Stephen Kenny

[Stuttgart88]

Curiosity based question? is there anyone who currently wants Kenny to stay, but would change their mind is Qatar beat us tomorrow?I'm expecting Qatar to win.

I want Kenny to stay but won't lose any sleep if a better candidate came in. I just don't see who that might be tbh, and I don't think changing manager will change anything. The project has to continue though. And before anyone comes back with trite answers like "we'll never play like Barcelona", the last few years of watching international football shows me that all the Pot 3 and most Pot 4/5 teams can do what Kenny is trying to get our players to do.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Michael O’Neill managed to turn it around with Northern Ireland but he did go to Knock and say some very good prayers.

From the games I watched of Northern Ireland, their style was very similar to O Neill, Trappatoni and McCarthy for us.

[Stuttgart88]

From the games I watched of Northern Ireland, their style was very similar to O Neill, Trappatoni and McCarthy for us.Yep, similar without the ball but much better with it though. They kept good teams scoreless or limited to 1 goal but often won games against decent teams by 2 goals.

I actually think NI benefit from a small ground & tight pitch. I hate watching us at the Aviva.

Anyone see Albania's ground yesterday? Lovely thing on 3 sides. A bit ugly and functional on the other but something like that is what we need.

[pineapple stu]

Anyone see Albania's ground yesterday? Lovely thing on 3 sides. A bit ugly and functional on the other but something like that is what we need.
It's hosting the Europa Conference League final next year actually.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Well, it was an expanded Euros, and we won only three matches: Gibraltar home and away, and Georgia at home. That we nearly qualified tells you how farcical the expanded format is.

I would say the last time Ireland had a decent win was Wales away in 2017.

That said, we should be beating Luxembourg at home handily.

That's fair but we drew with Denmark at home on the last day of the group when a win would have got us through. We dominated that game and it was a better performance than anything served up since.

I have a feeling that a performance similar to that Denmark game would be lauded by many if it came under Kenny. I fail to understand the special treatment he is receiving. Yes he wants to play in a style that would be attractive to most of us and given his background, we'd all love him to succeed but there has been nothing to indicate any progress has been made under his guidance. In fact we've gone backwards and that's saying a lot considering where we're coming from.

[Stuttgart88]

Ah in fairness the Denmark performance was lauded by most anyway. Mick did get credit for that. But Mick did also serve up two horror shows v Gibraltar. In all 3 games we had better players to pick from too.

But look, should we have done better on Saturday, no doubt whatsoever. And that's regardless of whose players play at what level. Our players just played shyte. And the substitutions made no sense either. So Kenny has to take flak for that.

I still think a lot could be different if Hourihane hadn't missed an open goal and Randolph hadn't thrown the ball straight to Pukki in Finland. Randolph pulls out a worldie to save us going 1 down in Gibraltar, he virtually scores for Finland in Helsinki. That's sport for you.

At one point - I'd say up to Wales away (England was pointless) there were some good signs. Some good bits in Belgrade too. But when it really mattered it was as rubbish as anything his predecessors threw up. Remember Iceland at home too under O 'Neill. This wasn't the first rubbish performance in the last few years.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Ah in fairness the Denmark performance was lauded by most anyway. Mick did get credit for that. But Mick did also serve up two horror shows v Gibraltar. In all 3 games we had better players to pick from too.

But look, should we have done better on Saturday, no doubt whatsoever. And that's regardless of whose players play at what level. Our players just played shyte. And the substitutions made no sense either. So Kenny has to take flak for that.

I still think a lot could be different if Hourihane hadn't missed an open goal and Randolph hadn't thrown the ball straight to Pukki in Finland. Randolph pulls out a worldie to save us going 1 down in Gibraltar, he virtually scores for Finland in Helsinki. That's sport for you.

At one point - I'd say up to Wales away (England was pointless) there were some good signs. Some good bits in Belgrade too. But when it really mattered it was as rubbish as anything his predecessors threw up. Remember Iceland at home too under O 'Neill. This wasn't the first rubbish performance in the last few years.

There were some awful displays under McCarthy but why weren't people saying that our players are not good enough to do any better? Saying that we should give McCarthy time to build something, he has proven he could do it before yet there was very few lining up the excuses that have been rolled out for Kenny. I don't see where the better players argument is coming from, do you mean David McGoldrick? He's the only one as it's basically the same group of players apart from him except Kenny has the option of a few other youngsters who've gained some experience since then.

I'm not a huge McCarthy fan but with basically the same players he did a far better job than Kenny is doing. McCarthy only had 10 matches in charge, he won 5, drew 4 and only lost 1. His last game was an excellent performance against Denmark where we actually had more possession, had 15 shots on goal compared with Denmark's 3, we deserved to win that match and qualify for the euros. On the other hand, Kenny has had 10 matches in charge, won 0, drew 4 and lost 6. The last match losing at home to Luxembourg, leaving us bottom of our group, the worst start to a qualifying campaign in 60 years and out of the world cup after only 2 matches after already losing a play off and guiding us through a miserable nations league.

Anyone neutral looking at those facts alone would assume all the calls would be for McCarthy to come back and for Kenny to be given the boot. But what we have is people calling for Kenny to be left in charge for 4 more years while McCarthy and managers before him were slaughtered. I really can't get my head around it. What the hell is going on?

[Razors left peg]

There were some awful displays under McCarthy but why weren't people saying that our players are not good enough to do any better? Saying that we should give McCarthy time to build something, he has proven he could do it before yet there was very few lining up the excuses that have been rolled out for Kenny. I don't see where the better players argument is coming from, do you mean David McGoldrick? He's the only one as it's basically the same group of players apart from him except Kenny has the option of a few other youngsters who've gained some experience since then.

I'm not a huge McCarthy fan but with basically the same players he did a far better job than Kenny is doing. McCarthy only had 10 matches in charge, he won 5, drew 4 and only lost 1. His last game was an excellent performance against Denmark where we actually had more possession, had 15 shots on goal compared with Denmark's 3, we deserved to win that match and qualify for the euros. On the other hand, Kenny has had 10 matches in charge, won 0, drew 4 and lost 6. The last match losing at home to Luxembourg, leaving us bottom of our group, the worst start to a qualifying campaign in 60 years and out of the world cup after only 2 matches after already losing a play off and guiding us through a miserable nations league.

Anyone neutral looking at those facts alone would assume all the calls would be for McCarthy to come back and for Kenny to be given the boot. But what we have is people calling for Kenny to be left in charge for 4 more years while McCarthy and managers before him were slaughtered. I really can't get my head around it. What the hell is going on?

I can only speak for myself here but I gave Kenny the benefit of the doubt up to Saturday because we were good against Slovakia in playoff and he had to deal with ridiculous situations with play pull outs for most of the other games due to covid. He did lose me with his subs in particular on Saturday but I havent got to the point where Im calling for his head because I really dont know who else I would go for at this point. I hated the McCarthy 2nd era. We were lucky to win away to Gibraltar and were disgraceful wasting time 15 minutes into the game away to Georgia.

We have always played down to the level of the opposition since Ive started watching Ireland. We never are great against shyte teams, but we usually get away with it. Saturday we didnt but Im not convinced it was any worse a performance than the Gibraltar away was.

[Diggs246]

Agreed, we could lose 2-0 tomorrow and no one will say boo to him

[John83]

McGoldrick isn't nothing in a team this stuck for forwards. I think it's notable that Mick was still using Glen Whelan. He also had a much better version of Duffy, and he still had Keogh starting ahead of many of the current lot. The core group of 29-34 year olds (Henrick, Hourihane, Doherty, Coleman, Long, Randolph, Stevens, McClean, Brady, McCarthy) were also two years younger, which matters. They're all at least a little past their peaks now. All the same, I'd agree, Mick didn't have a much better squad, just a little better. I've also reached the end of my patience with Kenny. If the FAI were flush, I think he'd be gone.

[Bottle of Tonic]

I don't think the players are doing it for him. We haven't got a great group of players, and SKs ideas on paper are fine, but modern footballers I suspect look for a big name to be over them. They are so rich delusions of grandeur set in at an early age. I'm sure many of them are thinking 'who's this guy?? Who did he play for, what has he won?'

I'm not sure what the answer is. I can see merit in keeping SK and the philosophy in situ until at least the end of the WC campaign, but the results situation is untenable. It really is. Freefall. Maybe suck up the loses for the rest of this group, play youth only and try and hand it over for the euro 2024 groups to someone who is interested in the SK path/philosophy yet is that bit more pragmatic results wise and has a profile the players would respect to boot?

[Charlie Darwin]

There were some awful displays under McCarthy but why weren't people saying that our players are not good enough to do any better?
Plenty of people have been consistently saying it for a decade. They certainly were under Trap.


McCarthy only had 10 matches in charge, he won 5, drew 4 and only lost 1.
He had eight games in charge: won 3, drew 4 and lost 1.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Plenty of people have been consistently saying it for a decade. They certainly were under Trap.


He had eight games in charge: won 3, drew 4 and lost 1.

Plenty of people were criticising Trap and others for putting down our players, strangely, from those I know, it's the same people who were criticising previous managers who are now putting down our players.

McCarthy won 2 friendlies against Bulgaria and New Zealand. No spectacular wins for sure but do you think you would have forgotten those wins if Kenny had been in charge?

[Stuttgart88]

I see your point, everyone does. There were 2-3 good performance in Mick's second term and 2-3 abject ones too. You need to look at it in the whole. The Swiss and Denmark home games were in full stadia with a very noisy crowd. The last ten mins of the Swiss game was amazingly atmospheric. Same against Denmark. That helps and you can't deny it.

The reason people aren't calling for Kenny's head is not because people aren't disappointed in what they have seen. A fair bit of it can be put down to bad luck: the injuries and the COVID withdrawals. Hourihane missing a sitter on 86 mins in Slovakia, Randolph throwing the ball to Pukki minutes after we hit the bar, a (now) clear penalty not given in Belgrade, a clear red card not awarded at 0-0 vs Lux. But Kenny has also made some big gaffs too. His game management has been poor, especially so on Saturday. His reluctance to trust Byrne in some friendlies was a mistake imho, same with Cullen too. The team were brutal on Saturday and were shown up by Luxembourg.

I think he should stay for now because he was given the job as part of a longer term project. To see the transition from an ageing side to a younger side. That transition has barely started. To change the mentality of the national senior team. The FAI hasn't a pot to **** in and can't afford a manager of any real pedigree. The FAI itself is a mess and in turmoil. Tearing it all up now could just make it worse. Kenny was hired as part of a strategy and I think needs to be given time to develop it further. I might think differently if I felt we weren't already out of the reckoning for WC qualification but I think we are facing a real uphill battle now.

[zero]

I was advocating getting rid of SK in the immediate aftermath of the Luxembourg game because I was angry and frustrated. I realise now there's no point in trying to replace him - at least he will give game time to younger players, and with results now irrelevant he may aswell crack on with whatever it is he is trying to do.

Inevitably by law of averages and experience of playing the same style we'll win one or two games.

[osarusan]

Lets say we decide to give up on the campaign (and maybe the following one) to continue the process of allowing a load of young players to be blooded and to change to a more passing approach...is Kenny the best man we could get for that job?

Even if we decide to forget about results and just get on with that process, that process is still something that can be done well or badly, and I don't have much faith at all in Kenny and his backroom staff to do it well. I believe that for half a million a year we could find somebody who could do it better.

[lofty9]

I was advocating getting rid of SK in the immediate aftermath of the Luxembourg game because I was angry and frustrated. I realise now there's no point in trying to replace him - at least he will give game time to younger players, and with results now irrelevant he may aswell crack on with whatever it is he is trying to do.

Inevitably by law of averages and experience of playing the same style we'll win one or two games.

Just reading the article below, about his start at Longford Town, well, that has given me hope. He’s definitely achieved success when allowed to rebuild things. He’s not the mug our ex pros think he is. Massive job for him, and I’d say he’s capable of convincing individual’s at the FAI of sticking with him for now. I know how he moulded a team of big personalities/ leaders at Dundalk and Derry and gained their respects, including future internationals like Forde, McCourt and McClean at Derry. Also, reading his about his communications with John Joe Patrick Finn and mother gives me hope for the future. I think we need him about in some role for the future of football here, may that be head of development, but cant see him taking that if getting removed in his current position. Maybe the job was too soon, but its probably better for us long term that we stick with him.

https://foot.ie/threads/238442-RTE-Only-for-Stephen-Kenny-we-were-going-nowhere

[John83]

Lets say we decide to give up on the campaign (and maybe the following one) to continue the process of allowing a load of young players to be blooded and to change to a more passing approach...is Kenny the best man we could get for that job?

Even if we decide to forget about results and just get on with that process, that process is still something that can be done well or badly, and I don't have much faith at all in Kenny and his backroom staff to do it well. I believe that for half a million a year we could find somebody who could do it better.
I agree, but unless he resigns, that money is spent. We don't have an extra half million lying around to pay someone new.

[Eminence Grise]

An aside that may be worth noting, the Luxembourg manager is eleven years in the role. Not advocating an extension to Kenny's contract just yet, but long-termism can have rewards.

[jbyrne]

I was advocating getting rid of SK in the immediate aftermath of the Luxembourg game because I was angry and frustrated. I realise now there's no point in trying to replace him - at least he will give game time to younger players, and with results now irrelevant he may aswell crack on with whatever it is he is trying to do.


results are not irrelevant. the last thing we need is to drop to 4th seeds. It would take a few good qualification campaigns to recover from that.
We also need an international team that inspires kids to take up and stick with the game

[Demesne Lad]

Four-year run of results spells out size of job ahead (rte.ie) (https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021/0329/1206780-four-year-run-of-results-spells-out-size-of-job-ahead/)

Some food for thought....

[Diggs246]

results are not irrelevant. the last thing we need is to drop to 4th seeds. It would take a few good qualification campaigns to recover from that.
We also need an international team that inspires kids to take up and stick with the game


I'm in shock with his mentality, he keeps on saying we were brilliant in Slovakia and Serbia, we got knocked out and beaten. The word brilliant should never be used in defeat. its very worrying

[elatedscum]

Four-year run of results spells out size of job ahead (rte.ie) (https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021/0329/1206780-four-year-run-of-results-spells-out-size-of-job-ahead/)

Some food for thought....

top goalscorer during those 4 years of competitive games, Shane Duffy with 4, followed by Daryl Murphy with 2

[weldoninhio]

Or as I saw elsewhere the game was decided when a Dynamo Kiev striker beat a Rochdale goalkeeper.

He's played 583 minutes this season for Kyiv. equivilant to 6.5 out of 19 games, and scored twice for them. He's hardly what you would call an in-form striker.

[weldoninhio]

I was advocating getting rid of SK in the immediate aftermath of the Luxembourg game because I was angry and frustrated. I realise now there's no point in trying to replace him - at least he will give game time to younger players, and with results now irrelevant he may aswell crack on with whatever it is he is trying to do.

Inevitably by law of averages and experience of playing the same style we'll win one or two games.

I doubt it was fluke that we are lined up to face Andorra in the summer. FAI desperately trying to get a win for Kenny.

[zero]

To give a bit of context to the claim SK makes that we played brilliantly in Slovakia (we didn't, and they were awful) they have drawn their opening two games, in Cyprus and home to Malta.

[geysir]

At one point - I'd say up to Wales away (England was pointless) there were some good signs. Some good bits in Belgrade too. But when it really mattered it was as rubbish as anything his predecessors threw up. Remember Iceland at home too under O 'Neill. This wasn't the first rubbish performance in the last few years.

Now now have some mercy on MO'N , Iceland were a much higher ranked team than Ireland at that time and 2nd seeds in WC qual as opposed to Ireland's 4th seed. Even if was just the Iceland B team that took the field, there was a serious gulf in class.

[Eirambler]

The poor man just looks lost out there. Needs to be put out of his misery before the summer in my opinion. It won't happen of course, but it's just a case of delaying the inevitable until the autumn to save a few quid on a replacement.

[DCWA]

I think it only makes sense to give SK this training camp and one more round of qualifiers at least.

Most of our failings long pre date him and whilst the Luxembourg performance was inexcusable in a more general sense he hasn’t been able to call on the squad he wants and has been forced to bring in a ridiculous number of inexperienced players.

There is no sense acting now. A training camp with a full compliment and now settled coaching team hopefully in June and go from there.

[weldoninhio]

I think it only makes sense to give SK this training camp and one more round of qualifiers at least.

Most of our failings long pre date him and whilst the Luxembourg performance was inexcusable in a more general sense he hasn’t been able to call on the squad he wants and has been forced to bring in a ridiculous number of inexperienced players.

There is no sense acting now. A training camp with a full compliment and now settled coaching team hopefully in June and go from there.

The only place we are going under Kenny is down the seeding pots, making it harder when a proper manager comes in.

[lofty9]

The only place we are going under Kenny is down the seeding pots, making it harder when a proper manager comes in.

I don’t buy this narrative. Looking at pots 2-5, I wouldn’t care what teams were in our group apart from Turkey and Poland.

[DeLorean]

I think it would be daft to get rid of Kenny this quickly but he seriously needs to control his interviews a bit better. Both pre-match and post-match last night were kind of hard to watch, talking about Luxembourg not deserving their win beforehand and the 'people coming out of the woodwork' stuff was a little surreal afterwards. Reciting his (low level) CV as if he's Jose Mourihno took the biscuit though, it's only giving people sticks to beat him with. He came across desperate and stressed rather than in control imo.

[John83]

Yeah, if he thinks Luxembourg didn't deserve that win, we didn't watch the same game. A draw would have been fair enough, but they definitely shaded it. Luxembourg ****ing shaded it against us. He can bluster all he likes, but he should be deeply ashamed of that performance.

[weldoninhio]

I don’t buy this narrative. Looking at pots 2-5, I wouldn’t care what teams were in our group apart from Turkey and Poland.

I'm not selling a narrative. You wouldn't be worried about Switzerland, Wales, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovakia or Romania when we can't even scrape a draw with Luxembourg at home??

[lofty9]

I'm not selling a narrative. You wouldn't be worried about Switzerland, Wales, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovakia or Romania when we can't even scrape a draw with Luxembourg at home??

Never, all very average teams that can be beaten by the next campaign no matter what pot we are in.
It's only in our psyche to be fearful of the teams in the pots below us;)

[brine3]

I'm in shock with his mentality, he keeps on saying we were brilliant in Slovakia and Serbia, we got knocked out and beaten. The word brilliant should never be used in defeat. its very worrying

Slovakia was pennos, fair enough.

But saying we were brilliant in Serbia is indeed something that Roy Keane or Paul McGrath or Johnny Giles would never have tolerated. Especially when you always knew Serbia had another goal in them if they needed it.

I can't help but think that this kind of loser mentality is filtering through to the players.

I want us to play good football. I hate hoofball. But to play good football you have to want it, and you have to have the mentality that you are going to go out there and win. That's how we played so well when Keane was captain. We were never afraid to pass the ball and we were never afraid of the opposition.

[Diggs246]

he said it again after the Qatar match. its utterly unacceptable to say we were brilliant v Serbia......WE LOST!

[sbgawa]

i would leave him for the rest of the campaign regardless of results and then judge the entire as a body of work.
We are not going to qualify anyway and if you look at an entire campaign for signs of progress and development it is a fair judgement.
Right now he can claim bad luck injuries etc etc with some justification to be fair.......a full campaign with no improvement or REAL signs of progress and its time to pull the plug.

[Real ale Madrid]

To give a bit of context to the claim SK makes that we played brilliantly in Slovakia (we didn't, and they were awful) they have drawn their opening two games, in Cyprus and home to Malta.

Slovakia went onto qualify for the Euros - beating NI 2-1 in Windsor park and Beat Russia at home last night. I'm not saying its great we lost or anything but when providing context, provide full context.

[zero]

Slovakia went onto qualify for the Euros - beating NI 2-1 in Windsor park and Beat Russia at home last night. I'm not saying its great we lost or anything but when providing context, provide full context.

In fairness I posted that before they beat Russia. Not too easy to add context for future events. I still think they played badly against us in Slovakia but anyway, largely irrelevant now.

[Real ale Madrid]

In fairness I posted that before they beat Russia. Not too easy to add context for future events. I still think they played badly against us in Slovakia but anyway, largely irrelevant now.

Apologies zero re. Russia result. I'm great for that ; pointing out something only for the opposite to happen an hour later etc.

Still though Slovakia did qualify for the euros - they had a poor NL campaign albeit better than us. I thought our performance out there was good and I felt we had the better chances. On their day a decent side.

Something we struggle with is putting performances together and we are not alone. - 3 internationals in 6 days is really tough. Serbia only for a bit of magic from Mitrovic would have dropped points in Baku yesterday. You see it all over Europe - Slovakia were 2-0 down v Malta before squeaking a point but a few days later beat Russia. Turkey beat Netherlands and Norway but undid a bit of the good work by drawing at home to Latvia. I'm sure there will be other examples - France / Ukraine / Bosnia all play their 3rd game in 6 days tonight. The only country that seems immune to it was Belgium - who put their reserves out against Belarus and thumped them 8-0. They look really strong. Anyway a bit of a tangent to illustrate the difficultly a new squad faces in the environment we find ourselves in. We have a 3 game window in Sept but the windows in Oct / Nov are 2 game windows.

[seanfhear]

Apologies zero re. Russia result. I'm great for that ; pointing out something only for the opposite to happen an hour later etc.

Still though Slovakia did qualify for the euros - they had a poor NL campaign albeit better than us. I thought our performance out there was good and I felt we had the better chances. On their day a decent side.

Something we struggle with is putting performances together and we are not alone. - 3 internationals in 6 days is really tough. Serbia only for a bit of magic from Mitrovic would have dropped points in Baku yesterday. You see it all over Europe - Slovakia were 2-0 down v Malta before squeaking a point but a few days later beat Russia. Turkey beat Netherlands and Norway but undid a bit of the good work by drawing at home to Latvia. I'm sure there will be other examples - France / Ukraine / Bosnia all play their 3rd game in 6 days tonight. The only country that seems immune to it was Belgium - who put their reserves out against Belarus and thumped them 8-0. They look really strong. Anyway a bit of a tangent to illustrate the difficultly a new squad faces in the environment we find ourselves in. We have a 3 game window in Sept but the windows in Oct / Nov are 2 game windows.
3 Games in 6 Days is definitely suited for the Big Footballing Countries that could field three teams if necessary !

[Eminence Grise]

I'm in shock with his mentality, he keeps on saying we were brilliant in Slovakia and Serbia, we got knocked out and beaten. The word brilliant should never be used in defeat. its very worrying

To be honest I've more time for a manager who doesn't 5hit on his players in public, even if it tends towards defending the indefensible. Would people prefer that Kenny picks a scapegoat of the match and destroys him, the way Mourinho does?

[Diggs246]

To be honest I've more time for a manager who doesn't 5hit on his players in public, even if it tends towards defending the indefensible. Would people prefer that Kenny picks a scapegoat of the match and destroys him, the way Mourinho does?

No I would not, but he isn't blaming anyone or anything, he is saying we were brilliant which isn't even correct regardless of the defeat

[Eminence Grise]

Which I take as a manager saying publicly the things his players need to know are being said publicly. We don't know what he says behind closed doors. I don't recall who it was who said that Alex Ferguson never admitted that a Man Utd team ever played a bad game no matter how bad the shellacking. It's probably an over-stated observation. Still, a surefire way to lose your dressingroom is to start carping and criticising. Right now we've a squad as low on confidence as can be imagined - they need to be built up to get some self-belief back, even if the manager himself doesn't believe what he's saying. (Half the time I'm giving feedback to students I don't believe what I'm saying!:o) I'm sure Kenny can see that Irish football right now is a 5hit sandwich and he's strugling to find the bread, but the players don't need to hear him say that.

[paul_oshea]

The more often you say something the more hollow it sounds. Not many seem to have picked up on kennys use of the world brilliant and "we should have won". It's very worrying when a manager comes out saying those sort of things. I also saw the same problems against Qatar the last day where we drop off in midfield and give too much space, no one closes down and the centres are withdrawing, but if kenny still thinks we are brilliant that's a massive concern.

There's only so long he can get away with kicking the can down the road and saying how things will change, before people grow tired of that.

[tetsujin1979]

How many times has he used those words Paul? Are you keeping track?

[paul_oshea]

He's used the word brilliant quite a lot, not just about the performances, like he said before Slovakia, and also the players attitude. I'm referring though to the Serbia game when he said we played brilliant, possibly superb was used too. He also said it about the Slovaka game, or if not brilliant a word to that effect.

The point is we haven't played brilliant or superb or any other similar superlative to describe those performances. We have been poor throughout his reign thus far.

[seanfhear]

Kenny needs media training but the thing is, he needed it 20 years ago. It would be one hell of a challenge to improve him now = = probably not impossible.

[Eminence Grise]

Not impossible at all. I think he's unlikely to ever have a Gary Lineker TV presence, but there are loads of firms in Dublin alone that do media training for executives. I'd fault the FAI for not picking up on this, but is it still Cathal Dervan heading up their comms? No surprise if so.