ULSTER final day is a day when two managers have within their respective grasp the biggest prize in northern football. But whatever happens this afternoon only one thing is certain. It is that the future of Mickey Harte and Seamus McEnaney will not be dependent on whether or not they actually collect the Anglo Celt cup.

For the rest of their Ulster football managerial colleagues the end of term reports will be varied. In the eyes of their employers some have been less than impressive. Some will be regarded as a continuing work in progress. Whether or not they are part of the Ulster championship draw next season will not be up to them.

Paddy Crozier and Ross Carr both want to keep their jobs as the managers of Derry and Down. Donal Keoghan of Cavan is in the same category. All three however are pragmatists.

No matter what they say they know that as far as some of their county board decision makers are concerned, they are not the men to tick all the managerial boxes.

The only certainty in the Ulster football managerial mix is that Charlie Mulgrew will not be with Fermanagh next year. Mulgrew extended his original three-year contract by an additional year with the Ernemen at the start of the current season.

The difference however with the planned departure of Mulgrew and the position of some of his fellow county bosses is that he called the final shots.

"Of course there have been times when we didn't do what was expected of us. When I took on the job I was determined that the one thing a Fermanagh side under my control wouldn't do would be to throw in the towel.

"But there is no denying that this season there were times when we were hugely disappointing. The defeats against Dublin and Cork this season were in that category.

"And of course there are times when I lie awake and wonder about the lost opportunity of making it through to an All Ireland final at the expense of Mayo. It was a game that was there for the winning.

"However it wasn't to be.

But the one thing that was always there was the fact that with Fermanagh knew where I stood all of the time."

For other counties the situation is not nearly as clearcut. There are varying degrees of uncertainty in Armagh, Cavan, Derry and Down.

Joe Kernan says that he wants to take time out and sit down with his players and backroom staff. After that the final decision will be made on whether he extends a glorious reign with Armagh. The big Crossmaglen man has invested huge amounts of time and energy and leadership talent into Armagh for close to a decade.

Winning a single All Ireland title on the back of six Ulster victories during the last eight seasons has been used by some as an indictment of failed potential. That crude quota division however fails to grasp the enormity of the self-belief transformation in Armagh as a result of the Kernan factor.

In Derry the air is much murkier. Paddy Crozier has few friends at county board level. His commitment to the players in his squad led him into a direct confrontation with the county powerbrokers last season. Twelve months ago a truce of sorts was engineered over the issue of club fixtures and county commitments. The fact that Crozier was portrayed as the winner over the Derry board continues to stick in the executive craw.

The continued controversy surrounding the personality ins and outs of Derry football has been of revolving roundabout proportions.

Coupled with the fluctuations in form of the football served up by the team, it has only served to sharpen the knives.

The more cynical viewers of Derry football would argue that the shock win over Armagh last weekend provided only a blunting of those knives. To survive Crozier would have to deliver an All Ireland title. It means that everything at this time continues to point to Damien Cassidy getting a phone call later in the year.

Promotion to Division Two and the prospect of playing against better quality opposition is the main positive that Cavan's Donal Keoghan can extract from this season.

Exit from the championship courtesy of Down was not in the frame. But like many others before him Keoghan has had to face up to fact that when it comes to Cavan football key players continue to inject a deep and raw seam of influence.

The knock-on impact is that Cavan continue to be the conundrum of Ulster football. Keoghan, backed by the immense motivational expertise of Martin McIlkennon, would be extremely unfortunate not to have at least another season to start unravelling that conundrum.

In Down, Ross Carr and DJ Kane have both enjoyed, despite all their team difficulties, a warm rapport with the media. But the problem is that it has not extended to all corners of the current county board. The communication chemistry levels between management and some members of the county executive have been, at times, extremely blurred.

The appointment of Carr and Kane in the wake of the departure of Paddy O'Rourke in controversial circumstances didn't find favour across the county.

There are still many who would like to see their support for O'Rourke vindicated.

The departure of his successor after a single season would taste sweet to some with a vindictive bent.

But there are others that believe a record of 14 games played and only one victory merits strong questions being asked. Ross Carr is a charismatic figure. The team tools at his disposal are not the best in the country. That is Carr's own, and diplomatically charitable assessment.

He will be hoping that the Down county board will reflect a similar disposition at the end of the month when his position is reviewed.

In between expect some hard talking from all sides of the debate.