Jim McGuinness casts doubt over his Donegal future

Jim McGuinness has said that the "conditions will have to be correct" for him to remain on as Donegal football manager.

Speaking to BBC Northern Ireland's Championship programme on Sunday, McGuinness appeared to cast major doubt on whether he will stay on in the post.

"The biggest thing for me is to be able to prepare the team properly," said the Donegal boss.

"I don't think we got that opportunity this year on some levels."

After winning the Ulster title in his first year in charge in 2011, McGuinness led Donegal to the provincial and All-Ireland honours last season but the 2013 campaign has proved to be a disappointment.

Donegal suffered relegation to Division 2 in the Spring and their Ulster Final defeat by Monaghan was then followed by an All-Ireland quarter-final hammering by Mayo.

McGuinness added:"All the systems have to be in place for me."

The Donegal manager rubbished weekend reports that he had already told the county's GAA board that he will be staying in the post.

"There's no truth in that. I haven't given my intentions to anybody. I am still thinking this through. I think it is very important to do that."

"I don't want to be Donegal manager for the sake of being Donegal manager. I want to be there for the right reasons and also for every system to be in place."

McGuinness would not elaborate on the specifics of the issues which are causing him to mull over whether to stay on.

"I don't want to go into it now but it's something I raised with the county board yesterday and spoke about with the players yesterday. We'll see what happens this week."

There has been speculation during McGuinness's reign that he has been unhappy over the scheduling of some club fixtures and this may be one of the issues at hand.

"If the conditions are correct and you feel you can do your job. I have had a couple of fantastic years and enjoyed every single minute of it.

"We have had a fantastic journey but the reality is that everything has to be right if you want to prepare a team to bring them forward."