Miguelâs gone in two footed
https://twitter.com/migueldelaney/status/1669982335905792001?s=46&t=YOfhVM10W0bcyIiYSLI3Wg
The tide has turned against Spock youâd feel.
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Damien is an excellent pundit
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No idea what the guy looks like but from listening to him on OTB I envisage him scoffing doughnuts and being morbidly obese.
The Irish football press pack are a DâArcy of cunts. Off on their little all expenses paid jaunts, with their little private in-jokes with each other on social media.
Someone throw up any link of MON cutting Tony OâDonoghue to shreds pre or post match for old timesâ sake. He was a proper manager.
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A harmless sort Iâd say. Not as pretentious as most of his peers in OTB/Balls. Iâd nearly venture as far as to say an alright sort.
The poster Sid Waddell on YBIG made this point consistently back in 2020, that the records of Kenny and Fenlon were basically identical. He also made the point that despite David Jeffrey winning 32 trophies as Linfield manager he was never considered for the Northern Ireland job.
If there was a manager who had won 32 trophies in southern Ireland domestic football, the Newstalk generation would have been banging down the doors of FAI towers demanding he be appointed senior menâs national team manager.
In fact if you look at the poster Sid Waddellâs posts on the Stephen Kenny thread on the YBIG forum from November 2018 to November 2020, they were proven eerily accurate, despite him sustaining a constant barrage of abuse as he voiced the truth.
Itâs one of the great INTERNET vindications.
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When somebody is vindicated, itâs important to demonstrate that vindication.
If you were the person that wrote all this, youâd be feeling pretty vindicated right around now.
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Spockâs goose is cookedâŚ. Des Cahill opens the afternoon radio sports show with promises to discuss all kinds of matters including the future of the beleaguered Steo. When bluffers and company men like Des are poring over the ruins you should know that youâre fucked. Spock outâŚâŚ
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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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