There was a messy legal case between EH and the FAI regards a post he had in the noughties . His book is a really good read .
Iâm looking forward to reading it alright. The interview on Off The Ball last week was very good. Itâs disgraceful how heâs been treated by the FAI, though not surprising.
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Brian Kerr might be the essence of goodness as regards Irish association football at underage level, but he was a dreadful manager of the senior team and his tactics were the essence of everything bad about Irish football over the last 20 years.
More to the point, players who earn millions in England would probably be on his back and asking Stephen Who?
Thatâs essentially what happened with Brian Kerr. Any manager who hasnât a playing career of any note and is coming from a smaller league has to have balls the size of planets and genuine tactical knowledge to overcome that. Itâs about managing personalities as much as tactics and Kerr fell down on both.
Martin OâNeillâs main strength as a manager is that he is a double European Cup winner and league winner as a player. He has a stature that players respect. He also has the personality needed to be a top manager, and is a good motivator, but he doesnât have the tactical knowledge required at the top level. He can get away with it to an extent with Eire as tactics at international level are rudimentary compared to club football, but he was always likely to be found out in the end, and he was found out dreadfully on Tuesday. There was only plan A, and when plan A didnât work it was wing and a prayer stuff which was entirely based on the hope that Denmark would decide to not attack in the second half. That said, he is playing with a poor hand attacking wise.
Martin OâNeill is a classic old style âfootball manâ, albeit with a bit more obvious intellectual capacity, but he essentially subscribes to 1970s and 1980s British football values, ie. âgo out and playâ. âFootball menâ donât realise this is no longer enough.
Michael OâNeill, a rarity for a manager coming from the League of Ireland, was a former international with Ireland and had a reasonable playing career as a journeyman in England and Scotland with mid-level teams, so the players respect him. Heâs playing with a slightly worse hand as regards players than Eire have and has managed to get Ireland playing far better football.
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Euro qualifiers start in 2019 I think so I think youâre correct.
No knowledge of the Hand era can you expand on this point for info please
Whatâs Eoin Hand anything to do with what I said? Hand hasnât managed Eire in 32 years.
incorrect
I misread that hands tactics were a blight on irish soccer when in fact you were speaking about Kerr
Carry on
Euro Qualifiers start in March 2019?
This Nations League thing looks like an absolute dogâs dinner of a format.
Eire are in Nations League B, which will consist of four three team round robin groups, played on a home and away basis.
The other teams in Eireâs group will be two of Austria, Wales, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Bosnia, Ireland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Turkey.
These matches will be played between September and November 2018. The winner of each âgroupâ then has a fall back path of qualification for Euro 2020 if they donât qualify through the normal qualifying group system (which will be played from March to November 2019).
This âfall backâ play-off option will be in March 2020.
But even if you donât win your Nations League group and fail to qualify through the traditional qualifying group process, you could still make it into these March 2020 play-offs if enough teams from Nations League A and B have already qualified through the traditional qualifying group process.
League of Nations start in 2018
The only man for the job is big Mick McCarthy
Lee Carsley is getting some good reviews and should be monitored for the future
The crux is Ireland arenât producing the players they once did and the same quality plastic paddies arenât there either
Keep MON
Sack keane
Ffs the only man for the job is Chris Hughton
Chris is doing some job where he is and if Poch leaves WHL in the next year who knows. He deserves a shot at a big club .
Eventually maybe the Irish job .
I doubt Chris has any interest though?
That doesnt matter, @fitzy says heâs the only man for the job. Go kidnap him and bring him to us.
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The only good thing about Irish soccer right now is the excellent chance that FINALLY that useless piece of shit will never put a pass out for a throw-in for the opposition or be caught in possession for Ireland ever again.
Glory be.
Its almost like youâre trying to court bad karma.
Canât see anyone leave a PremIership job to take the ROI position.
Neil Lennon is the man for it.
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