commercial growth. And, most importantly despite not discussed too heavily in this column, is the on-field success.

Mayo GAA has always got by pretty well in this department. It comes more natural than off the field stuff. But there is another level to find.

As I said, this is probably the most important decision Mayo GAA will ever make.