McGuinness said that the new rule limiting consecutive handpasses to three, and the directive that kick-outs must be taken from higher up the pitch, could have a particular impact on Dublin’s style.

The new manager of US soccer outfit Charlotte Independence said the bottom line may ultimately be a positive one for Dublin if they’re forced to return to the attacking brand that marked out their early years under Jim Gavin.

“They’re highly-coached and they are top athletes, and their execution levels are really, really high and will continue to be because that wheel is moving now. It’s going to take something exceptional to knock or jilt that wheel off course,” said McGuinness of Dublin, before suggesting how the experimental rules could impact them.

“I have been following bits and pieces in the media over the last few weeks and Dublin are very vociferous in terms of the new rules, as the new rules will impact on Dublin hugely.

“They have now morphed into this really controlled, possession-based game, so the handpass rule will impact on them. Obviously, Stephen Cluxton then will kill you going short and then if you push up, he goes long. But now we know that he’s going to be going long, they are their two mainstays at the moment, the capacity to play possession football, draw the opposition out, wait for the space and play behind that space, and the capacity to use their goalkeeper to go and attack. They are their two strongest things that the rules will impact on, that’s why you see the players coming out and saying that they don’t like the rules, and some of the ex-players saying that the rules are not really favourable.

“Everyone has their own interest at heart, that’s every county, saying, ‘How will this impact on us?’

“If they think it’s good, they will go out and say the rules are great, and vice-versa. But Stephen Cluxton is critical to them, he has been, and he will be impacted. And the hand-pass will impact them, but they will adapt.”

The GAA will review its experimental rules before the National League begins though the hope is that all five trial rules will be retained throughout the spring competition. The traditional rules will then kick back in for the Championship though a vote at Congress in early 2020 could decide to keep all of them permanently at that stage.

“What could happen is that Dublin regress back to what they were doing when Jim Gavin took over in 2013, that sort of swashbuckling, aggressive kicking game that was almost unstoppable, to my mind the best brand of football that I have seen in many, many years,” said McGuinness.

“I think it’s more controlled and conservative now, more efficient, if you like. I remember the league final against Derry a few years ago, the way they kicked the ball and won the ball, with runners off the shoulder, it was phenomenal. So every cloud has a silver lining and even though they won’t like it in the short-term, it could end up bringing that style back to the fore very quickly as he has already adapted that and he will know how to coach that in a heartbeat.”

McGuinness was speaking at a press event in Dublin following his appointment to the soccer role in US on a three-year term. The former Celtic and Beijing Sinobo Guoan coach will step into outright management for the first time in that code and acknowledged the potential for failure in a cut-throat business.

“But I think there’s risk in everything,” said McGuinness, confirming that he had several offers from Irish clubs. “If you were going back to take Donegal this year there would be risk there as well.”

McGuinness was linked with the Mayo vacancy after Stephen Rochford’s departure but said he was never contacted by anyone from the county. “Listen, it would have been a very interesting proposal I suppose, in terms of where they’re at and the dynamics of it all, but not at this stage of my development. No, there was no contact.”

Asked if he had any appetite to manage a GAA county team again, he said he doesn’t.

“Not really,” he said. “It’s a journey and an experience that we’re all on as a family and we’ll have to see where it takes us. From that point of view, you’d never say never in terms of not going back and stuff but it’s just a different path now.”