Keith Fahey

[OwlsFan]

Best moments of his career here: http://www.the42.ie/keith-fahey-best...69553-Aug2015/

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Always liked him. Class player who rarely gave the ball away. Was a bit of a fall guy for the 6-1 loss to Germany when he was given the task of man marking a German (can't remember which one). It just wasn't his game. He was much more of a playmaker than a defensive midfielder. His goal against Armenia turned out to be a massive one for us qualifying for EURO 2012.
I also remember him scoring a peno V Uruguay and a free kick V Wales. (did he score any more for us?)

Ozil I think. It was a masterclass in tactical ineptitude from Trapattoni. I knew Fahey was being thrown under the bus with that stroke. Up there with Simon Cox in midfield against Spain.

[Charlie Darwin]

Hertha Berlin wanted to sign him on the back of that performance.

He probably would have been better off going to Germany.

He never really stood out in the Premier League. I don't think it suited his strengths.

Hertha got relegated that year so he was better off staying shot. Could easily have found himself without a club after 12 months and no suitors in England. He won a League Cup and came second in the Championship in England, so that was a pretty good return.

[Closed Account]

A few of you might have seen this before but I enjoyed it so thought I'd share it again:

[tetsujin1979]

Good interview with him on the42.ie today: http://www.the42.ie/keith-fahey-leag...05885-Mar2017/
some of the comments at the bottom of the article might not still be there at the end of the day

[paul_oshea]

I found it hard to figure him out there, was he a bit petulant, a bit sulky, perhaps mollycoddled growing up. Or was he a guy who genuinely had some confidence issues, and was not able for certain social situations and scenarios that he would rather shy away from.

I always thought he came across as a shy retiring type, but reading that I am not so sure.

[OwlsFan]

I see he was a Trapp man and comments:

"It was just disappointing how quickly the fans turned on him. He was a hero, but that’s football. A few bad results and he’s the villain straight away, (people were saying) ‘the football’s bad’. The football was always bad. It was just, we got away with it, we got results.”

I am not sure the football was always bad (before him) or that the fans quickly turned on him. I think the latter was a gradual process even before the failure at the Euros, certainly among my compadres, and mostly not due exclusively to the style of play but more so for his failure to pick perceived better players but that has been all well covered before. The style of football under his immediate predecessors wasn't all long ball and as far as I recall Kerr and McCarthy teams did try and play more of a passing game with varying degrees of success.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

My abiding memory from watching Fahey and Andrews in the Premier League is that games passed them by.

[paul_oshea]

I see he was a Trapp man and comments:

"It was just disappointing how quickly the fans turned on him. He was a hero, but that’s football. A few bad results and he’s the villain straight away, (people were saying) ‘the football’s bad’. The football was always bad. It was just, we got away with it, we got results.”

I am not sure the football was always bad (before him) or that the fans quickly turned on him. I think the latter was a gradual process even before the failure at the Euros, certainly among my compadres, and mostly not due exclusively to the style of play but more so for his failure to pick perceived better players but that has been all well covered before. The style of football under his immediate predecessors wasn't all long ball and as far as I recall Kerr and McCarthy teams did try and play more of a passing game with varying degrees of success.

I thought me meant the football they played under him was always bad, that he was a hero, and then after a few results that didnt go our way the fans turned and the football is bad. I took it to mean Fahey meant the reign of Trap and only Trap. Well fair play to him anyway for sticking up for Trap, he can't have complaints really, when he was selected. But others were quick to run Trap down, rightfully so in my opinion though.

[Stuttgart88]

fair play to him anyway for sticking up for Trap. But others were quick to run Trap down, rightfully so in my opinion.

That's some contradiction in the space of only a few words

[paul_oshea]

Not really, if he believes it i am saying as a player he was right to, given how other players ran him down since. "others" as in players above.

[OwlsFan]

Not really, if he believes it i am saying as a player he was right to, given how other players ran him down since. "others" as in players above.

Interesting though how there can be two opposite takes on what someone said:

"it was just disappointing how quickly the fans turned on him. He was a hero, but that’s football. A few bad results and he’s the villain straight away, (people were saying) ‘the football’s bad’. The football was always bad. It was just, we got away with it, we got results.”

I take it as being Irish football was always bad, you take it as he was referring only to Trapp. I would have thought, if you go by your interpretation, he would have said "It was just he got away with it, he got results".

[paul_oshea]

I took it based on the fact he had been discussin traps reign, he mentions the turning point, "a few bad results and he's the villain straight away", "the footbal was always bad...we got the results". Its not clear you are right but he references a turning point in Traps tenure and then explains by saying the football was always bad but we got the results, why would he refer to other campaigns about results? We hadn't got the results under stan or kerr and the football was bad i.e. we didnt qualify(we did under trap so it was acceptable).

He probably did mean what you and stutts said! But thats not what he said.

[Closed Account 2]

I'll always remember his goal in Yerevan, that result dug us out of a tight spot. It was our first proper game since Henry's cheating in Saint Denis. It was a swelteringly hot and humid day out there (like a steam room or summer on a London tube) and the energy was sapping out of the players - we had 15 mins left and he scored. I think the goal was crucial in getting us into second, it meant we started our campaign in a positive manner, it gave us an early edge on the other teams in our group (we were the only team to win in Yerevan and the only other points they dropped at home was in a draw with Russia).

I felt Trap was a bit unfairly criticized. He got us so near to WC2010, and then got us to Euro2012 (arguably two of the hardest qualifications we've had). There was a real clamoring for him to pick gifted players who weren't grafters. The media seemed to want him to start say Andy Reid instead of Keith Andrews, but Trap's tactics were very tight and the system couldn't afford to sacrifice the engine of a Whelan or and Andrews for an immobile but gifted Reid. I think players like Fahey offered a degree of uniqueness in the sense they were tactically sound (able to track back and mark) but also offered a degree of guile and quality.

There is a tendency to forget just how bad we were under Stan, but we were really horrid. The nadir of modern Irish international football surely has to be the 5-2 in Nicosia. Trap's management obviously came unstuck in Poland and we fumbled into WC2014 qualification, but were still alive in terms of second place until injury time home to Austria and arguably even as late as game 7 (of ten) when we went 1 up at home to Sweden. Two good qualification campaigns, thee-quarters of a bad one, and a getting found out in the Euro 2012 "group of death" - I don't think many other managers could have done much better.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

I know he was on a booking but I can't help but feel that taking Long off contributed to us losing that lead against Austria in Dublin.

Walters was completely spent and you had Sammon tottering up the other end of the pitch marooned from the midfield.

We badly needed Long's energy, endeavour and tenacity to help close out that game.

That equaliser was coming, and the dam burst after Long's substitution.