I find RTEs interviews really annoying. It's pretty obvious they want some managers sacked and ask everything they can to get that point across.
The New Official Republic of Ireland Football Thread
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Respect? He knows he's done. All he can do is cause harm at this stage.
(I was a fan. Not trying to be a dick.)
I think somebody had a word with Shay Given. He was on the fence at the end of the match before the advertisements but was a different man after.
My Brother and my nephew are travelling to Portugal tomorrow for the game on Monday. He was all for giving him time but after tonight he says his time is up. The FAI is a mess and has been for years now
He can't cause harm. Him walking out before a replacement is ready wouldn't do any good.
As I'm he was more critical of the manager? I could believe it. They discuss the managers job after half of Ireland games and have been for a decade
I presume at this stage it's a case of deciding if it's worth letting his contract run out and having a new management team set up ready to go then.
Back in the day Ireland used to have one or two stars and then the rest of the squad was made up of decent mid/low Premiership players. The sad fact is that the majority of the squad now is made up of championship players or players that are at teams likely to be relegated to the Championship. The only star is an 18 year old kid! The only way to halt this decline is to uproot the foundations in Ireland as something is clearly not working at grassroot level
Even if the general point is right, last night isn’t a great basis for a gripe. We have a manager who is clearly not getting a new contract and who will go down as one of the worst managers, statistically at least, in Irish history. It would be odd if they weren’t discussing it.
Just saw the betting for a new manager and it just looks so depressing.
Neil Lennon, Steve Bruce and Big Sam at the top of the list.
Is there any point sacking him to end up with one if those or even worse?
Neil Lennon, Steve Bruce and Big Sam at the top of the list.
Is there any point sacking him to end up with one if those or even worse?
Central midfield is where ROI are losing game after game against decent nations, Josh Cullen is the only one who plays for premier league team and that might not be the case in 7 months.
Stacked there in 80s and 90s and even in the 2000s you had solid prem players like Kilbane, Carsley, Kinsella and Matt Holland. And then Roy Keane came back to play in 2004 qualifiers.
Upfront there's Ferguson who's a huge talent but obviously needs decent service. Ogbene is a willing trier and has presence and Aaron Connolly looks to be getting his career going at Hull after some poor loan moves, he's still only 23.
It's not a great selection of players really. Probably someone like Graham Potter would be out of financial reach. Was going to suggest Chris Hughton but he's currently Ghana head coach. Maybe Dean Smith?
Stacked there in 80s and 90s and even in the 2000s you had solid prem players like Kilbane, Carsley, Kinsella and Matt Holland. And then Roy Keane came back to play in 2004 qualifiers.
Upfront there's Ferguson who's a huge talent but obviously needs decent service. Ogbene is a willing trier and has presence and Aaron Connolly looks to be getting his career going at Hull after some poor loan moves, he's still only 23.
It's not a great selection of players really. Probably someone like Graham Potter would be out of financial reach. Was going to suggest Chris Hughton but he's currently Ghana head coach. Maybe Dean Smith?
Who would want the job ? We have too many average players.
Sweet Jesus. And we'd be paying more than what Kenny is on, most likely. That was the point of Kenny for me anyway. One of our own that had the balls to give the 2 fingers to the assumption that all we're good for is kick and rush and have a bit of faith in our young lads. If all we're getting from the Kenny era is a belief that he was completely wrong and that IS all we're good for, it sets us back 20 years. It needs tweaking, not scrapping. It needs a bit of vision and a bit of belief.
Fundamentally, I’ve reached the point where I believe that the only thing wrong with the manager’s vision is the manager. We’re on the right track in terms of approach, let’s just do it better.
I hear ya, Brophs.
Even with a better manager we seriously need to unearth some midfield talents. Our options are not great at all.
Does anyone more clued up than me know if there are any promising young midfield talents coming through?
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That's why I'm not interested in chasing him out the door when his replacement will not be an improvement. At least with Kenny there was an attempt to play good football. It was never going to happen but we'll go from failed ambition to passable mediocrity.
I used to find that when the soccer and rugby international teams were playing around the same time, the rugby crowd became even more insufferable as they won a few games, comparing themselves to the soccer team who just lost, drew, or just played shite football. But now I barely even hear a sniff comparing the two, which nearly makes it worse. We're just shite and everyone knows it - it's not even worth talking about the two in the same breath.
Kenny clearly isn't 'it', but it's hard to know who is.
Kenny clearly isn't 'it', but it's hard to know who is.
Feel like we are destined to be like a Finland or Latvia for a long time. English league system isn’t providing the benefit it once did. Kenny not it, but not sure what can be done with the talent available.
Somebody who's club career has stagnated.
Seen before managers go in and galvanise a struggling national team and then they get a good club job as a result.
Can remember McLeish being sacked by Rangers, gets Scotland to within a win of Euro 2008 and then he gets a premier league job. Lawrie Sanchez also got those wins for Northern Ireland v England and Spain and managed Fulham for a brief period. Michael O'Neill took over Stoke when they'd just come down from the premier league after his successful first spell with Northern Ireland.
Beyond Evan Ferguson though it's a very average squad so can't see you come closing to making the next World cup so probably already building for Euro 2028.
Andrew Moran must be the big hope.
At Brighton with Ferguson (think Brighton have signed a few Irish lads in last two years) and he's currently on loan at Blackburn. Looks to have a similar profile to Billy Gilmour so if he can break through there he'd instantly be your best CM.
I agree with this too. Kenny not being about to make it work doesn’t mean stepping into this century is the wrong move. A hiring of the likes of Neil Lennon or Steve Bruce will see me done with it. At the end of the day football is entertainment and it won’t be with them.
England u21s, Man City u21s, and United u21s are all managed by former Ireland players. Get one of them in. Stop the obsession with PL managers and get a young upcoming manager who can actually make a difference. We need a John Herdman.
Moran is a number 10 that likes to drift to the left or even starts on the wing. Gilmour likes to sit at the base of midfield and keep the game ticking. Don’t think their profile is remotely similar.
Agreed. Our media is delusional as well. This squad isn't good enough to get to a tournament and RTE was moaning about losing to the Dutch. Vera Pauw got to a tournament and she got slated by the media and her own players. If I was Damien Duff, I wouldn't take this job.
Yep When you look at the list of obvious candidates it's depressing as feck. TBH I'd love if they went down the completely random left of field road. Something like Sylvinho rocking up in Albania now as to who that would be for us I have no idea but would rather take a punt like that go with any of the "obvious" choices.
Dont think firing Kenny is the answer. The problem is grass roots. Children aren't taught thr basics on possession and the importance around it. "If in doubt, get it out" is a motto commonly used.
To play good football, there are risks involved, I.e playing from the back which is unheard of for many teams across Ireland. A lot of the Irish lads don't look comfortable with a ball to be a ball playing side and hence why the country has had defensive hoofball managers, its all the country knows how to do. In order for the country to get up to speed, the FAI need money put into coaches across the country. We need these coaches to be training kids and youth teams how to play football. Better infrastructure needs to be put in place, teams playing in cow fields won't do either.
It would take a couple of decades to reap the rewards and I don't see the FAI ever putting money into young talent and do reformation of the whole way we play. Kenny is the route to go but he does not have the talent to do so and its not like he has a transfer window to get in some ball playing players either. It's the crop that have been taught how to play rubbish football.
To play good football, there are risks involved, I.e playing from the back which is unheard of for many teams across Ireland. A lot of the Irish lads don't look comfortable with a ball to be a ball playing side and hence why the country has had defensive hoofball managers, its all the country knows how to do. In order for the country to get up to speed, the FAI need money put into coaches across the country. We need these coaches to be training kids and youth teams how to play football. Better infrastructure needs to be put in place, teams playing in cow fields won't do either.
It would take a couple of decades to reap the rewards and I don't see the FAI ever putting money into young talent and do reformation of the whole way we play. Kenny is the route to go but he does not have the talent to do so and its not like he has a transfer window to get in some ball playing players either. It's the crop that have been taught how to play rubbish football.
I'll get criticised for this, but Sam Allardyce often gets a raw deal. He had guys like Djorkaeff and Okocha with Bolton, was early progressive with sports science etc. We could do a lot worse
While they may be true, none of it means the style of football wouldn't be horrible.
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Consider yourself criticised.
seriously though, the list of candidates on the odds are just terrible. None of them excite me and in terms of being more ambitious and outside the box, we just did that with Kenny. It's a frustrating time as we see scotland and wales generally do so much better these years - neither have particularly impressive managers, and while both have better squads it isnt a chasm. How would the likes of allardyce do with scotland and wales for example?
We need to get back into tournaments. This campaign was truly awful despite some glimpses of changing how we play. Ferguson could emerge as a real talent now, and a goalscorer is something weve missed since Keane. The lack of money and exciting options pushes me towards a safe pair of hands.
I don't know enough about them, obviously Carsleys under 21 record is great, and Anthony Barry has an impressive coaching CV. Perhaps even swinging and old head like Benitez would be good, I just dont know where we go
Unless we find a manager that can take our midfieders and turn them into De Bruyne,Foden and Odegaard it's not going to matter.
Just hope it's not McCarthy(again)( Mick still has his fanboys not beyond the realms of possibility 
), Robbie or Allardyce
), Robbie or AllardyceThis was also bordering on 20 years ago. Time has passed Mr Pint of Wine well on.
That's the wrong attitude altogether. The vast majority of countries don't have the likes of those guys. Greece don't have the likes of those guys. We just have to maximise what we have, find a way of believing that we can play a bit of ball but blending it with a bit more pragmatism. The constant rush of people climbing over each other to tell ourselves how shite our players are sickens me. No more Premier league regulars blah blah blah. Most countries don't have players turning out for the City's and Liverpools and Uniteds (bit cheeky but I'm throwing them in on the that list, feck it) of this world but lot's of them can still come up with a system that let's them play ball and give everyone a game. Bazunu, Egan, Omobamidele, Collins, Cullen, Ogbene, Ferguson...we have some players, Festy turning a few heads in Serie A, Moran and a few others on the verge. The constant refrain of 'we're shite' is so debilitating.
Our midfield is terrible and until thats sorted we will do nothing.
Pointless having forwards,wingers, defenders and decent keepers when the midfield is incapable of doing anything.
What a pile of nonsense.
This has being going on for years already. The move to summer soccer, Ruud Dokter, the development of the underage LOI teams and regional development squads... this squad is the first group that have been brought up all the way developed in this possession based style of play.
You do realise there are regional development squads and ETP squads from u12s upwards. Every team for u12/u14 upwards is being coached to play better and be good on the ball. I know this because I see one of them train every week. The FAI has regional development officers and regional coaches who watch and coach those teams, they are all being taught how to play the same way. I have my own issues with how players get picked for those squads but that's beside the point.
The real problem is below that, coaches during the critical development stages from 7/8 upwards are responsible for instilling those basic skills, touch, passing, control, ball manipulation etc. The issue here is that most of those coaches tend to be parents / volunteers who really don't have a clue what to do, you end up with too many players and not enough coaches, not enough contact hours and not enough games. Kids also don't play enough outside of that, every public area, housing areas etc.. signs up that say "No ball games".. even in some schools they aren't allowed to or don't have the space to play. All crucial to developing those skills, kids learn by playing, not by being coached for an hour a week. Good players will always rise up above the rest, but they need the spaces to play outside of badly organised training sessions.
I know of people who send their kids to Dublin 3 times a week to train with LOI academies from 7/8 years old. This is what Evan Ferguson's father did for years. Locally, you only get the players for an hour a week maybe and then there are these other sports called gaelic football and hurling that have a monopoly in most areas. The gaelic calendar runs year round now, even underage (u10s and below) they will train indoors twice a week throughout the winter. The switch to summer soccer to compete directly with GAA for games and training time, especially at youth level, was a bad move in my opinion.
I do agree with the infrastructure and financial side, I was at a gaelic club yesterday in the middle of nowhere, better facilities than most LOI teams.
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Ruud Dokter. There's a blast from the (relatively recent) past
Has this been discussed?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...th-UEFAs-play-throws-bizarre-predicament.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...th-UEFAs-play-throws-bizarre-predicament.html
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Good job we don't have to worry about winning the match so
Surely it's a massive game tonight? Netherlands need to beat Greece to help Ireland qualify for the playoffs