Bringing Rory Gallagher back would be a leap into the unknown for Derry and GAA
What will have caught attention is the intervention of Gary Coleman. He has put his head above the parapet and broken the omerta by talking publicly about a situation that many in the GAA find hard to address.
The GAA may have thousands of members but it's a small parish at heart. That is something the Rory Gallagher situation has made clear.
It's an open secret that key Derry players - and other prominent football figures within the county - want Gallagher to return as senior manager. But there's a reason why none of them are saying that in public.
There are reasons too why there has been very little in the GAA media about the complications of reappointing the Fermanagh man. The issue is this: A couple of days before Derry played Armagh in the 2023 Ulster final, Gallagher's estranged wife, Nicola, posted allegations of domestic abuse against him on social media.
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Gallagher stepped away from the post and released a statement through a solicitor in May of last year stating that the allegations had been "investigated and dealt with by the relevant authorities''.
Four months later, it was revealed that Gallagher had been ''temporarily debarred, without prejudice" while an independent safeguarding panel investigated those allegations on behalf of Ulster GAA.
The barring order was lifted in February of this year after a hearing before the GAA's Disputes Resolution Authority. This meant that Gallagher was free to return to coaching and management.
But when it was revealed that he was in the frame to return to the Derry post, there was a furious reaction online, with several - including singer Eoghan Quigg - promising never to watch Derry if Gallagher was in charge.
It's fair to presume, though, that the Derry County Board wouldn't be taking the views of X Factor contestants into consideration when making a call on the manager's job.
What will have caught their attention is the intervention of Gary Coleman.
He has put his head above the parapet and broken the omerta by talking publicly about a situation that many in the GAA find hard to address.
The Coleman surname carries serious weight in Derry. He played on the 1993 team that won their only All-Ireland. His father, Eamonn, was manager.
This is what Gary Coleman told The Irish News a couple of days ago when asked about a possible Gallagher return.
“I won’t go to another Derry match if he is manager. An All-Ireland with Rory Gallagher as manager under these circumstances is not worth an All-Ireland in my eyes."
It is interesting to note that the interview with Coleman was carried out by the newspaper's security correspondent, Connla Young.
The GAA is a small parish at heart and this is an uncomfortable story for many in the GAA media to cover.
Gallagher played in Fermanagh, Dublin, Antrim and Cavan. He has managed in Fermanagh, Donegal and Derry.
Many reporters on the GAA circuit have dealt with him for years. Gallagher has done punditry work for both RTE and the BBC.
No GAA journalist has ever come up against a situation like this before. One where any sentence you write on the situation has to be carefully parsed because of legal concerns.
What we can say for certainty is that Gallagher was one of the main reasons why Derry went from a team that were floundering badly to one that were being talked of as potential All-Ireland contenders.
They won the League under Mickey Harte this year but their Championship campaign was forgettable. There is a view within Derry that Gallagher can get more out of those players than anyone else.
But we should also point out why reappointing him would be a leap into the unknown.
Coleman said in his interview that there would likely be plenty of verbal abuse from the stands of Gallagher.
There is a good chance too that, if he was reappointed, that there would be protests outside games.
Maybe the Derry County Board will conclude that any such protests would die out after the first couple of League matches.
But that would be taking a punt. Nobody knows what would happen because nobody has dealt with a situation like this before.
Derry crave a second All-Ireland. Many within the county - and the team - feel Gallagher is their best chance of delivering that All-Ireland.
So it should be simple. Reappoint Gallagher. But all that has been detailed above makes it clear that this is no simple choice.
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