Ireland boxing team manager Joe Hennigan lobbed the 'personality clash' rationale into the mix when discussing the Billy Walsh saga on Today with Sean O'Rourke this morning.
Hennigan is the chairman of the Connacht Council of the IABA but says he had no input into any of the negotiations around Walsh's contract.
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Speaking to RTE this morning, he appeared to confirm Seán O'Rourke's contention that a 'personality clash' is one of the root causes for Walsh's departure.
It seems to be all along that there is a personality clash there. It's going on a while...
His secretary was doing fantastic work and there was no problem but then they moved her from A to B. Why did they move her when there was no need to move her.
According to Billy Walsh's official statement, an agreement was originally reached in August to secure his position as Head Coach but the IABA later declined to ratify it. Hennigan explains that one of Walsh's requests as the Head Coach is to be entrusted with full authority when it comes to picking the Irish team for any major competition.
When Billy picks his team, it has to be ratified by the Central Council. 80 - 90% of the time it goes straight through but they can make changes. What Billy is looking for is to pick the team and that it would be concrete. In a sense he's the best man to do that because he knows all the boxers but it still has to go through the Council at the end of the day
Hennigan concluded that regardless of the credentials of Walsh's successor, it will be difficult to foresee a successful campaign for the Irish team when they head to the Rio Olympics next year.
No matter who comes in and how good they are, you cannot put 10 months work into the 13 years work put in by Billy. He doesn't want to go but he feels that he has to
Walsh leaves for the US on Thursday.
