"We won't be like Kilkenny and not field" John Kiely on Waterford football

Former Déise boss John 'Jackson' Kiely thinks that a Director of Football should be appointed in the county.

Waterford are currently on the lookout for a new senior manager after Ephie Fitzgerald stepped down last month but Kiely feels that investment is needed at grassroots level. "Instead of spending money on someone high profile for the senior football team, I would prefer if we had a Director of Football in the county and get in coaches," he told WLR's Lár Na Páirce show. "People that don't cost an arm and a leg. Get them into schools and get them into clubs. I think the answer to this, to improve the standard, lies in coaching. Get ex players or current players to go and get the kids interested in football in the schools. We have to start with the basics."

There is no quick fix in his view. "It's no good bringing in a high profile manager over the Waterford senior footballers. You can improve the thing and win a few games in Division 4 and not be at the bottom but that's not good enough. I'd like to see football improve all over the county. I'd like to see a strong club in Rathgormack, a strong club in Dungarvan, a strong club in Modeligo, Ballinameela, wherever and right good young fellas coming out of all the clubs and they busting a gut to wear the Waterford jersey."

He believes that Waterford will be able to be field a senior football side in the coming years. Ephie Fitzgerald recently expressed his concerns about the future of the inter county set-up. "Maybe, they'll just focus on hurling full stop, I don't know," the Cork man told WLR. "The immediate future doesn't look very bright to be honest about it. It's actually very worrying if you're really interested in football in the county."

Kiely is more upbeat. "I don't see us being like Kilkenny because we've too many football people in the county for that to happen. That won't happen. We won't be like Kilkenny and not field. We might be down at the bottom of Division 4 for a few years but we'll come back up again. We've a proud tradition in football. We're in the senior championship since the beginning. To compare us to Kilkenny would be wrong."

Listen back to the full interview with John Kiely from Friday's Lár Na Páirce.