Next Senior Men's Team Manager - Runners and Riders

[Eirambler]

I think anyone that said O'Shea could get it based on Belgium always added the caveat If Swiss game goes well. It didnt, and he wont get it.

But it's crazy to be drawing any conclusions on anything from two meaningless friendlies. Besides, we have enough evidence from O'Shea's previous coaching involvements working with Kenny, Crawford and Rooney to know that there's nothing there to merit him managing the team. It's been a catalog of failure everywhere he's been.

[Razors left peg]

But it's crazy to be drawing any conclusions on anything from two meaningless friendlies. Besides, we have enough evidence from O'Shea's previous coaching involvements working with Kenny, Crawford and Rooney to know that there's nothing there to merit him managing the team. It's been a catalog of failure everywhere he's been.

There was things he could have done to make it interesting tonight. Adjust, show that theres more to him than one formation. But it was pathetic. Ferguson being forced out onto the wing to fit O'Sheas formation rather than O'Shea adjusting to his players was criminal. Same with Szmodics, never made an attempt at any time to try get him through the middle where hes been brilliant this season.

If you asked me 2 weeks ago would I want O'Shea I would have said absolutely not. After Saturday I thought he could be interesting based on the seeming lack of alternative and I was glad we had another game to have a look... it was disgraceful tonight.

Canham better have something good. Is it 5 months since Kenny got the boot, and we knew he was gone months before that. With all the secrecy and mystery he better have a hell of a manager lined up or he should be following his boss Hill out the door very soon.

[ontheotherhand]

Kenny clearly the best manager we've had in the past 5 years........

We went pragmatic and almost got the two scoreless draws OShea wanted. Never looked like scoring a goal over two games though, particularly when Ferguson stepped up to take a peno.

What did we learn?

Kelleher is a better option than Bazunu.
Idah might be a better option than Ferguson for now.
We have a promising back 3.
Szmodics can be useful.

Sobering but that's where the team is. It will take a really inspired appointment from the FAI to get a tune out of them. Easy.

[backstothewall]

I'm sure John O'Shea is a lovely fella, and he was a great servent to IRish football, but giving him the job would be Steve Staunton v2.0.

[Murfinator]

If we appoint O'Shea then there was no reason to sack Kenny to begin with. I have to assume and hope that the FAI have someone more experienced lined up because otherwise massive mistakes have been made.

[Olé Olé]

Kenny clearly the best manager we've had in the past 5 years........

We went pragmatic and almost got the two scoreless draws OShea wanted. Never looked like scoring a goal over two games though, particularly when Ferguson stepped up to take a peno.

What did we learn?

Kelleher is a better option than Bazunu.
Idah might be a better option than Ferguson for now.
We have a promising back 3.
Szmodics can be useful.

Sobering but that's where the team is. It will take a really inspired appointment from the FAI to get a tune out of them. Easy.

At least the players are only improving. Ferguson will bounce back and Idah is looking better. Two good striker options. 4 good centre half options (why didn't O'Shea blood O'Brien?) and 2 good options in goals. Smallbone and Cullen isn't the worst midfield but is a little weaker than elsewhere.

Realistically we need to move to 4-2-3-1
Kelleher
Coleman Collins Omobamidele O'Shea
Cullen Smallbone
Three of Ogbene, Johnston, Szmodics, Knight (I would go with all bar Johnston for now)
Idah or Ferguson

I count 8 Premiership players and 3 top end Championship.

A manager that can design and implement a game plan to maximize our strengths could do well. That is the name of the game in international football.

Did you see the cut of the Northern Ireland side that beat Scotland last night? Bradley is the only player that would start for us. Price and Charles would nake our squad.

[NeverFeltBetter]

JOS certainly talking like he is still a contender: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2024...anage-ireland/

[ifk101]

There was a significant time lapse between John Eustace leaving and Kenny bringing John O’Shea into the senior setup, despite Kenny expressing urgency to replace Eustace and John O’Shea being on the FAI’s payroll with the U21s – i.e. Kenny was (very) reluctant to promote O’Shea (and maybe his hand was forced?). The team performances in 2023 explain why Kenny was reluctant. John O’Shea has been bigged up as a “respected” coach but he had direct involvement in poor to progressively dreadful performances under Kenny, was part of a coaching team that Birmingham couldn’t get out the door quick enough, and has now overseen brutally stand offish performances, replicating the worst from the Kenny era, against an underwhelming Belgium side and a Switzerland side well past their sell-by date. I get the impression that the complete absence of leaks about the next manager is simply because they don’t have a candidate and these games were a trial run for O’Shea with his mates being used to help to sell the idea in the media. Hope I’m wrong but if O’Shea is appointed manager heads need to roll.

[Eirambler]

If that was the plan then it fell apart last night. O'Shea won't be accepted as manager based on what we've seen. A lot of supporters will walk away from it for a few years if he gets the job id expect.

[brine3]

This is turning into a farce.

[backstothewall]

This is turning into a farce.

Aegean Airlines flight A3897 from Tbilisi to Athens is on the ground

Perhaps the FAI are super organised, Seamus Coleman has been asked to hang around until this evening, and a tall, dark handsome man is boarding the Ryanair flight that's leaving for Dublin in 45 minutes.

[Jolly Red Giant]

This is turning into a farce.

I think that happened quite a while ago.

So we are clear - there are a lot of good coaches, with a wide variety of approaches, either currently unemployed, coming to the end of their contracts, or in a position where being released from their contracts would not be an issue.

Canham and Hill spoke about an exhaustive search - but from day one do not appear to have engaged in any real search at all. The latest one is that they are looking for an Irish coach - yet they unceremoniously dismissed the most qualified Irish coach in the game today - Chris Hughton (and my apologies for bringing up his name again - but he is by far and away to most qualified coach of anyone who has ever been named with the possible exception of Sam Allardyce)

It is time for a reset - advertise the bloody job, see who is interested in applying and take if from there.

[Eirambler]

Hughton may well have no interest at his age for the money we're offering. Let's see what comes out of the board meeting. No doubt O'Donoghue and the rest of them will be standing outside again looking for comments and assessing body language. If there's a name at the board meeting it will likely be public knowledge within hours as the FAI will leak like a sieve as usual once any name goes beyond the small group covering recruitment.

[JR89]

Hughton may well have no interest at his age for the money we're offering. Let's see what comes out of the board meeting. No doubt O'Donoghue and the rest of them will be standing outside again looking for comments and assessing body language. If there's a name at the board meeting it will likely be public knowledge within hours as the FAI will leak like a sieve as usual once any name goes beyond the small group covering recruitment.

Don't think money would be an issue given he was on something like 500k supposedly with Ghana. Think Kerr said Hughton wasn't going to jump straight back into management and wouldn't blame him given how things ended with him being attacked by a fan.

[Eirambler]

Five more days! Now is not the time to talk about it, it's the time to analyse what happened tonight,” he told the media after the defeat in Tbilisi.

"For me it was a privilege to be in this team but I don't want to say anything about the future. It was a privilege to be here. How they treated me, how much they supported me within the team. Now we have to calm down, rest and get ready for the next day.

"There is a lot of frustration. We have had no luck in the last two years, not even in the playoff draw. My players did everything they could. In two matches we did not concede a goal, and somehow we missed out on the Euros. The players did what we asked,” he added, bemoaning the fact that four changes made in the game in Tbilisi were forced on him by injury.

Kind of sounds like he has something lined up that he can't talk about just yet...five more days, that would coincidentally take us into "early April".

Incidentally I would have said that drawing Kazakhstan and Georgia for a shot at the Euros is about as good a piece of luck as you're going to get. if he thinks that's bad luck, wait until he sees the draws we consistently seem to get.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Only one player, but a squad member now calling for O'Shea to get the job: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2024...permanent-gig/

[Eirambler]

There's no alternative answer to that question for a player though. Any player asked must say yes, because saying no, or even giving a neutral answer will be interpreted as a slight against the manager. So any player with any decent level of media training will always say yes to that question, the same way they all publicly backed Kenny no matter how badly he set the team up (and yet they never think to even mention him now he's gone!)

[Jolly Red Giant]

Don't think money would be an issue given he was on something like 500k supposedly with Ghana. Think Kerr said Hughton wasn't going to jump straight back into management and wouldn't blame him given how things ended with him being attacked by a fan.

Yea - money was never an issue with Hughton - he was by far the lowest paid manager in the PL.

Hughton does tend to take time out when he finishes a job - recharge the batteries and refocus. He took 6 months off between Newcastle and Birmingham - nearly 9 months between Norwich and Brighton and over a year between Brighton and Forest (now part of that was, from his perspective, trying to find the best fit - and he did mess it up with Forest). He is 65 now and I do think that, while he might be interested in club management again, the Ireland job is the one job he would really be interested in having a crack at.

And before people have a canary - that doesn't mean that he would be a success - just that he has a really good track record of success and a lot of experience at club and international level.

[SkStu]

And before people have a canary

Nice pun.

[Razors left peg]

Hughton over Poyet for me, but if those are our 2 options at this stage of 5 months of secrecy there wouldnt be enough firings in the FAI to satisfy me