Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane

[OwlsFan]

There was a week between games. That's a long time. I think too much is being made of this. MON was in his right to play him twice after injury, Koeman was within his to be annoyed by it. There was an exchange of opinions via the press because papers don't refuse ink as they say.

I just don't think you should bite the hands that feeds you. You don't get someone to co-operate by slating them in public. If I was the Irish management team, I would just have ignored Koeman's comments. Anyway, we move on.

[DeLorean]

BBC on the prospect of O'Neill taking over at Leicester. (http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39077501)


The 64-year-old Republic of Ireland manager is a Leicester City legend after taking them into the Premier League and twice winning the League Cup during his spell in charge between 1995 and 2000.

He would be greeted like a returning hero and has exactly the manner to lift the dressing room and supporters in an instant.

He is, though, currently plotting the Republic Of Ireland's route to the 2018 World Cup in Russia and enjoys the challenges of international football so this might be a case of right man at the wrong time.

On a separate note, came across this interview by Henrik Larsson with FourFourTwo (http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/henrik-larsson-one-one-only-regret-my-career-spending-just-two-months-man-united?page=0%2C1) when he was asked the following:



Who was the best manager that you worked under in your playing career?

I had many good managers: Wim Jansen, Martin O’Neill, Frank Rijkaard and Alex Ferguson to name just a few. And Martin knew how to get everybody motivated. I remember when we were about to go onto the field at Liverpool in the season we reached the UEFA Cup final – we’d drawn 1-1 at Celtic Park so had to score at Anfield. The talk he gave before the game made everything sink in for me. I said to myself, ‘F**king hell, I will have no regrets after this game.’

[DannyInvincible]

O'Neill ruled out a possible return to Leicester the other day: http://lansdowneroar.com/2017/02/i-wouldnt-be-going-oneill-rules-out-leicester-city-return/


Martin O’Neill has ruled out a return to Leicester City following the departure of Claudio Ranieri, insisting that he is enjoying his role as Republic of Ireland manager.

O’Neill earned promotion to the Premier League and won two League Cups in his five-year spell with the Foxes, but the 64-year-old is not interested in making a return to the East Midlands club as he attempts to guide the Boys in Green to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“I wouldn’t be going,” O’Neill told BBC Radio 5 live. “I’m enjoying the job here at this moment and there is a big, big game ahead [against Wales] and quite some difficult matches coming ahead.

“If somebody was trying to do two jobs at same time there would be problems if you didn’t get results on both sides.”

[DeLorean]

Good little teaser here... I got 16/17. Not overly disappointed with the one I didn't get, would have thought of him eventually if I had more time but an easy enough one to forget.

http://www.punditarena.com/football/bbarry/ireland-goalscorer-martin-oneill-era/


Keane on Off The Ball last night.

http://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Off_The_Ball/The_Football_Show_on_Off_The_Ball/183783/Roy_Keane_The_OTB_interview__the_Man_City_postmort em

[DannyInvincible]

Good little teaser here... I got 16/17. Not overly disappointed with the one I didn't get, would have thought of him eventually if I had more time but an easy enough one to forget.

http://www.punditarena.com/football/bbarry/ireland-goalscorer-martin-oneill-era/

Came across that last night. Managed 15/17. I missed one that crossed my mind but I didn't bother typing his name in as I didn't think he'd scored. Probably wouldn't have got the other one. I won't mention names as it'd spoil it for others.

[tetsujin1979]

14/17. One I'm kicking myself for not getting, two I'm ok with missing out on.

[ArFella]

15/17, one obvious one and one I'd completely forgotten had even played for us!

[CraftyToePoke]

Fourteen here, but only one of the missing three might have come to me with more time.

[Stuttgart88]

15/17. The two I missed both have the same initials.

[SkStu]

15/17 - one of which was our most recent goalscorer (for shame) and the other being one of the ones that Stutts missed - and I got the more difficult one!

[nigel-harps1954]

15/17 here. One that I'd just never have gotten and one that I had to kick myself for not getting.

[BonnieShels]

14/17

Forgot one played under Martin. Forgot one existed. And didn't dare guess the other despite my gut.

[DannyInvincible]

Irish kitman Dick Redmond on Martin O'Neill: http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/republic-ireland-kitman-reveals-martin-10439878


Speaking about O'Neill's influence on the Ireland team, Redmond added: “When the boss talks, it goes really quiet.

"They walk out, and they’re a little bit taller. His team talks are just incredible. Fellas just want to go out there and die for the shirt.”

[zero]

Came across that last night. Managed 15/17. I missed one that crossed my mind but I didn't bother typing his name in as I didn't think he'd scored. Probably wouldn't have got the other one. I won't mention names as it'd spoil it for others.

quiz has a slight bug in it. for one player you have to misspell his surname but the results show it spelt correctly.

[Stuttgart88]

"They walk out, and they’re a little bit taller."

No harm in our case.

[OwlsFan]

"They walk out, and they’re a little bit taller."

Let's not talk about "walk outs" in this thread ;)

[DannyInvincible]

Dan McDonnell reports that Limerick were willing to make Keane the best paid manager in the League of Ireland by offering him €250,000 per year: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/limerick-foiled-in-audacious-roy-keane-bid-35732042.html


Keane did attend Limerick's Premier Division match with Drogheda United on April 15 but the approach ultimately came to nothing. The 45-year-old has made it clear that he wants to return to management at some stage, but he is happy in his current post and combining the two roles would have been difficult if he had decided to accept Limerick's lucrative offer.

He is paid in the region of €500,000 per annum by the FAI and is viewed as a possible successor to Martin O'Neill.

[tetsujin1979]

Denied in the Limerick Leader: http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/250816/limerick-fc-rubbish-roy-keane-manager-claims.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

"There have been absolutely no discussions with Roy Keane. The story is absolute, total rubbish. He just happened to be at a match and people speculated. We have appointed our manager."

[NeverFeltBetter]

Would be more inclined to believe the report in the Leader. POS is a wealthy enough man, but don't really believe he would be in a position to drop a quarter of a million a year on a manager.

[tetsujin1979]

Great interview with Martin O'Neill on Off The Ball last week: https://cdn.radiocms.net/media/001/audio/000030/194757_media_player_audio_file.mp3
It's about an hour long, and the volume jumps in a few places, but was a great way to pass the time driving back to Dublin yesterday

[DeLorean]

Usually agree with you Mark but what, he won the SPL a few times, wow:p


Wasn't really thinking of his exploits in the SPL. More of beating teams like Juventus and Barcelona in Europe. And he took Celtic to extra time in the UEFA Cup Final in Seville, in a five goal thriller.

His exploits in the SPL are not to be sniffed at either - Celtic finished 21 points behind Rangers the season before he arrived and 15 points ahead of them in O'Neill's first season, when they also won only their third ever treble (the other two were the Lisbon Lions side and Brendan Rodgers is the first manager to do it since). Celtic had only won one league title in twelve years and four trophies in total since the 80's. O'Neill won seven trophies in five years, oversaw records of 25 league wins in a row and seven Old Firm wins in a row.

And obviously the European campaigns were even more impressive, Celtic hadn't played a game in Europe after Christmas in well over twenty years before O'Neill came in!

[DannyInvincible]

'Honorary degree for Ireland boss Martin O'Neill': http://www.derryjournal.com/news/honorary-degree-for-ireland-boss-martin-o-neill-1-8039438


http://res.cloudinary.com/jpress/image/fetch/w_700,f_auto,ar_3:2,c_fill/http://www.derryjournal.com/webimage/1.8039436.1499173063!/image/image.jpg

Ireland boss Martin O'Neill has today been honoured by Ulster University.

The international team manager received the honorary degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) for his contribution to Irish football.

[geysir]

That hat looks like a sat upon, broad black brimmer.

[DannyInvincible]

Just seeing confirmation that the contracts of O'Neill and Keane will be renewed at the end of this campaign, even if we fail to qualify for Russia, as is likely: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/oneill-to-be-offered-new-ireland-deal-z9vzfdzjn


The FAI are prepared to offer Martin O’Neill and his assistant Roy Keane a new two-year contract, irrespective of the faltering nature of Ireland’s World Cup campaign.

O’Neill’s deal expires at the end of this qualification campaign, which could potentially be as soon as next month, following Ireland’s game against Wales on October 9.

Yet even if Ireland do finish outside the play off places, a senior FAI source made it plainly clear yesterday that the ten-man board consider the O’Neill-Keane partnership to be a ticket to success.

A "ticket to success"? I'd love to be able to say that description was premature (at worst), but that's far from the worst criticism you could level at it. It's just so ill-suited right now, mere days after Serbia have made it all but impossible for us to qualify for Russia, and inapplicable in light of the performances that were served up over the past four games to leave us in the sorry situation we're in; that being having to wait another month just to have it confirmed to us that we can finally stop wasting our thoughts on Russia.

If we make it to the World Cup, it'll have been a ticket to success, but the chances of that are remote. It'd be a miracle. Otherwise, this campaign has been a miserable failure - we've been awful, stale, overly-cautious and, as SvD pointed out in the Serbia match-thread (http://foot.ie/threads/225065-Republic-of-Ireland-V-Serbia-Tuesday-5th-September-2017-World-Cup-2018-Qualifier?p=1934818#post1934818), far too reactive - and we didn't even have a team the calibre of Spain, Germany, Italy or France to contend with in our group. This group was there for the taking. With some better decision-making and a more proactive strategy, rather than the erratic on-the-backfoot approach, we could easily have been top of this group by two points now going into the final two games instead of teetering on the brink, more or less needing to beat Wales in Wales and desperately begging the football gods for highly unlikely results in other groups to work in our favour, just for a chance of having a stab at the play-offs (unseeded, I might add).

I can't really understand why the FAI are already guaranteeing a contract renewal (assuming what the alleged source is reported to have said is true). It appears, from the preview I can see of the paywall-protected piece on the Times' website, that O'Neill's record this campaign is being defended because we've had injuries... :confused: Coleman has been a big loss without doubt, but, otherwise, it's not as if we've suffered uniquely in some way from some sort of injury epidemic. The odd injury here and there is something that all football managers have to commonly deal with.

If the present contract was simply allowed to run out after this campaign, we could have just freshened things up then. No sacking needed that way either (technically).

[mark12345]

Just seeing confirmation that the contracts of O'Neill and Keane will be renewed at the end of this campaign, even is we fail to qualify for Russia, as is likely: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/oneill-to-be-offered-new-ireland-deal-z9vzfdzjn



A "ticket to success"? Isn't that a bit ridiculous and premature. If we make it to the World Cup, it'll have been a ticket to success, but the chances of that are pretty remote now. Otherwise, this campaign has been a miserable failure - we've been awful, stale, overly-cautious and not proactive enough - and we didn't even have a team the calibre of Spain, Germany, Italy or France to contend with in our group.

I can't really understand why the FAI are already guaranteeing a renewal (assuming what the alleged source is reported to have said is true). It appears, from the preview I can see of the paywall-protected piece on the Times' website, that O'Neill's record this campaign is being defended because we've had injuries... :confused: Coleman has been a big loss without doubt, but, otherwise, it's not as if we've suffered uniquely in some way from some sort of injury epidemic.

If the contract was simply allowed to run out after this campaign, we could have freshened things up then. No sacking needed that way either (technically).

If O'Neill does get his contract renewed, it is not certain that he will sign it if we fail miserably over the next two games.
There is also the hope that he will return to his senses and not make hair brained decisions like playing Glenn Whelan in midfield, when the whole world is telling him not to, and omitting Wes Hoolahan when the whole world can see we are a vastly better team with him playing.

One would hope he would come to his senses, but then the question must be asked why he ever thought that way in the first place?
I was a big fan of Martin O'Neill during his tenure at Celtic and Leicester and frequently lauded him as the best manager in these islands. But some of the decisions he has made since early June, have been mind boggling.
Ireland suffer from the problem which besets all smaller countries - that being there is no room for error with team selection. We simply don't have the resources to leave impact players out of the team, yet we do it far too often.

[gastric]

While I appreciate I am probably out of line with most on here, we are still in with some chance of qualifying, be it small. I agree that O'Neill is often too defensively minded and his team choices are not what most of us agree with. On the glass half full side of things, Alex Ferguson nearly got sacked in 1990 and as they say the rest is history. Hopefully, MONROY's supposed reappointment will prove equally fruitful.

[jbyrne]

While I appreciate I am probably out of line with most on here, we are still in with some chance of qualifying, be it small.

Don't believe its as small as people are saying. Well capable of beating Wales and Moldova. Do that and I believe we will be in the play offs.

[tetsujin1979]

Haven't seen any other reports on it, other than the usual clickbait regurgitations of the original article

[Kingdom]

It was suggested somewhere that this was leaked to one or two well-placed journo's to float online to see the reaction, before entering discussions.

At this juncture, it would be madness to offer them a new 2 year contract. Absolute madness.

Jbyrne, we've agreed on plenty in the past; however, I can't agree with this: "Well capable of beating Wales and Moldova". If anything this campaign has proven we're incapable of beating most teams.

[seanfhear]

It was suggested somewhere that this was leaked to one or two well-placed journo's to float online to see the reaction, before entering discussions.

At this juncture, it would be madness to offer them a new 2 year contract. Absolute madness.

Jbyrne, we've agreed on plenty in the past; however, I can't agree with this: "Well capable of beating Wales and Moldova". If anything this campaign has proven we're incapable of beating most teams.Hopefully we beat Moldova but it will take one hell of a performance to beat Wales in Wales.......

Bale is miles ahead of anything we have and Ramsey on form is also ahead of what we have got .

How many of our players would get in the Wales Team......

[tetsujin1979]

It was suggested somewhere that this was leaked to one or two well-placed journo's to float online to see the reaction, before entering discussions.

At this juncture, it would be madness to offer them a new 2 year contract. Absolute madness.

Jbyrne, we've agreed on plenty in the past; however, I can't agree with this: "Well capable of beating Wales and Moldova". If anything this campaign has proven we're incapable of beating most teams.

Hasn't it proven we're capable of beating Georgia, Moldova and Austria?

[OwlsFan]

Don't believe its as small as people are saying. Well capable of beating Wales and Moldova. Do that and I believe we will be in the play offs.

I agree that we're capable of beating them since they are on a par with us, Bale aside. However, to beat two of our rivals away from home in the same campaign is asking a lot but I do think it will favour us if Wales only need a draw. However, looking at the permutations as regards best runner-up, it looks like Wales will also need to win. We might have McCarthy and Hendrick back by then and hopefully be able to put out a strong side. I haven't given up hope yet.

[geysir]

With us, hoofball never dies, it just redirects.

[DannyInvincible]

Aiden O'Hara writing in the Irish Independent wonders, if Ben Woodburn was Irish, would Martin O'Neill have given him an opportunity yet: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/aidan-ohara-maguire-could-be-irelands-woodburn-if-he-gets-chance-36119032.html

He's probably right to think it less likely than more likely.


[L]ast week the Irish focus switched to Ben Woodburn, the 17-year-old who injected the impetus into the Wales campaign that allowed them to go from trailing Ireland by four points after six games, to being one ahead after eight. Where could we get one of them? The answer, frankly, is nobody has a clue. Because, despite being identified as a potential Welsh player at the age of eight, it's Liverpool, rather than the Welsh coaching structure, who have made him the player he is.

Whether Ireland are doing enough to produce or develop young players isn't really part of O'Neill's remit, but the key question around Woodburn, in an Irish context, is whether he would have been given a chance with a career total of just nine first-team appearances behind him? That is very much in O'Neill's control. It's unlikely to bother Chris Coleman that Woodburn's only first-team action between now and next month's final two qualifiers will come in a League Cup game against Leicester City next Tuesday, a competition used by managers either to judge potential or punishment and which, as a result, means every impressive individual performance comes with an asterisk.

For obvious reasons Woodburn hasn't proved himself at any level, but Coleman saw enough to trust him in a crucial qualifier, while 16-year-old Ethan Ampadu - whose father Kwame hails from Dublin - watched from the bench. Ireland, arguably, have a greater depth of talent than Wales, but Coleman seems far keener to trust his own judgement of a player rather than waiting for them to prove themselves in the club game.

The contrast between the cautious O'Neill and Coleman, who has enough faith in his own judgment to take a risk, is stark.

[jbyrne]

Aiden O'Hara writing in the Irish Independent wonders, if Ben Woodburn was Irish, would Martin O'Neill have given him an opportunity yet: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/aidan-ohara-maguire-could-be-irelands-woodburn-if-he-gets-chance-36119032.html

He's probably right to think it less likely than more likely.



The contrast between the cautious O'Neill and Coleman, who has enough faith in his own judgment to take a risk, is stark.

oneill has taken risks too at times but obviously that's generally been forgotten. was kevin long starting against Austria not a risk? or the new ctre back partnership in the win against Italy in the Euros?
its not as if woodburn started either of wales last two games and he was instead thrown on only when wales were struggling and running out of ideas. maybe the risk oneill took last week against Serbia was to put on odowda.... not oneills fault that odowda isn't the same quality player as woodburn

[DannyInvincible]

oneill has taken risks too at times but obviously that's generally been forgotten. was kevin long starting against Austria not a risk? or the new ctre back partnership in the win against Italy in the Euros?
its not as if woodburn started either of wales last two games and he was instead thrown on only when wales were struggling and running out of ideas. maybe the risk oneill took last week against Serbia was to put on odowda.... not oneills fault that odowda isn't the same quality player as woodburn

Fair enough points, although I would have thought going with Daryl Horgan might have been the "risk" option against Serbia as Horgan had/has yet to play in a competitive fixture. I think Horgan is a more dangerous and penetrative player than O'Dowda with an explosive yet deceptive burst of pace, but O'Neill clearly doesn't have enough faith in him yet, which is unfortunately. Of course, I do acknowledge it's all very subjective and personal preference can lead to bias or weigh heavily on whether or not one thinks O'Neill made a "safe" call or took a "risk".

Kevin Long's inclusion against Austria was an odd one. It was very much out-of-the-blue, but I'd actually put it in the reactive (rather than proactive) bracket. Two or three EPL appearances for Long in the run-up to that game appeared to heavily or disproportionately influence O'Neill's decision-making process at the time, as if it all-of-a-sudden proved to O'Neill that Long was a safe choice, and then Long was effectively dropped again for the next game for no apparent reason. Would O'Neill have checked Long out of his own volition and selected him purely on the basis of his own personal judgment if the player hadn't been fortunate enough to get those appearance for Burnley at the end of the last EPL season? It's hard to know. Personally, I don't think O'Neill's trust in his own judgment would stretch that far; it just seems very reliant on the calls of club managers, as if they provide O'Neill with a sort of defensive/supportive crutch, shoulder for potential blame-sharing or something to fall back upon if the call goes wrong. That's just how it seems to me.

[brine3]

People say O'Neill was unlucky with the Coleman injury, but the way Ireland approached that match is partially to blame for why it turned into such a reckless display of violence. A Welsh or Irish player was bound to get seriously hurt. A more positive approach and less hoofball and it might have been a more amicable match.

All our best results from the past 20 years are from when we got the ball on the ground and played football. We didn't beat Holland from set pieces.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

O'Neill's management fairly being shown up by Maguire's Championship form.

[Charlie Darwin]

People say O'Neill was unlucky with the Coleman injury, but the way Ireland approached that match is partially to blame for why it turned into such a reckless display of violence. A Welsh or Irish player was bound to get seriously hurt. A more positive approach and less hoofball and it might have been a more amicable match.

All our best results from the past 20 years are from when we got the ball on the ground and played football. We didn't beat Holland from set pieces.
Would you go away? The only person responsible for Coleman'ss injury is Taylor for the ridiculous tackle.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

It's like Shawcross on Ramsey. He probably didn't want to break Coleman's leg but you can't tell me he didn't mean to hurt him (not to that extent) to send a message.

I'm sure he feels gutted.

People punch people in the face and people end up in comas because they fall like a sack of potatoes and hit their heads on concrete; something that wouldn't be as dangerous if it happened on softer surfaces.

Maybe, you shouldn't put your whole bodyweight behind tackles like that, because, similarly, you cannot legislate for the consequences.

[brine3]

Would you go away? The only person responsible for Coleman'ss injury is Taylor for the ridiculous tackle.

There are multiple people responsible.

Taylor is responsible, yes. The managers are also responsible for instructing the players to play caveman football. Glenn Whelan nearly maimed a couple of Welsh players as well. The referee is also responsible for not cracking down on the match in the first half.

What I'm saying is that when you instruct your team to play rough, people will get hurt. So O'Neill shares responsibility. He also picked James McCarthy when he clearly wasn't fully fit yet, and James McCarthy's injury got even worse. Is O'Neill also unlucky because of that?

[tetsujin1979]

Nobody else is responsible besides Taylor.

[jbyrne]

O'Neill's management fairly being shown up by Maguire's Championship form.

sure murphys form for forest is similar.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Murphy would have been the prototypical Trapattoni forward.

Imagine him coming on instead of Sammon against Austria when we drew 2-2.

[Fixer82]

Murphy would have been the prototypical Trapattoni forward.

Imagine him coming on instead of Sammon against Austria when we drew 2-2.

Murphy played in Trap's first ever game but Trap obviously didn't rate him too highly as he preferred Caleb Folan and Sammon over him.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

I think Daryl was playing most of his football out wide, for club and country then.

Didn't he set one up for Andy Keogh in that Serbia game?

[gastric]

Amazing amount of analysis occurring on here. Would O'Neill play Woodburne? We don't have this situation, so why ask the question. Maguire is also being portrayed as the Messiah and we should condemn O'Neill for not picking him. Yes, he is a good player, and hopefully will develop further, but he has scored two goals in the Championship. Hourihane has scored more. Maybe we put Hourihane forward as per some of the supposed logic on here. I am being highly cynical, but give me patience, there is far too much garbage being portrayed as debate on here presently.

[Charlie Darwin]

There are multiple people responsible.

Taylor is responsible, yes. The managers are also responsible for instructing the players to play caveman football. Glenn Whelan nearly maimed a couple of Welsh players as well. The referee is also responsible for not cracking down on the match in the first half.

What I'm saying is that when you instruct your team to play rough, people will get hurt. So O'Neill shares responsibility. He also picked James McCarthy when he clearly wasn't fully fit yet, and James McCarthy's injury got even worse. Is O'Neill also unlucky because of that?
No, it's complete nonsense. The only over-aggressive tackles on the day came from Welsh players. Blaming O'Neill for Wales players going over the ball is next-level bull****.

I don't know why you're bringing up picking McCarthy as it has nothing to do with your badly-conceived point.

[brine3]

Nobody else is responsible besides Taylor.

The match was a feast of lunging in left, right and centre into 50/50 tackles. Somebody was bound to break somebody's leg eventually. As it was, it was Taylor's boot connecting with Coleman's leg.

Sure, Taylor is responsible for that. But, on another day, with two different managers playing different football, it's possible that all 22 players would have left the pitch injury-free.

[brine3]

I don't know why you're bringing up picking McCarthy as it has nothing to do with your badly-conceived point.

Well if you don't want to engage me on the McCarthy point then you don't have to.