The lion, the witch and the wardrobe

Andywil

Roy keane, Mick McCarthy and the FAI setup...jaysis today i cannot believe whats been happening today folks...

this is how i see this disgrace, our world cup hopes are doomed to failure. I've never seen as much unrest in a football or any sporting camp.

Last evening jap time, Niall Quinn called a press conference...ON HIS OWN. Now quinn isn't even the team captain, but he seems to have assumed the role of spokesman for the squad, and fair play to him. My guess is that Stan is the chief anti Keane man there and he didn't have the head for it.

Now i thought, great, so they have their heads screwed on...Mick and the team and the officials have said, right, lets show the nation we are on top of this at last, lets send the next most respected player in the squad forward to say whats going on.

Quinn was very sincere and along with letting people know under how much strain the squad was, stressing the effect on the junior members, also gave a chain of events of the last 72 hours...

He said that it became clear after Keanes Daily Mail interview on Sunday (which some of you may have read in the IOS here...my dad read it to me on the fone last nite...excellent intvw) that it was going to be very difficult to come to a solution. Quinn said that ajunior player approached him in his room and stated that himself and his room mate were pondering the possibility of Roy returning. Quinn in his own words 'Pestered' Mick to cnsider Roy coming back.

THIS IS WHERE IT ALL GOES BELLY UP...

Quinn then said that Mick called a meeting and in as close as i can get to Nialls words, (and this is at an official press conference in Izumo, with the FAI crest plastered all over the place and a few dozen media stations there) he said that 'Mick made it clear that there wasn't going to be a way back in for Roy'. He left the room and let the players decide if they were happy with this. It was either back Mick...their manager, the guy who picks the team, or call mutiny in favour of the sacked captain...

NOW HANG ON A SECOND, BUT BIG MICK DUZNT SEEM TO BE PROMOTING A FECKIN STABLE MORAL PLATEAU HERE, NOW DOES HE?????

Anyway, i'll go on, cos it gets feckin worse...

Quinn said that ALL 22 PLAYERS voted unanimously to back mick. They came up with a statement to that effect, and this was RELEASED FAR TOO EARLY BEFORE ANYONE HAD A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN IT AND QUINN WAS VISIBLY UPSET BY THIS AND SAID THAT HE COULDNT BELIEVE OR EXPLAIN WHY IT DID AND THAT THIS WAS WHY HE WAS HAVING THIS CONFERENCE BECAUSE MICKS LATER ON WOULD BE TOO FAR AWAY AND HE WANTED TO EXPLAIN THE TEAMS DECISION. Thats the end of it. He said that he would let Mick discuss the rest later in his conference. He took some questions and thats all i saw.

NOW I DIDNT SEE MICKS ONE COS THEY DIDNT SHOW IT, BUT ON RTE NEWS, TONY O DONOHOE WHO WAS FLABBERGASTED, EXPLAINED...that Mick came out and denied giving the players an ultimatum, and said that still if he got an apology from Roy he'd let him come back....

THE FECKIN RIGHT HAND DOESNT KNOW WHAT THE LEFT IS DOING

Now heres where we are

1)Roy Keane has been treated unfairly.
2)The pkayers know this but are not strong enough to go against Mick.
3)There is a growing mutinous rift in the squad.
4)McCarthy is really losing the support of the players.


Now i really thought before last night that the best man to stabilise the team and take us thru the world cup at this point in time is McCarthy, I really did. I thought Keane should be taken out of the equation and forgotten. The apple pie dont need to be upset no more.

Now i am in no doubt that McCarthy should be sacked ASAP and another man brought in asap...possibly a player, someone who has been there, possibly a coaching staff member, Maybe bonner is the man for the job, MAYBE EVEN KEANE HIMSELF and i'm not trying to be funny.

Well there's my few euros worth!

Andy.

DC

Very well put.

I don't believe for a moment that all 22 players are 'unanimously' 100% behind Mick, all the way down the road with knobs on. Mick has engineered a situation where he drove a wedge as deeply as possible between Keane and the rest of the squad. With Micko out of the equation, I really believe that 19 or 20 of those players would be delighted to see him back.

There is unease in the squad because:
1. They know Keane is right when he calls them sheep
2. They are worried about their reputations - Quinn should be especially worried that he doesn't retire under a cloud.
3. They see a manager and FAI who are complete control freaks and also paranoid as fu<k.
4. They realise they have little chance now of reaching the last 16.

Andywil

Just posted this re the poll on 'bringbackroy.com' and wanted to put it here aswell...

Re keanes situation:...

I do not believe he was completely shafted or setup, but he was done very wrong by.

I do believe he went a bit too far, calling mick a w@nker. But I fully understand why he did, and even my father (who is just back from holiday and on Sunday to my amazement told me he was pro Mick and Anti Roy), spoke to me last night on the fone after reading the daily mail intvw and said, 'If i was keane i wouldnt have called him a wanker, i'd have punched his lights out and let them arrest me'...my dad is also a known pacifist! This in mind, Roy could possibly apologise for the way he flew off the handle without apologising for the reasons behind it,therefore keeping his pride and principles, and this is the only thing that stands in the way of complete righteousness in the matter for Roy Keane. Thats how i feel.

Andy.


You might laugh at a slogan, Sack Mick, Bring back Roy, indeed i made a banner saying that last night and there was a large amount of comedy involved, but i mean it...

dougal

McCarthy said he was disappointed that Keane didn’t say sorry and reiterated why he feels he needs an apology from the former captain: "Basically he said I couldn’t manage and couldn’t coach and called me a 'f*****g w****r and f*****g c***'.

"He appeared to doubt the facts of what he said but you can ask anybody that was in the room that night, from the youngest player in the squad to one of the most respected orthopedic surgeons in Ireland and they will tell you."

On no occasion did Roy deny that he said these things - he said that "Things were said and I stand by them"

Fair enough Mick I think you get the picture - because you (and nowhere has McCarthy denied this) said he feigned injury before the Iran game (TOTALLY UNJUST) he said you are a C*** for saying it and that he doesn't think you are a good manager - I'd like to know who disagrees with that!

jd

http://www.setanta.com/story.jsp?story=WCContent;id-41755

The heart of the issue

Roy Keane says that he has nothing to apologise for, that in fact he has been wronged by the accusation that he feigned injury to avoid playing for his country. Here is the transcript of what happened at today's press conference in Izumo, when Mick McCarthy was pressed on this very issue at the heart of his clash with Roy Keane.

Journalist: Roy said he lost his temper after he was accused of feigning injury?


Mick McCarthy: He lost his temper from the very first second I spoke to him actually.


Journalist: Did you accuse him of feigning injury?


Brendan Menton (Chief executive of the FAI):


Can I say the Association doesn't want to revisit this. We have tried to kill it on a number of occasions, by not commenting, by staying out of the media. I think the timing of it, resurrecting itself again, four days before out first World Cup match, is unfortunate. I think we want to put it to an end. I think Mick has said what he had to say over the key issues tonight. We are not revisiting any of the 'who did what when'.


Journalist: Well I'd like to know what he said. It's just been said that Roy Keane said X,Y,Z. What did you say to him?


Mick McCarthy: I think the question was in terms of picking and choosing games. And friendlies, no I won't play in them - they're for other people. And yes, the Iran game was mentioned in terms of picking and choosing games.


Journalist: But I thought he said he had a deal with you about that?


Mick McCarthy: As I said, we're not going down that line.


Brendan Menton: We're not interested in oscurvating (sic) this situation. We've got a World Cup match four days from now. And that's what the focus should be on. Mick has said ... sorry ... Mick has said what he said. I think it's very important that if an apology was forthcoming through the proper channels he will discuss that with the technical staff and players.

Andywil

Just to clear up some of the above that appears a bit muddled,

when i was talking about the players allegedly somewhat enforced statement (that is they were forced into coming to the decision to stick with mick in a pressure situation, NOT FORCED TO STICK BY MICK), was released too early, before anyone had any warning. Again this is a major fault at the hands of the fai, whose legal team SHOULD BE ON TOP OF THESE MATTERS. They continue to create smaller aside problems that damage the chances of coming to a resolution of the main one.

The way the statement should have been put out would ideally have been in a press conference similar to that before the squad minus Keane left Saipan, ie with McCarthy and senior players if not all players and the FAI officials, ie Menton...and this would be a strong picture of unity within the squad. WE WANT TO SEE A UNITED FRONT, A TEAM, A GROUP WHO ARE TOGETHER AND THAT WE CAN TRUST.

Instead what we saw was Niall Quinn jumping out on his own in an official press conference (wearing the colours of the fai) telling the truth from his eyes and trying to restore some faith in the squad and trying to galantly apologise to keane for appearing to be against him, (even after Keane called him on record a 'Coward' and that he 'hopes quinny sticks it out another season so he can see him at Sunderland'). Quinn went up in my estimation as a result of this.

Mick McCarthy then came out and contradicted what Quinn had said, and what i had hoped was a united, together, single view from the camp, in a press conference that was intended to back up and supplement the strikers earlier views.

It's all getting worse and worse. There will be another large explosion before Saturday, and whatever happens, even if it's all put to bed in the next 4 days (hardly likely, but hey, would you have believed all this was in store when we heard the distressing news of a 'training ground bust up' last wednesday, 6 days ago?) how will we be able to, in sound mind, cheer on a team we do not fully trust, or who do not fully trust each other?

I hope this helps and doesn't confuse the issue more.

Andy.

Trojan

Originally posted by Andywil
[
Instead what we saw was Niall Quinn jumping out on his own in an official press conference (wearing the colours of the fai) telling the truth from his eyes and trying to restore some faith in the squad and trying to galantly apologise to keane for appearing to be against him, (even after Keane called him on record a 'Coward' and that he 'hopes quinny sticks it out another season so he can see him at Sunderland'). Quinn went up in my estimation as a result of this.

I agreed 100% with Keano calling Quinn a coward, based on statements he'd given to the press recently.

Now Quinn has had a bit of cop-on and decided to try and help the situation, instead of sabotaging it further like he was earlier.

Ciaran

Originally posted by Andywil
the fai ... continue to create smaller aside problems that damage the chances of coming to a resolution of the main one.

That's very true but hardly surprising going on past form. Witness the fuc k up in the league this year.