Well itâs the dishonest framing that grates with me. They make out that what Kennyâs done is laudable & still advance the argument heâs overseen some seismic change in football philosophy. He hasnât. Iâd a long post the other day - the football is bad & lacks any kind of structure or cohesion. Anybody can hand out debuts too, thereâs going to be player attrition in a 3.5 year reign. A decent manager can make a limited team perform above itself by imposing back shape, organisation & discipline - he has Irelandâs modestly talented squad performing below expectations. I think heâs failed miserably in the job & these people arguing otherwise are absolute headbangers.
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Ah there definitely were some positives about him thatâs a bit much. I thought Damien delaney or someone on that second captains podcast said he has attempted to change the mindset that we can press and play on the front foot and try and keep the ball for spells against big teams. We even saw it for 20 minutes against the dutch the other night. The problem was he was too dopey to mix things up a bit or properly implement it but hopefully the next fella in can take on that positive and refine it.
He also gave everyone a chance and really looked to promote young lads unlike a lot of previous managers. I donât recall too much clamour for this fella or that fella to be in or arguments about who is in or out of the team. That is almost unheard of in recent years.
An intelligent stephen Kenny from within Irish soccer and whoâs not from Dublin would be ideal but maybe that doesnât exist
I canât remember where I saw it but somebody elsewhere compared Kenny to somebody who sings in the shower and thinks theyâre Pavarotti and then somehow finds themselves singing at La Scala and they sound like the cat being dragged in.
Actually it was My Lovely Horse he was compared to.
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I really donât see it.
That spell of probably <1 year when Anthony Barry was involved was the only positive glimmer. That was after the initial play-off elimination, the disastrous first Nations League campaign & after the horrific start to WC qualifying, e.g. losing at home to Luxembourg. He oversaw the change to 3-4-2-1 that Chelsea were using (5-4-1 without the ball) & things picked up for the second half of that qualifier group, albeit we were out of contention.
There was still a little feel good factor after he left but that went as quickly as it came. Weâre still using that back 3 but without the specific details & solid coaching he brought to it. No more exemplified by Greece destroying us tactically & Kenny being unable to change the tide. Now weâre just an uncertain side bereft of confidence & drifting along in complete mediocrity, or worse.
These acolytes will say things likeâŚbut he gave Evan Ferguson his debut. Yeah & @Horsebox would have done the same if he was in charge.
Aside from convincing some impressionable or biased types heâs doing a good job, I canât think of any notable achievement by Spock in the role. By that I mean something that stood out as being impressive or unlikely to have been done by another manager. You could argue beating Scotland at home but theyâre Scotland & thatâs literally one thing. It wasnât backed up & thereâs absolutely nothing to suggest any kind of sustained improvement is imminent.
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He seems like an absolute dunderhead but at the time he got the job I donât think it seemed too outlandish that he got it. If they had decided to go for an Irish manager (which doesnât seem that ridiculous a thing to do every so often for a self respecting country) there probably werenât too many other candidates. The problem is Irish soccer itself. He rose to the top of it but the problem is that is a very low bar.i remember a big thing about him at the start was that he was this real intelligent thoughtful guy who had all these opinions about social issues etc. Now maybe he does but heâs genuinely one of the worst speakers Iâve ever laid ears on. I suppose up against noel king and the lads he does seem like a genius. Itâs a bit like Rodney with his two gcses in art and maths.
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The only League of Ireland managers in my lifetime who you could take remotely seriously as football men are either from the North (Jim McLaughlin, Michael OâNeill, Roy Coyle, Felix Healy) or from Cork (Noel OâMahony, Dave Barry, John Caulfield).
Dublin League Of Ireland managers all come across as either Apres Match Frank or as a Darndale Del Boy.
English imports all come across as poor manâs Barry Frys.
The only exception to all this is the singular figure of Damien Richardson, who sounds like a working class lad from Dublin who was hothoused by Betty Ann Norton and then the Smurfit Business School before doing a certificate at DBS in The History Of Ancient Greece.
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But getting after Holland the other night early on with Alan Browne up Frenkie de Jongâs hole, winning the ball back in the Dutch box for that early chance (& the penalty came from the subsequent corner) & lads running & pressing hard & not being concerned with tippy tappy passing is exactly the type of football previous managers played & were slaughtered for. We need to be a tight unit that makes up for having shit players by being annoying to play against & very organised. Runners in midfield, balls down the channels, get them turned around. Come on.
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No previous managers just pitched 8 man air tents from Halfords around the 18 yard line and started a cic fada contest for 90 minutes. Jack did the put em under pressure stuff.
And qualified for stuffâŚ
Weâre in a trap now where these journalists will hound anyone perceived not to be playing tika taka to massage their own egos
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If we were to kill one, it might act as a warning for the others.
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This is actually the problem. Thereâs this Dougal Maguire red button thing in Irish football where people say to themselves âWhy canât we have some self respect and appoint a League Of Ireland manager? Who says we canât be as good as anybody else and appoint somebody who came up through the game in this country rather than in England?â Itâs one of these things that come up in pub conversations where people are just looking for something to say. âBrian Kerr is doing a great job with the youths, heâd be a good appointment for the senior team, Stephen Kenny is doing great with Dundalk, itâd be nice to see a League Of Ireland manager get the job for a change.â
âItâd be nice.â But âitâd be niceâ doesnât cut it in the real world. Football is a meritocracy and failings are brutally exposed.
What happens in the media influences what happens with the FAI. In the years leading up to Kennyâs appointment there was a steady move towards bringing League Of Ireland figures into RTEâs coverage. They had a vested interest in seeing an LOI figure appointed. The papers hopped on that bandwagon. Itâs copy. Newstalk hopped on the bandwagon. Second Captains hopped on the bandwagon probably because they were sick of being perceived as too Premier League orientated and what better way to show your commitment to Irish football than by championing a League Of Ireland man. The consent to push the red button was manufactured.
The problem is League Of Ireland football isnât remotely up to the standard in the real world and it never will be because of Irelandâs peculiar historical, cultural and geographical situation. Johnny Giles thought he could change things 46 years ago and got nowhere. Pat Dolan thought he could change things and got nowhere. We donât pick League Of Ireland players for the national team, and neither should we appoint managers from it. Youâve got to prove yourself at higher level, or the very least you have to be somebody of a high status in the game.
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Which one though? 
Matt Doherty.
just to confirm the LOI has a higher ranking than the MNT
Ken Early, twice to be sure.
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I donât think the Newstalk and SC lads even believe their own bullshit either.
I like Ken, so Iâd give him a pass
The Scotch had been knocked out of the World Cup 10 days before and their players had probably all been consuming copious quantities of deep fried pizza slices, haggis, Highland Toffee, Irn Bru and Tennents Extra to make them feel better.
I sense he is their leader.