Mickey Harte was totally oblivious to 'noise' generated by his Derry appointment

Mickey Harte says he was completely oblivious to the "noise" created by his appointment as Derry football boss, adding that no one in his native Tyrone has criticised him to his face.

Speaking at the Dr McKenna Cup draw, Harte said he didn't read or hear any of the media and social media commentary generated by his decision.

"People need to realise it doesn't bother me," Harte told BBC Sport NI.

"I don't hear it, I don't see it, I don't read it."

Harte added that he believed that the apparent shock in the GAA world was over-stated and generated by a "few people".

"Whatever's going on out there, you must know more than I do because there was not a thing that bothered me," continued the new Oak Leaf manager whose side will be up against Cavan and Down in their opening Dr McKenna Cup Group B games.

His former Tyrone team are pitted with Armagh and Donegal in Group A while Monaghan, Fermanagh and Antrim will be in Group C.

Harte denies desire to prove Tyrone wrong

"Because there's a bit of loud noise that comes from places doesn't mean that there are a lot of people talking like that," added Harte of the apparent furore which greeted his Derry appointment.

"A few people can make lots of noise and then give the impression that everybody is talking.

"I met loads of people and not one of them said a cross word to me in Tyrone and indeed in Derry either."

In his first major appearance before the media since his appointment in September, Harte denied that his decision to take the Derry job was because of lingering hurt over not being given more time in the Tyrone post, which he held from 2003 until 2020, during which time he led the Red Hand County to three All-Ireland titles.

"Not at all, your imagination is running wild with you tonight," laughed Harte, when asked if he was driven by a desire to exact revenge on the Tyrone county board for its decision in late 2020.

"I'm on record many times as saying that I enjoyed my work with Tyrone over so many years.

"And I said many times that if I came to the stage where Tyrone felt they didn't want me, and I still had an interest in managing at this level, then I would be prepared to do that. And that's exactly what I'm doing."

Mickey Harte says it "didn't bother me" that Derry approached Malachy O'Rourke before contacting him over the job

Harte said that he "wasn't surprised" by the Derry county board's decision to approach him, adding that it "didn't bother me" that Glen boss Malachy O'Rourke had been sounded out for the role before him.

The Tyrone man also admitted that "it wasn't a very difficult decision to decide" to take the job.

"They hadn't got a manager in situ. They needed somebody and we had three years completed in Louth which is what we had agreed to, myself and Gavin.

"When they came and the position that Derry are in at the minute and the team and the level of achievement they have had in the last few years and the standard of achievement that they are at right now……it wasn't a very difficult decision to decide that it would be a good idea to be working with them.

"I can see why Derry would be looking for Malachy O'Rourke. He has a serious track record and indeed within Derry football as well.

"If he decided that he didn't want to do it, that's his business and I understand that too."

Harte rejects contention he walked out on Louth

Asked whether Derry have the potential to win an All-Ireland title after running Kerry so close in this year's semi-final following a second successive Ulster provincial triumph, Harte replied: "Lots of teams have the potential to win an All-Ireland.

"Derry have been very good in the last few years. They've been making steady progress, back-to-back Ulster titles which is no easy achievement.

"Yes there is potential there to raise the bar again and we hope myself and Gavin [Devlin] and the team we've got round us, we'll raise that bar."

Harte rejected any suggestion that he had walked out on Louth after taking the Derry post.

The Tyrone man was in charge of the Wee County for three years - during which he led them from Division Four to Division Two - but he said a claim that he had firmly committed for a further two years was inaccurate.

"We didn't agree to five years. We 100% shook hands over three years.

"When my son in America phoned me and said 'I hear you've got two more years', I said 'well you've heard it before me'."

Harte says "it's great to see Jim McGuinness back" adding that "I like him as a person"

Next year's Ulster Championship draw has pitted Derry against a Donegal side again led by Jim McGuinness, after a 10-year absence, and Harte said that "it's great" to see the 2012 All-Ireland winning manager "back in gaelic football circles".

"He can get the best out of the people that he works with. So he's going to raise the standard in Ulster because he's there and that's good. Jim McGuinness being in there is certainly going to add something to it.

"I respect what has has done. I like him as a person. We'll have to be on different sides of the coin when we meet each other but that's life. We'll shake hands before it and we'll shake hands after it."

Harte added that Conor Glass will remain on as his Derry captain.