Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane

[tetsujin1979]

That was the rumour on Twitter last week

[marinobohs]

Liam Brady wouldn't tolerate Keane's verbals (among other criticisms):

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/roy-keane-whatsapp-harry-arter-row-fight-republic-of-ireland-martin-o-neill-a8532111.html

And Miguel Delaney quotes Keane saying he regrets his old school "play through injury" approach, and saying that in hindsight players like Van Nistelrooy were right not to play when not 100%.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-a8532111.html

Did Van Nistelrooy dodge friendlies ?

[geysir]

We, or probably most of us, know Keane can be an utter profane slob, but over recent days the person i'm most disappointed in is O'Neill. Maybe the signs were there along but it never dawned on me to question his quality of character. Since Ward's very vivid audio has entered the public domain (with a bullet), his public actions have been to support Keane 100% and belittle Arter for not returning.
In my perspective this is shameful as he has equal care of duty to all, players and staff, not just the cosy triumvirate
Not only do we have a manager who just cannot coach a team effectively within the international framework but one who belittles players who have been profanely abused by his management
. And in mumbling repeatedly about how it was for him in distant European exploits, he has spectacularly failed to grasp the essentials of the issue.
A crummy draw in Poland does not even have a coat of paint gloss over effect.

[Fixer82]

According to O’Neill, it didn’t quite go down the way Ward told it. There’s far more going on in the background than we will ever know.
Judging by the reaction of players against Poland, I’m more hopeful than before.
I imagine O’Neill will deal with this properly in private while backing his assistant publicly.

[jbyrne]

and belittle Arter for not returning.

i didn't see or hear any MON quotes belittling arter in this regard.
do you have any?

[Diggs246]

In fairness to O"neill he said he "respected Arter decision , but did not agree with it"

[OwlsFan]

Mick McCarthy says what a lot of us are thinking: https://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/so...up-870788.html

[geysir]

i didn't see or hear any MON quotes belittling arter in this regard.
do you have any?

I don't know about quotes but that was the distinct tone of much of O'Neill's reply to the Ward Tapes. It was blatant, caustic - mildly disguised.
He went on for ages giving 100% fulsome extravagant praise to Keane, on the other hand he questioned whether the row with Keane was the full reason for Harry's decision, yet he admitted that his 2nd in command had not tried to reconcile the issue with Arter. O'Neill had not even followed up on that row which he had been made aware of, he couldn't be bothered, for some reason or another to make sure that one key member of the team was offered the respect of fair process due to him by management.

Then, in this stage managed interview with Meyler beside him (Meyler's status suitably being elevated from non-player to key non-player), O'Neill blithely referred to a row he had with Meyler, as if that compared with what went down between Keane and Arter. He was implying that Meyler seems alright so why not Harry? something must be defective with Harry? And in another interview he referred to Walters turning up, so why not Harry.

I got the clear impression that O'Neill supported Keane 100% in everything and it was up to the player to get over the rumpus and if his assistant didn't bother to make amends with Arter, so what, it was still the player's defect and Keane's use of foul belittling abuse is fair game, no apology is needed afterwards.

[tetsujin1979]

On Off The Ball earlier, Kilbane shut down the criticism by Richie McCormack of O'Neill's recent mentions of his European Cup medals brilliantly.

<EDIT>

The clip is here: http://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Off...rpool_evolving

McCormack: I don't know if you know this. Martin O'Neill, during his playing career, won two European Cups. So he might have a thing or two to teach you in the dressing room
Kilbane: Rich, will you stop, honestly.
McCormack: Were you aware of that? Like, he hides his light under a bushel, does Martin O'Neill. Two European Cups. Imagine the knowledge he can impart tomorrow in the dressing room as he tries to send you out with a fire in your belly
Kilbane: Yeah, it's two more than me, he played a lot more at that level than I can ever dream of, so I'd look at it like that Richie
McCormack: If only he didn't keep it so quiet

Fair play to Kilbane for not rising to the bait.

[geysir]

The Indo reports (source Do'D?) that the Irish management team failed to make an attempt at reconciliation with Arter.
If true, failing to make an attempt after all that waffle from O'Neill is uninspiring, that type of conduct becomes a management normal standard

[Fixer82]

the indo reports (source do'd?) that the irish management team failed to make an attempt at reconciliation with arter.
If true, failing to make an attempt after all that waffle from o'neill is uninspiring, that type of conduct becomes a management normal standard

myth: Busted!

[DeLorean]

O'Neill in the papers being very defiant and somewhat arrogant.

Dunno if he is serious or trying to negotiate a good payoff.

Definitely a change of approach, just trying to generate a bit of hope I'd imagine - https://www.irishexaminer.com/breaki...ll-876536.html

Certainly arrogant to suggest he'll turn it around and qualify because he's so good, despite only having a couple of good players!

Sounds like he's running out of patience with Rice a bit too, which is fair enough I think.

There’s a stage when no matter how talented you are, you have to come to some sort of decision

[Diggs246]

Dan McDonnell stated today that it would cost 3m to get rid of them. So we are stuck with them

What they need to do is stopping bitching about having no players and recruit Dan Crowley and Patrick Bamford. Bamford is injured so now is the time to meet him and tell him he is in his plans

[DeLorean]

Yeah I'd say Bamford would need very little encouragement at this stage. The dizzy heights of a Chelsea/England career are clearly unattainable now.

I'm not sure the FAI would sack O'Neill at this point even if it cost them nothing. Let's just pray for a half decent draw in December.

[backstothewall]

If those figures are correct I assume it means it would cost £3m to pay up their contracts in full. But it will cost €3m to keep them as well.

It will only cost €3.5m to put them on gardening leave and pay someone else half a million to take the qualifying campaign. We are paying them way in excess of the going rate for an international manager.