TJ Reid has said that there was no indication whatsoever from Brian Cody that he was going to step down as Kilkenny manager.
It emerged just six days after last month’s All-Ireland hurling final loss to Limerick that Cody was stepping aside after 24 seasons at the helm, but the Kilkenny players had only been informed an hour or so before it went public and had received no clues from the manager as to what was coming.
“No, nothing like that at all,” said Reid. “It's never about Brian. Obviously after it was strange alright.
“Usually you wouldn't hear anything but it was probably the Tuesday or Wednesday after the All-Ireland when the news kind of broke, there was word of Brian stepping down. So that was strange, unusual for myself.
“I was not expecting it at the weekend but obviously being there so long news like that never gets out after an All-Ireland, especially on the Tuesday or Wednesday so I was kind of expecting it, so I was, but I didn't think it would be that soon.
“Obviously the news broke and people in Kilkenny were moaning about it.”
As for who will succeed Cody, the field of candidates appears to be relatively small and limited to Derek Lyng, Eddie Brennan and Henry Shefflin, though Cody’s former right-hand man Martin Fogarty’s name has also emerged locally this week.
It appears unlikely that Reid’s Ballyhale Shamrocks clubmate Shefflin will vacate the Galway hotseat after just one season, however.
Reid added: “I don't know, at the end of the day, I'm a player and my job is getting myself right. There's loads of names out there and if we can take them all, great. There's loads of great names being mentioned and if they all got involved it would be fantastic.
“So I don't know, in Kilkenny with the county board they run a tight ship and stuff doesn't usually get out. I'm sure they'll be picking a manager in the next week or so because club championship is starting now.
“I'm sure they'd want the managers going around looking at junior games, intermediate games and senior games so I'm sure it'll be announced probably in the next week or two.”
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