Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

I was thinking that at least when Kenny inevitably gets the bullet that we can finally put all this divisive bickering about him behind us. However it just dawned on me that all of the "give him more time" brigade are going to be gunning for the next manager from the off.

Kenny will be to Irish football what Jeremy Corbyn was to the UK Labour party. A man who generated a lot of support with his ideals but who ultimately wasn't actually good enough at the job to implement any of them effectively.

Yep Roy Keane has already being branded a failure before he even got the job - 'he would upset the players' etc

Chris Hughton - has been branded a dinosaur

Lee Carsley - no club management experience

Which makes me afraid that FAI will pick Damien Duff as he would pander to the 'In Kenny we trust' cohort. Some of the media are already on it.

Good to see that after all the pro-Kenny anti-Kenny stuff, we will all unite behind the new manager!!

I love the fact that people are hell bent on getting their retaliation in first.

With the budget we have, we are beggars, not choosers.

With the playing pool we have, we are more than often losers.

What I cannot get my tiny head around is the fact that we are the last country to beat Scotland in a competitive game! Or did I dream that?

Match is being shown on RTE 2.

I've been Kenny out since the very first game so very happy that things look like they are finally progressing.

Just get him out and get anyone in who has experience with full time professional footballers. Carley, Houghton, anyone

An absolute disaster and certainly should have went after the first campaign. Also shafted McCarthy and cost us a play off too I think.

Majority wouldn't go to a match - any match - if it was in their bloody garden

That wasn't directed at you.

Some horse.

Has he got potential? Just checked wiki and see that he's only 18, and is Rudi Vata's son. Any reason why he chose Ireland ahead of Scotland? Only the granny rule qualifies him for Ireland so it seems a bit of an odd move considering the state of us atm.

At least if Scotland come sniffing later (ala Rice & Grealish), they wouldn't have the same sway as England.

If you project any harder, I'll be able to use you for power point presentations.

I base my views on Keane's comments as a pundit "I wouldn't let him back on the team bus, he's so bad etc. etc." as well as what the likes of Jon Walters have said about him as assistant manager of Ireland. I don't think that sort of approach to player motivation reaps long term benefits. I actually don't know what the media think of him as a manager to be honest.

At least if he was in the LOI, he'd be managing somewhere, he hasn't had a top job anywhere since 2011. Would that not concern you, even slightly?

And Martin O'Neill did indeed qualify us for a tournament. During qualification we actually played some decent football too, only really opting for hoofing it against the likes Germany, which is understandable and intelligent decision. The problem was about a third of the way through the following campaign, after a good start with a draw away to Serbia and a win against Austria he absolutely lost the head and started doing things like trying to protect 1-0 leads against Georgia, with predictable consequences. The O'Neill / Keane duo then lasted 6 months at Notts Forest.

If someone comes in and does well it will likely be because of Ferguson, Kenny didn't really get a chance to play him.

We are so lucky that he turned up out of nowhere, a goal scorer is exactly what we need.

I think the difference between opinions held and how people conduct themselves when backing the national teams are important differences you should acquaint yourself with.

I've never sat in the stand shouting negative things because Kenny is in charge. The majority wouldn't. Posting considered opinions on boards doesn't equate to a lack of support.

We certainly did not progress past that play off.

Over the course of 30 competitive games, would you point to a player error in each of them to explain the dismal record? Or would you consider a potential pattern.

The opposite in fact Roy Keane has not cheapened himself in going for managerial jobs that are beneath him. But he is at the same time he is also willing to work as an assistant under a manager with more experience than him to stay in tune with the game. His last such appointment was in 2019.

I believe that the negative caricature narrative about Keane was/is created by certain cohorts in the media for clicks. But I believe Roy Keane is what this Irish team needs. He has all the qualities Kenny lacked - high profile, media presence, charismatic, a straight talker, and simplifies the game - which is what is needed in international football. There is not much time to work with players so the message has to be simple.

There are some people that just have that worldwide stature. Argentina gave Maradona the job. A man with much less managerial experience than Keane. It was chaotic at times but it created a buzz. Keane would be a much more measured manager than Maradona ever was. But you would get the profile. The worldwide stature;. Remember the FAI are still looking for a sponsor.

I still cannot think of any other small footballing country with a person of Roy Keane's profile who would just leave him in the sidelines. Especially when there are so few viable candidates. The FAI does not have the money to attract a manager from outside the country with stature. As simple as that.

In contrast to Keane where the negative narrative narrative was created around him in the media. The way overly positive narrative about Stephen Kenny was created by certain cohorts in the Irish media. Which showed itself to be extremely silly when it came to the reality. And now that same media are scrambling for excuses elsewhere. There is even some with a narrative about keeping Kenny for another contract, from the likes of John Giles that Kenny is a 'good fella' so he should get another contract. Basically on the premise that the pool of players is poor anyway. Madness.

On the one hand when Kenny is here he tells us we have 'exciting players' then when he fails we are told the players are not there. Surely the truth is somewhere in the middle and a manager that can give a team a bit of oomph would do better than the aimless philosophy Kenny has. As Martin O'Neill said two centre halves passing the ball to each other to keep up the possession stats.

Keanes work with Oneill will have brought him up to date with the early 1990s,that's all.

This narrative is madness the complete opposite to the one about Kenny. But look at Kenny's record he was ever successful in the LOI. The LOI a league where players are constantly swapped around on free contracts. He failed at his time in Scotland, has a small run in Europe with Dundalk -

CL - beating some crowd from Iceland, beating BATE, drawing with Warsaw in one leg but losing on aggregate.

Europa - drawing with AZ and beating Macabi.

That was couple of matches then the hype grew, and he got the u21 gig. For all the hype of his players at that level what did he achieve? Qualification for a tournament? I was at one of Kenny's games Ireland v Italy u21. A 0-0 the crowd were full of expectation hope - they dreamed big like the manager. The days when Troy Parrott was talked up as the next big Ireland saviour. Not much happened really.

Was the Kenny hype driven by young supporters in their 20's , and bluffers in the media do you think? Because it seemed to be just based on nothing but hope.