Cult of Stephen Kenny

The overriding factor is that the football is more exciting. I've been at the Aviva countless times. Flat atmosphere, football that makes the crowd bored and frustrated. You can't deny that Kenny is giving some decent players a chance that others wouldn't have.

No other manager would have an interest in the longevity of Irish football. It would just be the same old story of shutting up shop every game and short term solutions.

Everyone seems to forget that we have a very poor record of qualifying for tournaments playing stone age football too.

I'd rather play decent football and not qualify, than play pig ignorant tripe and not qualify.

You do know Bazunu and Ogbene played in the LOI?

Well I’ll agree to disagree on that

Would you rather be in with a shot of qualifying going into the last game or out of qualification after the first game or two?

10 teams in the LOI Premier Division.

Let's say a squad of 20 each

That's 200 players.

You can't pick 4 that have played above League 1 in England to claim what quality the LOI is.

The other 196 are closer to League 2 level.

I don't think you can compare solely on wages. English football has ridiculously high salaries for players by European standards. Look at Villareal in this seasons UCL got to the semis and have a wage budget less then Burnley, beat Bayern and Juve and gave Liverpool a decent game

Look at places like China, the MLS and Middle East where washed up players from the big European leagues are given massive salaries and the standard of football is still very low.

Also look at the serious financial troubles teams in League 1 and 2 clubs have had in recent years teams like Bolton, Bury, Oldham and most recently even a Championship club in Derby.

I'd say the stronger teams in LOI like Rovers, Dundalk and Derry would be mid-lower L1 standard whilst the smaller would L2 standard. First Division clubs lower L2 to National League standard.

Rangers we’re beaten in this season’s europa league final

fair point and I’ll do my best to answer it in a short way. Serie A players, for example, aren’t going to move en masse to the championship for the better money on offer there due to geographical reasons and the fact they can still make a handsome living staying in Italy.

LOI players who are on one year contracts and struggling to get a mortgage will of course jump at the chance to sign for a L1 club for 3 years. Yet not many get signed up and the ones that do are normally the elite or the ones impressing at 18-21 age bracket

Is the irony not lost on some here, people slagging off the LOI and its standards and yet it is what Ireland will have to look to for the future in order to take our destiny back into our own hands. I neither follow the LOI strongly nor the premier league but I always find that those who slag off the LOI are those United, Liverpool fans etc who live and die by these teams results on a weekend. I find that embarassing frankly

Gone are the days when you would have boat loads of kids going over at 14/15 to Liverpool, United, Arsenal etc they go and get the best around the world now. Why cant Ireland develop their own players, playing to a structure and style that is developed from an early age.

The only reason why the LOI is not of a higher standard is because of money, there is no investment and no buy in from a large section of the football supporting fraternity in Ireland (see above). Clubs cannot afford to tie players under contract and then earn decent fees for their good players when the time comes, its a vicious circle and therefore cannot build on their success, even with teams like Rovers will earn pennies if Bazuna makes a big move because they were not in a strong position to negotiate terms.

With regard to Kenny, yes he has had his bad times (show me a current manager who hasnt relatively) but he has also proven he can develop teams to compete at a higher level and playing good football to go with it. Everyone understands its a results business and if he doesnt increase his win percentage he will be under pressure but people also have to factor in our standard of player and our age profile too.

Its obvious people have an issue with him, either due to the fact he came from the LOI or that they dont like the support he gets from certain sections but who would these people get to come in if they had a choice??

I think the ambition of any footballer is to play at the highest level possible, but other factors come in to play (like shared language). With Brexit rules, we're beginning to see that drift away from being purely Britain.

We've a fecked up heritage where we have "nursery" clubs that are proud to export young lads. But even then, you only get on the plaque if you are successful enough to get a cap...

The Scottish premiership outside of the old firm would be on par with the LOI (imo)

was watchin Rangers v Hearts in the Scottish cup final a few weeks back and it was like chalk & cheese, the gulf between the two teams was clearly evident, Hearts could only muster up one decent attack during the whole game and yet they finished 3rd in the league.😶

OK, lets say the 'best of the LOI' would be on par with the SPL bar the old firm

He's picking players to fit the system. A lot of those players would be dropped if we were to revert to stone age hoofball that you still have wet dreams about. There's no room for creativity in that set up, and we've seen good players left out before because of it.

Anyway, who would you replace Kenny with that would have in interest in the underage setup and the longevity and development of Irish football?