Stephen Kenny in interviews...

veryangryman

I can't put my finger on it but he seems to have some disability. He can't just be a stuttering eejit.

Not really a leader of men vibe coming from the guy.

Anyway... is there a medical term for it?

MrMusician18

I think he's just a man with either no media training or didn't listen when he got that training.

I see sheep

I love Bossman Steo

dxhound2005

Very angry men have poor judgement.

Esse85

I'm sure giving interviews is double as difficult with all the losses, he might sound better with a few victories under his cap.

Strumms

He tries to spend the maximum time and effort being evasive and just isn’t much good at it..people know as much from the first syllable he utters to the last, ie. nothing .. ‘speak as many words as you can while saying as little as possible’ seems to be his motto

He’s always relentlessly optimistic, when we drew 1-1 with Qatar it was as if we’d beaten France and a shot at winning the World Cup was just around the corner. An excellent LOI manager but he’s been found out at international level and been seen as far too much of a waffle merchant when he’s been called on to comment on performances..

SEPT 23 1989

https://youtu.be/efErbHo6Hlw

..

dxhound2005

He had the same interview style when he was with Dundalk, and other clubs. That did not stop him being successfull. I don't think there is any medical condition causing it, just his own way of speaking.

AllForIt

95% of the time when there's a name in a thread tile I've never heard of I know straight away it's bloody football.

YabaDabaDooley

I agree Stephen doesn't come across very well in interviews. Possibly one of, if not the worst, sports managers i've ever heard giving interviews. He can look confused or vacant with even the most mundane question. Long moments of silence while he gathers his thoughts and stares blankly at the tv camera are frequent. His post match interview v Luxemburg was car crash tv.

Allinall

He's employed to manage a football team, not to give interviews.

StevenToast

Ya, he comes across as being a simpleton....he is brutal, absolutely painful to listen to after a loss/draw...and he is even worse after a win!

Tony O'Donoghues worst nightmare.....

veryangryman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119669645#Comment_119669645

And yet literally every other manager can do an interview with the viewer clearly knowing "that's the boss". In my working career, I've always known who is a manager without being told. Even the bad ones, assshole ones etc, they still give a boss vibe. Kenny does not.

Kenny could well be a nice guy. Again I've had nice guy managers who again, give a manager vibe out. Kenny needs serious media training for such a high profile job. Especially when results go bad. Which is alot.

Anyways on that theme, Armenia are a tempting 10/1 tonight. Note that when they beat us in June it was on the back of them losing 9 nil.

pgj2015

Most Irish people who have a good knowledge of Football are big fans of Kenny, the rest haven't a clue in fairness, they just like the chime in with their worthless opinions, especially the ones who are anti LOI. The kind of people who just like to put the boot in to anyone. Now if I was an England supporter I wouldn't be happy at all, there you have a guy in charge who is destroying their chances of winning anything with his negative tactics and persistence with maguire. Kenny would win the world cup with that England team.

who cares how he acts in interviews, he has a very limited team playing nice football.

The team playing for trap and o Neil were afraid of the ball, this team love to be on the ball.

nigeldaniel

At least he is not acting or pretending as more do. I have plenty of time for honesty and those who don't hide behind a PR face.

trashcan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119661406#Comment_119661406

Yeah. You wanna talk car crash interviews ? Give me SK any day.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119670742#Comment_119670742

+1 on this and well said. That first half performance v Scotland was one of the best Ive seen by an Ireland team in quite some time. They were playing out from the back with confidence and hitting Scotland on the break with ease. Its far removed from the yawn fest we used to have under Trap and he has done it with a bunch of players who are limited. Kenny has demonstrated that this team is progressing so I couldnt care less what his post match interviews are like.

For Forks Sake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPSc3Q7OLyQ

,,

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119670301#Comment_119670301

Although one of Kenny's predecessors felt the need to remind us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xWq-16pi50

veryangryman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119669106#Comment_119669106

Pity about ya. Long live football being a subject people can talk about on this

walshb

I find him painful to listen to. He’s the complete opposite of interesting and articulate.

Strumms

He’s just not very articulate, doesn’t signify any significant lack of intelligence he just seems always in a vast excitable hurry to reply to the question before his brain is engaging with processing and replying to what has been asked.

He’s been around football for years so the media element of his job is not a new element of his profession… so you might envision he’d be a little more composed and insightful and less like a belligerent 14 year old when he hears a question he doesn’t necessarily like…and taking a second to compose his thinking.

Strumms

Jeeez, Another godawful spoofing, rambling effort at an interview…picked up on rightly and criticised by Brady and co.

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119670742#Comment_119670742

I hope this was a wind up, because it’s too pathetic to be sincere. From start to finish it’s total rubbish.

I’m not a fan of LOI football, I go to the odd game if it suits me but I find most LOI fans to be totally insufferable arseholes with massive chips on their shoulder. This “greatest league in the world” nonsense is just that - nonsense. I’d much rather go and watch my neighbours and friends of my sons playing premier division football in the district league. I find the standard of football to be much more bearable than the LOI crap I unfortunately witness a few times a year. And that brings me to Stephen Kenny.

He had a good group of players in a bad league and got lucky they were all around in the same team. He was found out at Dunfermline and has been found out since day 1 in the Irish job. The man is a total spoofer. This storyline of him having the team playing good football is a total myth. The football is no more entertaining than it was 10 years ago under Trap or in the more recent years O’Neill and McCarthy. Both of whom had better squads than this current Irish team but knew they were light years behind everyone else. Those managers knew their limitations and had the balls to front up when things went pear shaped. They didn’t hide away behind a smug grin and evade any questions which could potentially uncover how Kenny knows he’s out of his depth. Kenny is a dead man walking in that job and the only reason he was given it is because the FAI are skint. The only reason he will remain to oversee an already doomed Euro qualification campaign is because the FAI are still skint.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119669645#Comment_119669645

I think it is fair to assume that as a national team manager, he would be expected to be competent at both.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119674072#Comment_119674072

you are obviously having a laugh yourself if you think district league soccer is better than LOI, get real will you. Is that why so many players from that league get signed by the big english clubs? Also why do you go to LOI matches if its so unbearable?

How do you explain how well Kenny did in Europe with Dundalk? You cant blame that on a bad league can you?

The trap and o neil teams had about 30% possession in matches, were afraid of the ball and just belted the ball up the field anytime the got it, usually losing the ball in the process. What trap and o neil played wasnt even what you could call soccer.

LOI fans are the real fans of soccer in this country, not the ole ole ejits who go to the odd euros and make a show of us with their cringy antics.

Doomed euros? id say you are definitely what we call a glass half empty person.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119674121#Comment_119674121

Interviews have no bearing on how the team plays, or the results the team gets.

That's what he is paid for.

EmmetSpiceland

When they play well and lose, it’s all about results to the Kenny critics. When they play badly and win, it’s all about how they played from the Kenny critics. He can’t win.

I, personally, thought his interview after was grand. We pushed for a third and got sloppy. Nearly cost us the game but we won.

It’s been great watching an Irish side pushing forward and playing the ball about. Yes, it hasn’t worked every time but really don’t want to see us going back to the days of “hoofball” and scraping a win, or a last minute draw, against Cyprus, or Georgia.

Some people just don’t like Stephen Kenny and that seems to be on a personal level, as well as taking issue with the Irish side playing positive football.

growleaves

I tire of PR slickness so I don't care or am even glad Kenny he isn't a media-trained guy. He just comes across like a normal person which I like.

Thelonious Monk

I love Kenny. Not great at the PR side of things but who cares. What matters most is that the players seem to have a good bond with him and respect him.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119676172#Comment_119676172

You are pretty naive if you think how the manager communicates with the media, and represents the national team/FAI isn’t crucially important. Every national team manager is paid to do both. Would Kenny survive if he informed the FAI that media duties aren’t what he is being paid to do, and he isn’t doing them? Of course not.

You only have to look back to the Steve Staunton reign, and that absolutely calamitous first interview to see how damaging poor media skills can be. Besides, Kenny’s results aren’t that good that we can conclude that he is being paid solely to train a team. A good talker can buy time for both a manager, and the people who appointed him.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119674072#Comment_119674072

The football is no more entertaining than it was 10 years ago under Trap or in the more recent years O’Neill and McCarthy

https://tenor.com/view/dougal-priest-father-gif-5383679

How quick people are to forget the 'rabbit-in-the-headlights' fear we used to exhibit when we went up by a goal, never mind when we conceded. Or the relentless drudgery of the BIG not even being able to pass the ball more than 3 times consecutively. The style, manner and quality of our play is infinitely better than it has been in over a decade. Anyone refusing to acknowledge this isn't being objective.

erlichbachman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058264760/stephen-kenny-in-interviews

The medical term I believe is "spoofer"

An epitome of the Peter principle

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119676112#Comment_119676112

Your drinking the koolaid,

Kenny does a wonderful trick of making people think possession matter & mean's his team are good ,

The possession is usually passing between the CK, 3 CB's & 2 wing backs & rinse and repeat, It's never progression once it hits midfield so basically its just a time waiting policy ,

Also how many times under his stewardship do we score when we get desperate & his tactic's are thrown out the window and we revert back to direct football ,

How many goals have been scored by defenders under him,

Strumms

Stephen Kenny…

his international career..

His first Irish win, came in his 12th game as manager.

He’s been in charge altogether for 29 matches and won 7.

win rate of about 24%

lost against Armenia away and fortunate to beat them at home, lost to…Luxembourg (at home), Finland (at home), drew with Azerbaijan (at home)..

He’s a one trick merchant tactically, always was.. when I watched his Bohs side… ball from keeper..to fullback..to winger..cross… for 90+ minutes… no variation, his Bohs side that won the double though had the players, really good first 11 and plays to cover…and a big man up front so that results could be obtained playing his way…this Ireland side doesn’t and yet he’s still employing these tactics from 20 years ago..it’s piss easy to research, to defend against….

29 matches, won 7… yet nothing changes… not his tactics, not his sound bytes, not the ‘fück how did I land this job’ look on his face…. he never acts bothered, not at the abjectly shîte results, performances, the fact that Irish fans pay huge ticket charges to go see this team of his play…

who has us in this mess ? These dweebs of LOI fans that have been pissing and moaning for years that the league, it’s players and managers have been underrepresented at international level… they haven’t they are just not up to it and neither is Kenny.

most international football managers have a win rate of around 55-60%…. This individual is well off that. He’s well off being able to manage Ireland and the jokers in the FAI are well off from having the ability to run the sport in Ireland, for Ireland..

chrissb8

It's the Dublin thing of meandering on without getting to the point for a fair bit. It's a lack of being present. It's getting lost in one's own head and spouting every thought leading up to a point without giving thought to whether am I talking a bunch of s***e right now without saying much and is the other person I am talking to receiving the message.

I am sure he has some footballing ideas. But I do think you can tell the measure of a manager from how they are in front of the camera. The good ones can articulate and divulge their point in a cogent, clear manner. That says to me that they are well formed in communicating, thinking and presenting ideas.

tayto lover

I couldn’t give a twopenny damn if he was a complete dummy as long as he gets them winning, which he will do given time. Most of these are playing in inferior divisions.

Miracles he can’t do,

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119697128#Comment_119697128

I admire your optimism and I hope you are right I really do but I don’t see a manager with a win percentage of just 24%… all of a sudden swinging that stat up to 55-60% which is where he and the team need to be if they are to qualify for tournaments which will be the barometer of success he’s judged on …the media stuff , maybe not the biggest deal but when people are paying good money and time and effort to support the team and he’s coming out with any auld shîte and expecting people to be pacified by pure spoofing basically… he’s making a rod for his own back big time… he’s been given time all be it during a very challenging period in life.. Covid… but the reality is the wins haven’t been there, we’ve been routinely humiliated by far lesser opposition, the tactics are archaic, never a plan B when planning A isn’t working…

was it Einstein or whoever said.. the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results ? That’s what watching this Ireland team is like under Kenny….

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119697128#Comment_119697128

For most, the issue is that he is a complete dummy and the team aren’t winning. Not a good combination.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119697190#Comment_119697190

You keep repeating the same stuff over and over? That would be the definiton of boring repitition.

veryangryman

Kenny out.

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119676112#Comment_119676112

Two of the best performances I’ve ever seen Irish teams put in came under Trapattoni and Martin O’Neill. France away in 2009, the night of the Henry handball, and Ireland against France in Euro 2016. Two games where Ireland were totally up against it and took the game to them. Funnily enough, we didn’t win either game but for the football that was played they’re two standout games. Germany win at home in 2015, draw with Italy in Bari in 2009 are two other examples of very good footballing performances.

Junior league football is exceptional standard in certain counties in Ireland. My local team has 3 ex league of Ireland players in it, and 5 more who have been on trial with English clubs at various stages. We lost 2 more players to scholarships in US universities this year also. Work situations, family commitments mean there was less players leaving Junior league teams nowadays. Some don’t like to get signed up to 6 month contracts and then go and draw the dole when the season finishes.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119697232#Comment_119697232

Put me on ignore, it’s not difficult ;)

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119698052#Comment_119698052

France in 2009, the players ignored traps tactics and decided to go at France rather than play the usual crap football trap wanted.

They didnt play well against france in 2016, we gave away 2 awful needless goals.

The Germans should have beaten us well in 2015, they just didnt have their shooting boots on that night, I think we had 1 shot on target which was the goal.

We have had good performances under Kenny, Portugal twice, ukraine away and scotland at home.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119676646#Comment_119676646

How does stuttering over the line versus Armenia come into it?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119698103#Comment_119698103

What do you mean? Like, what's your actual point that you're trying to make here? Because it obviously has sweet FA to do with the points I made and doesn't address any of them in a coherent manner, so I'm just wondering what exactly it is you're trying to say.........

Do you think we're above that level and should be beating the likes of Armenia comfortably? Are you trying to draw a false parallel between the style of play and the eking out of results, but painfully making a complete balls of it? Do you think we're gonna abandon this newer, revamped, more confident style of play in pursuit of more workman-like performances to grind out 1-0's?

Or, as I suspect, are you simply cherry picking 'embarrassing' results just to paint the team/manager in a bad light, while completely glossing over the fact that every single manager we've ever had has a litany of shocking results against underdogs going back donkeys years?

Do you want to go back to McCarthy drawing nil-all with Georgia?

Or O'Neill's tenure when we were played off the park by Serbia, beaten by the mighty Belarus, before a run where we only scored two goals in 6 competitive games, a run which stretched a full year without a win? The aggregate score in those two matches was 9-2, in case you're wondering.

Would you prefer us to show up at international tournaments and get made a show of like Trap did in in the Euros in 2012?

Staunton got slaughtered by Cyprus, Mick beaten by Iran.....the list goes on. Imagine Staunton inheriting the mess that Kenny did, ffs.

We are a nation who's entire football ethos is based around being the plucky underdog who punches above their weight and takes the odd scalp against the big boys here and there.......which is ironic, seeing how salty everyone gets when we're beaten by a team we "should have beat". You can't cherry pick "bad" results, outliers really, without highlighting the bad results from previous managers. You certainly can't choose a one-off 'poor' result and use that as a counter-argument to "we play a better brand of football now" like you've just pulled the world's greatest 'gotcha' moment out of your arse.

elefant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119697190#Comment_119697190

'I admire your optimism and I hope you are right I really do but I don’t see a manager with a win percentage of just 24%… all of a sudden swinging that stat up to 55-60% which is where he and the team need to be if they are to qualify for tournaments which will be the barometer of success he’s judged on'

Well if, as you say, he didn't get a win until his 12th game, then he's at:

7 wins, 6 draws and 4 defeats (all by 1 goal margins) from game 12 onwards. That's a 41% win rate, and 76% win or draw rate, since June last year.

That's not too far off the win percentage you're looking for, and that 17 games includes Portugal, Serbia, Scotland and Ukraine all played twice, and Belgium once - a tough run of fixtures. Seems like we're on the right track.

erlichbachman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119697128#Comment_119697128

Time? Couple of years in Mountjoy for impersonating an International football manager is what time he deserves

dxhound2005

It could be a bit like what happened with Michael O'Neill. Just one win in his first eighteen games with Northern Ireland, and he took them to an all time low ranking of 129. But they stuck with him and he brought them to an all time high ranking of 20.

With the pool of talent available, small countries tend not to be at the top table for prolonged periods. Like Kenny, O'Neill got his chance by proving himself a good manager in the League of Ireland.

erlichbachman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119698841#Comment_119698841

It also included Armenia, Qatar, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Andorra and Bulgaria

The only notable win was against an exhausted Scotland team, with other wins coming against Luxembourg, Qatar, Lithuania, Andorra and Azerbaijan

We also failed to win or lost in games against, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Luxembourg

When you actually assess where we are in world football I don't think anyone can honestly say we've made any progress, unless you like passing the ball sideways

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119698926#Comment_119698926

Any managerial record is going to include results against lower ranked teams. And North Macedonia beating Germany in a competitive game in Germany, would be a bigger shocker than anything that happpened with Kenny. The more normal outcome would the the 4 - 0 win for Germany in the away fixture.