Next Senior Men's Team Manager - Runners and Riders

[Exgrad]

O'Shea was mostly playing at left-back at Man Utd in those days. He famously nutmegged Luis Figo while bombing up the left for Man Utd.

Yes and he played left back for Kerr apart from playing CB for the crucuial game away to Switzerland and fcukng up for one of the goals.

[Exgrad]

I did say non coaching staff though.

Yes but just refering to what happened with one of the old guard he did keep on. The old guard had it in for Kenny before he even got going and last thing he should have done was have any of them hanging round.

[brine3]

My only really vivid memory of O'Shea's century of caps is this miss against France. I'm pretty sure that it's me swearing on this clip. Pretty much where we were in the ground. I think every player in the team that day was playing regularly for their PL club. Seems like a very long time ago.

4dtgqs6u17U

You've forgotten his injury time equaliser away to Germany on his 100th cap?

I was in the Stade de France for that French match as well, way up in the gods. The French had nothing on Roy Keane in midfield. He even made Kilbane look like a world class midfielder.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Kerr hasn't been a coach since stepping down from the Faroes in 2011. I'd say at least a third of the squad don't remember his time in charge of the national side - Evan Ferguson had just turned 12 months old when his reign ended!
What's he going to bring to the setup, even on a temporary basis?
Kerr's forte when he was manager of Ireland (and the Faroes) was his ability to scout an opponent and to draw up a detailed game plan - I think his job might be scouting Belgium and Switzerland and offering advice on how to play them.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Didnt happen in the WC finals as we were chasing games (Germany, Spain Cameroon or well ahead, Saudi Arabia He went very positive v Spain in ET to avod penos and Spain a man down). Balanced changing things with not disrupting things better before he came to the ievitable end of hs rope.
Your comment about the Spain game is just not true - McCarthy didn't even realise that Spain were down to ten men (and another on the pitch was so crocked he couldn't run). McCarthy did nothing to take advantage of the situation. Spain couldn't believe their luck.

And that was on top of the fact that McCarthy played Ian Harte - who had a trapped nerve in his foot and couldn't kick the ball - so Harte could take free kicks (and a penalty that was saved).

[Nesta99]

Your comment about the Spain game is just not true - McCarthy didn't even realise that Spain were down to ten men (and another on the pitch was so crocked he couldn't run). McCarthy did nothing to take advantage of the situation. Spain couldn't believe their luck.

And that was on top of the fact that McCarthy played Ian Harte - who had a trapped nerve in his foot and couldn't kick the ball - so Harte could take free kicks (and a penalty that was saved).

Ok, maybe it was the 6am start thats warped the recall. Looking at the subs made though it seemed an attempt to attack to win rather than settle for penos. If Harte wasnt up to that peno especally why didnt he call it so as a pro?

[tetsujin1979]

Wasn't the trapped nerve something that Dunphy claimed in the studio, as evidence of the poor preparation, and Harte completely refuted it?

[Razors left peg]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2024/03/02/kevin-kilbane-fais-interim-plan-could-yet-prove-permanent/

Kilbane wrote article that hurts my "he knows all and it's a done deal" theory.

It's behind paywall so here are a few bits from it...

"I wonder how “interim” these appointments really are, as FAI director of football Marc Canham played the same card last year before handing Eileen Gleeson the women’s job on a more permanent basis. It’s definitely the FAI’s Plan B. We all know who they want."

"Maybe he’s trying to avoid a repeat of John Delaney announcing McCarthy and Kenny at the same time with O’Shea and Lee Carsley?
But fill the void. Before others do with speculation and guesswork. Somewhere in the last 101 days, something went wrong. We continue to wait, and wait, for a four-year appointment of the new Republic of Ireland manager.
The FAI never wanted an interim coach. The appointment of O’Shea could be masking a deeper problem. If he engineers wins over Belgium and Switzerland, and Canham cannot nail down the primary target, the FAI might simply go with the flow.
That’s what happened with Gleeson and the vacant Ireland women’s job. Stranger things have happened in FAI-land."

[Stuttgart88]

My only really vivid memory of O'Shea's century of caps is this miss against France. I'm pretty sure that it's me swearing on this clip. Pretty much where we were in the ground. I think every player in the team that day was playing regularly for their PL club. Seems like a very long time ago.

4dtgqs6u17UI was in line with the far post. I thought he was unlucky at the time. Caught it well enough.

My recollection down the years is that O’Shea was more a source of dissatisfaction on footie than was ever deserved.

[Eirambler]

Bilic would be a yes for me. Best name I've heard so far. Thought he'd be outside our price range to be honest.

[Razors left peg]

I'd be shocked if its Bilic. I find it hard to believe he'll be the de facto head of all Irish teams like the brief seems to be

[Diggs246]

But" the brief " s from the fai. An organisation that under no circumstances can be trusted or relied on, moving the goal posts is their Forte

I'd be delighted with bilic too

[Razors left peg]

Has anyone looked at Bilics club record. He has more clubs than Tiger Woods. Never stays long. He's no different than Chris Coleman really, he just has a fancy foreign name.

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/23643007.ex-watford-boss-bilic-agrees-two-year-deal-al-fateh/

Says here he signed a 2 year deal in Saudi last year. So unless he knows he's getting fired already I can't see how he would break that contract for a job on much less money.

[Eirambler]

Definitely the fear would be that, like others, he comes into view and then is ruled out within 24 hours.

But maybe there might be something to this. The O'Shea announcement came with a confident sounding suggestion that there would be a permanent announcement in April, as though they had got their man, but he wasn't available just yet. Bilic's situation in Saudi Arabia would fit with that.

Money wise, it sounds like Bilic has made tens of millions out in Saudi, so might be happy enough to take a low paying job now to get back to Europe. Especially an international one with less day to day intensity than a club job.

I like Bilic, always have. I remember reading about the coaching work he did with Dara O'Shea at West Brom and how much he both liked Dara's attitude but - as a centre back himself - was also able to bring him on hugely as a player. I think he'd be a good fit for the job as well as an interesting personality and I'd be a lot more hopeful for the future if it ended up being him compared to almost every other name touted so far.

Feck it anyway, I've gone and gotten my hopes up here...

[Jolly Red Giant]

Wasn't the trapped nerve something that Dunphy claimed in the studio, as evidence of the poor preparation, and Harte completely refuted it?
No - Harte was injured for the duration of the tournament. He was subbed off in three of the four games. The morning of the Spain game the Independent published an interview with Ian Harte by Dion Fanning. In the interview Harte said that he was suffering from a trapped nerve in his foot, that he couldn't run flat out because his foot would go numb and how the injury was so bad that it was impacting his ability to strike the football - “Ok, you’ve got the adrenalin rush because of a free-kick or something, but it affects the way you’re running because you have to keep pulling your toe back and cracking the bone. Then it comes again and you’re forever thinking about your foot more than you’re thinking about the ball. It’s difficult.”

Not alone did McCarthy pick Harte, knowing that the Spanish would have been aware of his injury and the impact it was having, he also had Harte take the penalty in the second half that Harte missed and only for Harte being off the pitch, he would have been taking the penalty that Keane scored in injury time at the end of the game.

Furthermore, there was no planning by McCarthy as to what would happen in the event of a penalty shoot-out. McCarthy went to the players at the end of extra time and said 'who wants to take a penalty?' - Niall Quinn, Mark Kinsella and Damien Duff had all scored in penalty shoot-outs, Duff was having the game of his life in a green shirt and, with Harte subbed off earlier, Kinsella was the best striker of the ball on the pitch - yet instead McCarthy let David Connolly, Matt Holland and Kevin Kilbane take the penalties because they were the first to volunteer - and all three missed .

[Eirambler]

Has anyone looked at Bilics club record. He has more clubs than Tiger Woods. Never stays long. He's no different than Chris Coleman really, he just has a fancy foreign name.

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/23643007.ex-watford-boss-bilic-agrees-two-year-deal-al-fateh/

Says here he signed a 2 year deal in Saudi last year. So unless he knows he's getting fired already I can't see how he would break that contract for a job on much less money.

I wouldn't agree in terms of his record. He did six years with Croatia. Finished seventh and eleventh in the Premier League in his two seasons at West Ham. Took an average West Brom team into the Premier League not too long ago. Coleman hasn't anything like that kind of club record, he basically just had one good stint with Wales thanks to Ramsay and Bale.

I have no idea what his situation is in Saudi but often in those countries if a player or manager has had enough and wants to go, both sides often just rip up the contract and walk away. Money means nothing to the Saudis, they'll just find someone else to throw 10 or 15 million at for a couple of years.

The main criticism I'd have of Bilic is that he has made some poor enough career choices - Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, China and Watford is basically a hit list of places not to go to in search of stable employment. His other roles have been largely successful though.

[Jolly Red Giant]

I wouldn't agree in terms of his record. He did six years with Croatia. Finished seventh and eleventh in the Premier League in his two seasons at West Ham. Took an average West Brom team into the Premier League not too long ago. Coleman hasn't anything like that kind of club record, he basically just had one good stint with Wales thanks to Ramsay and Bale.

I have no idea what his situation is in Saudi but often in those countries if a player or manager has had enough and wants to go, both sides often just rip up the contract and walk away. Money means nothing to the Saudis, they'll just find someone else to throw 10 or 15 million at for a couple of years.

The main criticism I'd have of Bilic is that he has made some poor enough career choices - Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, China and Watford is basically a hit list of places not to go to in search of stable employment. His other roles have been largely successful though.
Bilic has a way better record than Coleman (and Lennon) - on a par with Hughton (with better success at international level but not as good with club football) - he did have a good squad when manager of Croatia. The guy is also very smart and I prefer to see smart people getting a job like this (another reason why Bilic - or Hughton - should be ahead of Coleman and Lennon). Like Hughton, money has never been a major issue for Bilic in management - and being in semi-retirement in the Saudi pro-league an international job might appeal to him

[Razors left peg]

He's a bounce around the place guy, never stays anywhere more than a year or 2 and we expect the FAI to give him a 4 year contract?

Expect to hear by Monday that he's no longer in the running.

[Jolly Red Giant]

He's a bounce around the place guy, never stays anywhere more than a year or 2 and we expect the FAI to give him a 4 year contract?

Expect to hear by Monday that he's no longer in the running.
Spent six years with Croatia - and, unlike Coleman, he never walked away from any club - no matter how poorly things were going.

[Eirambler]

He's a bounce around the place guy, never stays anywhere more than a year or 2 and we expect the FAI to give him a 4 year contract?

Expect to hear by Monday that he's no longer in the running.

Again, he did six years with Croatia. International football is different to club football in that respect.

Having said that I wouldn't be at all surprised if your second sentence turns out to be correct.

[Razors left peg]

Coleman did 5 or 6 years with Wales, hence my comparison. No point in arguing over something we know isn't gonna happen anyway LOL

[John83]

My recollection down the years is that O’Shea was more a source of dissatisfaction on footie than was ever deserved.
I was in awe of his first season at left back at Man Utd. After that, he never seemed to me to be as good at full back. I think he was coached to be more cautious or something. I never liked him at full back for Ireland, but he was a really decent player for us at centre half.

[pineapple stu]

The42 don't think much of the Bilic rumours anyway. (https://www.the42.ie/slaven-bilic-republic-of-ireland-6315766-Mar2024/)

[seanfhear]

A load of bilge !

[mark12345]

I was in line with the far post. I thought he was unlucky at the time. Caught it well enough.

My recollection down the years is that O’Shea was more a source of dissatisfaction on footie than was ever deserved.


My recollection of O'Shea was he was a highly promising prospect at Manchester United. I remember a particular slide tackle on Gianfranco Zola where he not only won the ball but turned defensive into attack all in one movement). I thought at that stage he was going to be the next Paul McGrath or better. But that was one of very few highlights in his career. The lowlight being his performance against Italy at Lansdowne Road when we had to hang on for 3 minutes for a famous 2-1 victory.

[Fixer82]

The lowlight being his performance against Italy at Lansdowne Road when we had to hang on for 3 minutes for a famous 2-1 victory.

Oh God I hoped I'd never remember that again

[JR89]

1764660731503390963

[Razors left peg]

Pretty clear it's Carsley at this point I would think

[SkStu]

1764660731503390963

Interesting - probably points to Carsley - but equally could be anyone and I'm struggling to think of many contractual arrangements that would require FAI to keep schtum...?

Would be funny if they were truly about to announce Carsley and then he identified something in his contract that required everyone to slow it down and caused this cat and mouse game to play out.

[Razors left peg]

I think Carsley just doesn't want to be dealing with it while he's still English manager. Wants to get on with the job.

[pineapple stu]

If it saves having to deal with the English media at the next window, it makes sense straight away.

[Stuttgart88]

Contractual Obligations? This is getting very Monty Python now.

[passinginterest]

I've heard definitely not Carsley and that it's not someone well know or from the usual UK/Ireland manager pool. I haven't gotten a name, but it might well be someone that hasn't even been mentioned in the thread. If that's actually the case then it's a real testament to how little is leaking out of the new FAI.

[Razors left peg]

I've heard definitely not Carsley and that it's not someone well know or from the usual UK/Ireland manager pool. I haven't gotten a name, but it might well be someone that hasn't even been mentioned in the thread. If that's actually the case then it's a real testament to how little is leaking out of the new FAI.

Is it the guy who in his 1st year of management has his team top of the league and in the knockout stages of Europe? Has 148 International Caps and 68 Goals. He was also captain of his country, so he knows the international game well.

[Buckett]

DuffMan

[Eirambler]

Hearing that it's Chris Wilder and the delay is for contractual reasons so that he can finish up his rescue mission at Sheffield United.

[seanfhear]

Hearing that it's Chris Wilder and the delay is for contractual reasons so that he can finish up his rescue mission at Sheffield United.5-0 down before half time tonight.

Also ~ Sheffield Utd and Burnley are already relegated ~ OK, not officially but well there is miracles and there is miracles ! !

[Eirambler]

That was a joke Sean, by the way!

The consensus across the Irish papers this morning seems to be that it's Carsley, but that it won't be confirmed until after the March international period.

[Razors left peg]

That was a joke Sean, by the way!

The consensus across the Irish papers this morning seems to be that it's Carsley, but that it won't be confirmed until after the March international period.
If it's in the papers it must be right...

[seanfhear]

That was a joke Sean, by the way!

The consensus across the Irish papers this morning seems to be that it's Carsley, but that it won't be confirmed until after the March international period.
You'd think it has to be Carsley or there would be some leaks or other ( about other ) ~ ~ There must be no udder ! !

[Eirambler]

If it's in the papers it must be right...

Well they're speculating the same as everyone else. But the hints given away by Canham at the press conference basically mean it's either him or a complete left field candidate that nobody has mentioned before now. Who else is in contract in March but potentially out of contract in early April? Poyet I suppose, but I'd be amazed if it was him.

[Razors left peg]

Well they're speculating the same as everyone else. But the hints given away by Canham at the press conference basically mean it's either him or a complete left field candidate that nobody has mentioned before now. Who else is in contract in March but potentially out of contract in early April? Poyet I suppose, but I'd be amazed if it was him.

I agree with you, I'm convinced it's Carsley and have been from the beginning, I was just being a smartar$e about all the crap that has been in the papers. The Bilic one in particular was laughable when with a quick search anyone could see he was still under contract for a year. I'd say a lot of papers will be looking for new sources in the FAI after all this

[Exgrad]

Duff getting a dig in at Kenny and praise for Kerr, very interesting to hear.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/i-will-watch-an-irish-game-for-the-first-time-in-quite-a-while-damien-duff-hails-return-of-brian-kerr-to-ireland-set-up/a1226637044.html

[ifk101]

John O'Shea is available once his existing contractual arrangements for March are completed.

[Eirambler]

Duff getting a dig in at Kenny and praise for Kerr, very interesting to hear.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/i-will-watch-an-irish-game-for-the-first-time-in-quite-a-while-damien-duff-hails-return-of-brian-kerr-to-ireland-set-up/a1226637044.html

Seems to be a few lining up to have a subtle dig at Kenny these days. Canham said something yesterday about being in regular contact with Kerr for about a year while Kenny was still the senior manager as well.

I wonder, when Kenny inevitably takes another League of Ireland job at some point in the next few years, will it be better for the likes of Duff and Bradley for him to fail. Because I guess, if he is successful again at that level, it doesn't make them look too good in terms of their potential to succeed at a higher level.

[JR89]

Seems to be a few lining up to have a subtle dig at Kenny these days. Canham said something yesterday about being in regular contact with Kerr for about a year while Kenny was still the senior manager as well.

I wonder, when Kenny inevitably takes another League of Ireland job at some point in the next few years, will it be better for the likes of Duff and Bradley for him to fail. Because I guess, if he is successful again at that level, it doesn't make them look too good in terms of their potential to succeed at a higher level.

O'Shea mentioned yesterday that it was Canham who suggested Kerr's name when they were discussing staff for this window. Interestingly enough it was a year ago that John Morling left his role with the FAI.

Would assume Canham got in touch with Kerr back when Morling left the FAI. If they've been chatting this much that Canham suggests him to O'Shea then I won't be surprised if there's a role for him with the FAI beyond March.

[Razors left peg]

https://www.the42.ie/lee-carsley-ireland-6317971-Mar2024/

Carsley not moving according to David Sneyd

[Eirambler]

Have to say, whatever happens from here, the Irish football press pack - rarely the most on the ball it must be said - have been played for absolute fools throughout this. Carsley must have been ruled in and ruled out about three times each now, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's another spin round the houses still to come with him. We've been told that it's going to be Lennon, Coleman and Bilic at different points, possibly Clement too. They've also linked Poyet, Barry and Rowett with the job at various stages too. And now the FAI are basically telling them that they've got their man, and between them the journos still can't get a decent lead on who it actually is. Wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being literally none of the names they've thrown out so far.

[elatedscum]

If it’s not Carsley, it strikes me as someone who is contracted to a club till the end of the season - or who has an out clause at the end of the season.

Starting to worry it might be Robbie…

[Philly]

Also think it'll be Robbie Keane. The Israeli season ends in a few weeks and their European run will end during April.

The interim staff also make sense as being his staff.

Maybe I'm being pessimistic or something but the lines around existing contractual obligations ending in April make him stand out.