no, his take on it is to do with not having enough 28 year olds
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Bad luck strikes again
Spockâs media acolytes have almost to a (wo)man finally accepted his days are numbered but theyâve pivoted to articles defending his reign due to debuts handed out & contending that a new manager is unlikely to succeed either given the structural/organisational challenges in Irish football & lack of available talent.
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Even contending to qualify would be a massive step forward.
So theyâre saying, âWe were right about Kenny, we just underestimated the dearth of talent available.â
Kennyâs Kids will need a rebrand
They are all squirming like toads since the great MON called them out the other day
âdionâ had an article that Kennys bravery & good work will be undone if we focus on results
huh
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Like they were talking about an u14 development squad or something.
Itâs the menâs senior national football team. Itâs all about results
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Dion, Ken, Miguel, Gavin, Joe and Ger have been shown up badly. They have inflated egos and believe that they are more knowledgable than the listeners yet Iâd wager at least 60% of us here have more valuable university degrees than them and the vast majority of us called it in late March 2021 that Stephen Kenny was going to fail as Ireland manager.
A TFK podcast could easily be monetised. Thereâd be some lovely cut to proceedings in a makeshift studio in The 51â in Dublin.
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All points that are difficult to argue with in fairness to the acolytes
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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