Cult of Stephen Kenny

SK is on more than Gus Poyet and numerous other international managers who’ve actually qualified for Euro 2024.

How could they even consider a new contract for someone so incompetent???

“but was there a single discussion had at government level about how 10 years on from the bailout that Irish football could become an industry like it is in most countries?”

What’s the government got to do with it ? Should football not make its own plans and stand on it’s own two feet without being spoonfed by the government?

If you think a business model where the men’s senior international team is going to bring in enough revenue to finance everything else in Irish football then unless we start qualifying for major championships every 2-4 years, this will be a doomed business model.

the new fai has better corporate governance than the last fai. But that’s all it has really. It has the same massive financial burdens and is working in a failed business model that we are trying again to see it fail again.

I’d hate to go back to hoofing the ball forward and conceding possession instantly with 10 players defending for their life at the 18 yard box.

I’ve no interest in scraping into playoffs that way, besides it stopped working at the end of MON reign.

Hopefully whoever replaces Kenny finds some middle ground.

What do we do instead? 10,000 passes among the back four going nowhere and as soon as the ball goes into the midfield possession is conceded. Unfortunately Kenny hasn't got good enough players to play the style of play I think he wants to play. So we end up in a scenario where losing to a Portugal, France or Netherlands is considered a good result because somewhere in the 90+ minutes there was a passage of play that looked good but went nowhere.

We don’t have the players, which makes it even more crucial that we have a capable manager.

Kenny as manager was never going to work… he lacks top level experience. His experience managing professional footballers has been fleeting only…he has never managed a collection players of international class. He has never managed in a situation where stakes are so high and where every game is absolutely important and every point as vital..

He has shown an unwillingness to be tactically flexible… and he’s not tactically reactive enough when a plan B is required… both in terms of substitutions which he almost always leaves until it’s too late… and changing formation and style too…

the success he did enjoy with Bohemians for example… I was regularly enough going to see that Bohs team… one of the best LOI teams ever assembled… every position had 2 very good players. They were especially adept at attacking and scoring goals…..and if behind the 8 ball he had a good bench and a plan B.

We have won 6 points from a possible 21 in this campaign. 6 points in 7 matches ….those 6 points we got were courtesy of 2 wins against Gibraltar who are about as able as an LOI side… we didn’t pick up a single point in any other game. That is nutsville. Pure rubbish…

why are people defending Kenny when those facts are out there, online for anyone to reference…? He’s not good enough. His ability and know how is enough for the LOI levels and levels below where he is employed now. At Bohs / Rovers etc if he doesn’t like the two centre backs, he can make a phone call and probably sell those two and buy two better ones..

he has to work with what is in front of him here, no cheque book gets him out of trouble…. Greatest managers achieve results when they don’t have resources and when they are up against it…. Kenny has fallen way short, 6 points out of 21… time won’t fix the problem, a new manager will help.

We are so weak in the middle. I find it hard to believe that there is no Irish player anywhere who’s a specialist breaker-upper. Who can cut out attacks and recycle the ball.