Its unforgivable what those bastards in the media have done to our most important sports team
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He is from good east Clare stock. The family would be known as local characters. Have met him a few times, not the worst.
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The OTB lads are starting to turn or at least John âJDâ Duggan is today. This could unravel pretty quickly for Kenny. A 1-1 draw on Monday against Gibraltar would do it Iâd say.
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They need to own how wrong theyâve been on this.
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Hard to believe an Irish radio show with about 50,000 listeners has that much sway over the FAI.
Just to come back to this.
Southern Ireland has never produced an association football manager of note bar Patrick OâConnell, who managed Real Betis to the Spanish league title in 1936 or thereabouts.
The closest weâve got are Johnny Giles when he managed West Bromwich Albion for a couple of years in the 1970s and David OâLeary at Leeds. We just donât produce managers. I think the only reason Giles and OâLeary moderately succeeded is that they were so ingrained into English football that people almost forgot they were Irish.
Ireland is far from alone in not producing managers of note.
Historically, the great British football managers came from two geographical areas - Lanarkshire (Shankly, Busby, Stein, Ferguson, Dalglish, Jim McLean, George Graham, Walter Smith) or the North East of England, maybe down as far as Yorkshire (Clough, Revie, Paisley, Robson, Charlton, Nicholson, Chapman). The last Englishman to win the league was a Yorkshire man, Howard Wilkinson. Coal mining country, all of it.
The Ireland teamâs first two great managers were from coal mining country. There was something about men from coal mining country which enabled them to lead. They could foster a solidarity which grew from class solidarity.
The other great coal mining area in Britain - South Wales - had a different tradition, a rugby tradition - but it too drew on class solidarity, and produced men who could lead. There is something about the accents of men from coal mining country in Scotland, England and Wales which is deeply comforting and trustworthy.
There was a sense that all these men were forged from tumult, from adversity. You trusted them. They had accents you could trust. They had demeanours you could trust. It wasnât for nothing that a well known song which was produced for the 1990 World Cup had the line âweâve got Jack to mind usâ.
The south of England did not produce these men. The reason for this is football managers from the south of England tended be Del Boy figures. Del Boy figures cannot lead men.
Northern Ireland, latterly, has produced association football managers - Martin OâNeill, Brendan Rodgers, Neil Lennon, Michael OâNeill, all of whose achievements are considerably superior to any Southern Irish manager since Patrick OâConnell. All of them Catholics. Perhaps there is a dynamic where Northern Catholics were forged in tumult and adversity. Southern Ireland does not produce association football managers.
First impressions matter. The first impression of Stephen Kenny is that he is the Apres Match caricature of Frank Stapleton. The first impression of Keith Andrews is that he is one of the spiv crook characters in Nuns On The Run. The first impression you get of Pat Fenlon is wannabe Cockney spiv. The first impression of Brian Kerr was that he was a little oulâ fella whoâd fix your lawnmower. These men cannot lead other men. They do not have accents or demeanours that can lead.
Stephen Staunton had a playing background that indicated he could lead. But he did not have an accent that could lead. He had an accent that led to him being a figure of ridicule.
Bob Bradley and Jesse Marsch could not lead in English football, because they said âsawwwkerâ. Ronny Deila could not lead Celtic, because he was a mild mannered Norwegian who didnât believe in his ability to lead, and therefore nobody else did.
Our latter two successful managers were forged from achievement. You respected them because they had achieved, both of them had achieved European Cup wins and league title wins. Trapattoni was forged from the greatest continental European footballing tradition. Martin OâNeill had been to the World Cup and beaten Spain in Spain, and Martin OâNeill was a deeply intellectual figure on a wider level, as well as having a messianic personality.
Stephen Kenny does not have achievement, he does not have a messianic personality, he does not cut an impressive figure, he does not come across as confident or knowledgeable. He is somebody who would probably be a reasonably good social worker in inner city Dublin. But he cannot lead men in international football.
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Nearly broke my hole laughing at this line.
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So did I. I believe theres a forums member who spent some time in Kerrâs shed who might know what nick his lawnmower is in.
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Bang on
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I thought weâd get a result last night. Away from home against better opposition with the likes of Ferguson capable of magic.
We were awful,
Kenny out.
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I recall Kerr being on the Late Late with Plank Kenny after the FAI refused to renew his contract,
He was incredulous.
âCaaaarse I want the job Iâm passionate abou ith!!!
Never could take him seriously again after that.
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In fairness the Kenny appointment in theory was a positive move. I think all fair minded fans wished him the best and hoped it would be a positive appointment.
But it has been evident since day one he simply isnât up to task and yet here he still is making excuses and getting the softest ride I have ever seen an Irish manager get. Iâm sure he is a nice man trying the best he can but it was apparent it never going to work very early into his tenure. I thought the completely over the top reaction to our performance from media and fans alike v France summed up the summing down of how the national team are judged - a shame really.
Now it seems the narrative has shifted and it is because we gave the worst squad of players we have ever had supposedly. Iâd argue that OâNeill at the end of his tenure and Big Mickâs second spell had less options/quality about it but were at least organised and able to hide some deficiencies.
The likes of Bazuna, Egan, Collins, OâShea, Omabamadele, Cullen, Knight, Ogbene and Ferguson is a nice nucleus to build on and better than what the previous two incumbents were dealing with.
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I donât know about that. Mickâs second spell had all the hallmarks of someone told after the fact that heâd be out of the job in two years. Hard to blame him I suppose although he was on very good money for the two years as well.
I like Obafemi as well.
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While he is sporting a haircut that his wife gave him he will never have a chance
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The manâs got no plums
This us how an international manager should appear
Well turned out, not like he is on the way back from a hardware shop
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Liverpool fans at it again?
The modern thick Dublin accent is not an accent that can be taken seriously in sports management. It just canât. I say that as somebody who has such an accent.
Neither can a Cockney accent or a modern Scouse accent.
A manager needs to pronounce their words correctly. No âwhaâ or âihâ.
Kevin Heffernan had a well spoken Dublin accent. It was identifiably Dublin, but he pronounced all his words properly. You could imagine this man being Chairman of the Labour Court. He commanded respect. Pat Gilroy has a similar well spoken Dublin accent. Dessie Farrellâs troubles mainly stem from his monotone speaking voice.
Joe Fagan could be taken seriously because he had an old school, trustworthy Scouse accent. Whereas Steven Gerrardâs accent and demeanour marked him out as somebody whose managerial career was never going to be taken that seriously for too long.
With certain managers, thereâs a âthe lights are on but thereâs nobody homeâ vibe. Bryan Robson, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Stuart Pearce fall into this category.
Roy Keane and Graeme Souness werenât stupid but fell into the psychopath category. Glenn Hoddle fell into the cunt category. These men just didnât want to understand the psychology of men and how to lead them.
Kevin Keegan was the supermarket Shankly. He was able to lead men but only up to the point his lack of real football intellect was exposed, and once that happened, it was over. Tommy Lyons was his Gaelic football equivalent.
The man who broke all the rules was Sean Boylan. There is no way that man should have become what he did. And yet he did.
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