Cult of Stephen Kenny

End of the qualifiers I thought and they had a clause to release him when we were out of qualification. This decision is really baffling and an awful decision. It may be a small chance but we could get a playoff. We need a new manager in now to be ready for it.

This just makes no sense at all. Kenny should have been sacked after the World Cup qualifying disaster. The FAI instead gave him to 2024. We then had the brutal Nation's League performance where our chances to get a playoff for the Euros were diminished. This was already after coming close to last in his first Nation's League. He then managed to get us effectively knocked out of Euro qualification after 2 matches (same as the World Cup), again the FAI didn't sack him and now this latest decision.

We take opinion out of it and factually, Kenny is our worst manager in over 40 years. How he has managed to get almost 4 years as our senior manager will go down as an absolute mystery. His reign has gone from one miserable failure to the next. By not qualifying for major tournaments, he has cost the FAI huge amounts of resources. He had 3 opportunities and failed each time. By dropping so far down the rankings, he has decreased our chances of qualifying for future tournaments. This is all a disaster for the FAI so why have they continued to back Kenny?

He was Delaney's appointment but he's gone a few years now. This debacle shows that the FAI hasn't moved on. They are still an incompetent group, just like our manager.

That's what I was hoping for with Kenny, to get a new manager bounce. The Slovakian team was depleted with covid, it was perfectly set up to win that game and then go to Belfast with a great chance of qualifying for the Euros. It was a huge defeat and it set the tone for Kenny, he's had 5/6 failures in under 4 years of managing us.

McCarthy should have been kept on, his reign wasn't great but he did come very close to qualifying us automatically. We will never know for sure but I also think he would have got us through the playoffs. Even the most pessimistic Irish supporter couldn't have predicted how bad it would get under Kenny.

Kenny is just sitting in hoping for a payoff… if he’d any self respect or respect for irish football he’d resign… get someone new in now, we won’t qualify… get in a new man , to experience working with the players and setup…. Bed in. Be ready for the World Cup qualifiers.

we’ve amassed 3 points out of 15 in this campaign so far. Played turgid, one dimensional, predictable and naive shîte. he knows he’s not up to it…. He’s about 2-3 levels shy of having the ability and talent of an International football manager. His lack of big time experience :

Premiership : no

Championship : no

League 1 : no

A total failure in the SPL, the one truly professional club he lasted 1 year and 21 days. Winning 15 out of 50 matches in total over a season and a bit and getting them relegated..

what do the FAI have to schedule a meeting for ? Absolute bolloçks from them as usual. Aside from dragging out Kenny’s departure to save them some money… the usual BS from them…..his level is League of Ireland… it’s always been LOI, it will always be LOI…

It is not just that though it is his lack of presence, that team needs a leader. But Kenny seems so meek, the nice guy. No charisma.

I mean I think of Kevin Keegan as an example - terrible manager tactically etc. But he motivated players got them firing created a buzz. Kenny takes the air out of a room. That is just the reality.

Kenny is poor tactically as has been shown time and again particular example that last Dutch game, and he is a poor motivator. So it is the worst of both worlds.

If there is no old head of an experience manager who would take the job. Maybe just go for a character?

I would even take a Dublin GAA Tommy Lyons soccer character equivalent, or a Davy Fitz soccer type - just to bring the 'buzz' back at this stage. A Roddy Collins 2.0, A Pat Dolan 2.0 ? Is there any about? A larger than life character.

He'd command the dressing room for sure. The man gets respect. He's also smart enough to tailor how the team plays according to players available and opponents. He's good with the media. If he wants a go at it, I'd be giving Keano a few years at it.

An absolutely baffling decision by all involved. Kenny gone down in my estimation even further. What will the rest of his tenure look like now? Players will call in sick I'm betting for the rest of the group now. This is worse than the Staunton fiasco by a country mile. Are they waiting until November when the PL sacking season starts?

Lads for what it's worth Giles's opinion and analysis was good about 15 years ago. Even toward the end of his RTE days he had a tendency to drift away for long spells and then come back in with nonsensical arguments. Himself and Dunphy are just going against the grain on this in order to drum up listeners. The way Dunphy treated Trap was criminal. But SK is ok? Nah.

Sk's job when he took over the seniors was to win football matches. He hasn't done it. He has left us in a worse position than when he took over and that's his legacy.

Now the next 3 games in this group are critical in terms of rankings and seedings for future qualifying groups. Is anyone in the FAI actually aware of how it works?

I wouldn't blame a serious manager to stay a million miles away from this.

Nonsense post.

"Stevo go in there and lose as much games as you can bud"

Go back to the other thread if you want. This one isn't moderated by the Stasi. Opinions that differ from the LOI fanboy narrative are allowed mate.

Great argument. Shows you up, debate if you like. I've countered your nonsense.

Kenny was likely told his first campaign was to bring in young players and try be competitive, finished 3rd all be it reversed into it. He has now failed to likely finish 3rd in the Euro group where we got 2 excellent sides and the top rated 4th seed. His contract most likely wont be renewed after November but yes all our players are gonna go sick and not bother to turn up, and we are gonna end up 5th seeds and the Landsdowne Road is going to explode when Kenny walks out the next game.

And no serious or Premier league manager is ever gonna touch the ROI senior team again.

When you have a squad of mainly 30+ year old players, at some stage a manager has to introduce new younger players. Every football manager is hired to try and win matches, some do it some dont.

No it's not. It's practically the same thing! He's been let go. For some reason the FAI are delaying it.

Pauw didn't get sacked. 🤣

Whereas the Irish male players seem to be so happy with SK they deem failure acceptable. Anyother half respectable team by now would have railed against him. Says a lot about the character of some of them. In no way would Given, Duff, Keane, Kilbane, O'Shea, Whelan, Roy Keane, Irwin, Finnan, Kinsella, Walters etc accepted this run of results.

Now, 5 out of the 23 players in the squad vs Holland were 30+ . He’s still not winning matches….

It's absolutely a different scenario but core issues are similar.