Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane

[Diggs246]

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.

that's a good point, even if we paid someone 800k, its doable

[backstothewall]

We could structure the next contract to have a reasonably frugal basic wage but with a very generous bonus for qualification. We could put a couple of million euro bonus on the table in the knowledge that if we ever had to we would be in a position to pay it without any difficulty.

[seanfhear]

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.

O’Neill tells himself how good he is . Maybe he should try that with his players .

[Park_Lane]

O’Neill tells himself how good he is . Maybe he should try that with his players .

eh excuse me, he has won two european cups you know!

[Diggs246]

that's a good point, even if we paid someone 800k, its doable

Actually there might be cashflow implications, the 3m as things stand is over the next year and a half, but is they are sacked that 3m might have to be paid immediately

[seanfhear]

eh excuse me, he has won two european cups you know!

Does he realise that was a very very very long time ago He should also remember that it all ended badly for Clough in the end . Is it going the same way for O’Neill .

[backstothewall]

It's also an opportunity to start fighting fire with fire on the Declan Rice front. His new agent, who O'Neill speculated was behind his reconsidering his international future, also represents Robbie Keane.

Perhaps Robbie might have a role in the new team depending on what Rice decides.

[brine3]

that's a good point, even if we paid someone 800k, its doable

Morten Olsen managed Denmark for over 10 years for 400 thousand a year. He also developed a footballing strategy and oversaw the academy.

O'Neill is a spoofer.

[seanfhear]

Martin O Neill to Roy Keane ...” They are no good Roy "

Roy to Martin ..” They are no fooking good "

Martin to Roy ....” I’m great Roy "

Roy to Martin ......” You’re fooking great "

Martin to Roy.....” Your doing a great job Roy "

[samhaydenjr]

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.

Well that's two lines in the sand... I say, let's see both of these through. I think everyone is placing too much stock in this Nations' League campaign - to a large extent it's an extension of the friendlies we've played this year - an opportunity to bring more players into the squad and give them the chance to prove themselves and get settled on the international scene. In O'Neill's defence, he has had limited opportunities to bring in new players (that's the nature of international football, particularly when you actually qualify for your first tournament) and has used these opportunities pretty much to their fullest to see new players, even though to a certain extent he's been forced to by injuries. So it was always possible that these performances would be disjointed. Some posters have mentioned having a rebuild - THIS WAS THE REBUILD! (for now, anyway).
So now we've seen a bunch of players and a few of them have impressed (Robinson, Stevens, O'Dowda) while for others it was probably just important for them to get blooded in, even if they weren't at their best (Doherty, Browne, Egan).

As I noted, we were also missing some of our better experienced players through injury (McCarthy, Coleman, Brady) so when they come back we will hopefully be a better unit with more depth now. So let O'Neill see this rebuild through to the end - if he thinks he can get us through, let him try... if he fails, then let him go.

As regards Rice, I agree that the end of the year is a reasonable deadline - if he hasn't rejoined us by then, it's time for us to move on

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

Dan Crowley has already signaled his intent, so now it's just a matter of doing the paperwork, then deciding if he's good enough and when he can be blooded in. At this point I don't see any real need to chase Bamford - we now have three new strikers who have shown that they are capable performing at a comparable level in Robinson, Maguire and Hogan - between those three we should see some goals over the next couple of years, which should keep us ticking over until the likes of Connolly, Idah, Parrott, Cassidy, Obafemi, McAuley etc. start to break through. If Bamford wants to come on board, he can let us know (like Robinson did) and we'll see if he fits into our plans at that point.

[DeLorean]

I agree with all of the first bit, but beware a balanced view like that might not go down well here.

As for Bamford, there were some noises a few months back. O'Neill seemed to indicate he heard he was interested, and even said he'd follow it up. I wonder if that ever happened? Doubtful. I'd prefer to have Bamford as an option than Hogan and he gives something a bit different to Maguire and definitely Robinson too.

I haven’t spoken to the lad (Patrick Bamford) myself yet, but I’ve seen things about his interest and it would be ridiculous of me not to go and pursue someone who has played at a decent level. There’s a couple of other people who have given indication that they would like to play. I will follow them up.

[geysir]

I think that one can differentiate betweeen a management team who are dysfunctional and a management team who are doing their best without some first choice players, a weakened squad and building for the future.

I don’t like O’Neill’s vision of the future, not just that but he has not shown much evidence that he has a basicc grasp of managing an international squad, selecting a balanced team and preparing that team tactically for the upcoming match.

[marinobohs]

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.

O'Neill can afford to bluster because he will certainly depart after the next qualifying stage anyway, whether we qualify or not. In the interim he appears to be bunkering down safe in the knowledge that Delaney's donkeys can't afford to sack him. Extremely unlikely at this stage of his career that he is going to change his beliefs so another couple of years of this dross appears on the menu.

Maybe we will win a 'best supporters' award or something Ole, Ole, Ole.

[DeLorean]

O'Neill can afford to bluster because he will certainly depart after the next qualifying stage anyway

That's very true. It's sounds like forced confidence. It's also at complete odds with his cautious words even when we were in a brilliant position four games into our WC campaign.

[Diggs246]

If the FAI made a settlement of 2.2m for the management team. Which would mean a savings over the next year and a half of 800k, which would in turn cover the next managers salary. When you deal with snakes like the FAI 2.2m in the hand is a lot better the 3m in the bush. However all the noise coming from abbotstown is that there is no appetite to sack them.