New thread as the last thread seems to be broken.
he had a very good squad. We blew late leads vs Israel away as well as the other one vs Israel. We never beat a qualification rival in his 2 campaign tenure. The football was clueless. I wouldn’t expect you to look back at the games on YouTube but I looked back at the France game a few months back and it reminded me of how there was no plan whatsoever.
Hes remembered as treated unfairly but in reality he couldn’t do the job.
Just so I'm clear then.
We were in Pot 3 when he took over and then Pot 3 when he left. Fair to say this tanking the rankings is hyperbole
Also, we got into a play-off because of that dismal Nations League where we got 2 points out of 12 and finished bottom of our group. It had absolutely nothing to do with anything Mick did.
Also, fast forward to that play-off and we should have won that. It wasn't SK's fault either that Conor Hourihane missed an open goal in Slovakia.
Not a go at you personally because you actually had the manners to at least make sure you knew what you were talking about.
Also, this isn't a praise SK type post, it's in response to those who seem to think Mick was grand when it was an utterly atrocious term. There is zero evidence Mick would have won that play-off against Slovakia based on the turgid crap he subjected us to.
There was an obnoxious arrogance among a large cohort of Irish fans that a team mixed with old has-beens and young players who needed to be parachuted in was going to achieve anything. These fans couldn't be told that it wasn't going to happen right away (granted it should have been better by the end of the SK reign but confidence among the players was completely shot by then). Now, these players have now won 30+ caps and many of the young lads have developed into fine Premier League/upper Championship players and these same people think Heimer's a miracle worker.
I've maintained from the outset that whoever took over from SK would be thankful for him because, regardless of what anyone says here, there's no manager of the Mick mould that would have brought in those players at the rate SK did.
Bit harsh on Kerr. He took over a team that had lost its opening 2 games v the main opposition. He brought it down to the last game v Switzerland (got badly beaten though)
The World Cup 06 qualifying group is one of the closest I can remember. The difference between France, Ireland, Switzerland and Israel (outside of goal difference) was a world class Henry goal at Lansdowne Road. If I had a complaint about him that campaign it was the losing 2 goal lead v Israel at home when he went defensive and not being able to have a better go at breaking down Switzerland at home. Overall though we were never embarrassed under him and were very competitive with him
Still Pot 3, but a worse Pot 3.
2020 qualifying they were pots of 10, and we were in Pot 3 as 23rd seed.
2026 qualifying (current) there were pots of 12 so if we had maintained 23rd seed we would be in Pot 2. But we had fallen even lower to be in Pot 3 ranked #28.
Which is not to blame Kenny. A dismal Nations League campaign by O'Neill put us in Pot 3 initially, MMC had a horrible Euro 2020 qualifying campaign where we flukily backed into a play-off, Kenny did what he did and there was no improvement, and HH had a poor initial Nations League as well.
pretty much how I see it. It was a well meaning failure and we needed to get it (a desire to play out from the back) out of our system.
the damage it done has been largely fixed by the last weeks results
Also, for those banging on about seedings/rankings.
For Euro 2020 qualifying, ie Mick McCarthy's term - we were third seeds.
Kenny left the job with Ireland as… third seeds.
Like I said, a complete rewriting of history and f*ck all of it based on any kind of fact.
This can be true, but it doesn't justify the rewriting of history of how well and truly awful Mick was.
People seem to be ignoring how we managed to qualify for that play-off in the first place.
I don't think he was mistake. The FAI's finances were wiped out by John Delaney, first of all. Secondly, the team had had two fairly well-known and highly-paid managers previously and there was this feeling that their heart wasn't entirely in the job, taking a big pay packet to play a conservative style of football that perhaps didn't meet the full potential of the team.
Kenny would take a smaller wage, with a promise that he'd build the team back toward a more progressive and open style of attacking play. Irish fans seemed to accept that this would take some time and nobody got too hard on his back early on. Kenny had some hype around him due to his work at Dundalk, and Michael O'Neill, another LoI alumnus had really turned around the fortunes of the north, so there was this idea that even an LoI level manager could lead an international senior team to good results.
It was a well-meaning project that we were mostly ready to allow some time to. It didn't work out as the players just weren't there and/or Kenny was tactically out of his depth.
If nothing else, Kenny's tenure would shut up the 'play some fkn football' merchants for a while.
Kenny was a mistake. That's clear. It was clear very early on. The problem was he was allowed to stay in the job for so long. That's on the FAI.
Imo he also got an easy ride from the media which didn't help the situation. Anyway, that's history. Onwards and upwards.
Mick left us in a far healthier place than Kenny. Having to hope two results go our way to get a home draw because of our woeful rankings.
He was the best option at the time. He's a solid manager.
Under Kenny we dropped way down the rankings which will take years to recover from.
Our seeding makes it much more difficult to qualify.
certainly would have had Mick over Kenny for the playoff vs Slovakia considering in his first year in charge we scored 1 goal in 8 matches
Why don't you pick yours?
Mick was a dinosaur, Kenny was out of his depth. Pick your poison.
Finding it utterly hilarious reading lads saying we 'should have stuck with Mick'.
Incredibly short memories. No doubt people will say 'but he brought us to a play off' too.
Nobody will replace what Coleman brings to the team.
I don't ever remember seeing any Irish fans doubt him.
I do remember them rightly saying a guy whk spends his career on the bench shouldn't be first choice just because it's a Liverpool bench.
https://youtu.be/j_jb16b_e94?si=9mt95Ij7deATiLDt
He's only 26, plenty of time to move on but I'd be surprised if there isn't interest in him next summer. Brentford saw the absolute bargain he was.
The bottom line is SK did not have the CV to manage at International Level and the FAI where wrong to put him that position. SK is a nice guy and all that but doesn't win you matches. History has shown us that, similar to Brian Kerr who also failed to qualify for a major tournament that managers from the League of Ireland do not have the experience to manage at International Level. In contrast Trappatoni & Martin O'Neill who had the qualifications got us to the Euros with fairly average squads. The problem now though is that we will most likely pay the price for our poor ranking and have an away fixture in the playoff.
I’d hope it’s one and done season at Brentford before a move to a bigger club
I saw people doubt him before, absolute madness. As a Liverpool fan the greatest compliment I give him is, when he filled in for Alisson we never really missed him. Never missed arguably the best goalkeeper in the world! Sky's the limit for that lad, he'll go from strength to strength playing week in week out now.
We replaced you with Kevin O'Toole and things are much better now.
So where do you put the SPL? Many players on the LOI have played L1 and came home. The few extra bob wasnt worth it. You massively over inflate the quality of L1. Wages has little to do with the quality at those levels.
Where would Shamrock Rovers finish in L2 then? A team that drew with AEK Athens with half the team rested a week after AEK beat Aberdeen 6-0?
SK has family, why move to the UK when the average manager stint is less than a year? Would you move your whole life for a job you could be sacked from in 9 months?
The best moment of this was when that Armenian player headbutted Azaz. Yes, that was technically a head butt, but more in the sense of 'butting heads', like an aggressive physical gesture as opposed to a strike. You even saw a split second between contact and Azaz deciding to make the most of it. Yes, that is being 'street smart', but do I like that it is the done thing in professional football? Not really.
Utter nonsense. Kenny didn't cap anyone unexpected aside from youngsters like Mark Sykes, CJ Haimlton and Will Keane. The rest were all inevitable.
I like Kenny but based on attendances and salaries, the LOI is National League level or lower L2 at best. There's no denying that.
If the players were L1 level, they'd be playing there as the salaries are way higher. L2 salaries are higher also.
Why doesn't Kenny manage in the English League if he's so brilliant?
So name 1, any National League side that would draw away to AEK Athens with half your starters rested? Name 1 national league coach that has managed in European group stages.
I get it, you hate SK but stop talking bollocks.
Oh and Mick was partnered up with a young coach and how did that go again. People seem to forget how bad the football was under Mick. If Mick had stayed on half the current squad would not be hitting 30 caps.
Fcuk was it 🤣 Jesus cant trust anything nowadays!
interestingly the Yerevan debacle doesn’t really matter now, bad and shocking as it was the fact is even if we got the three points over there we’d be in the exact same position as we are now - in the play offs.
I don’t want to take anything away from our brilliant comeback yesterday but Hungary aren’t great and the fact is they only picked up 2 points from 12 from the top two in the group.
