Stephen Kenny

Christmas plea to FAI: We know you're short of alternatives, money, credibility, marketability and ideas - but please, at the very least, face up to the bleedin' obvious - Stephen Kenny is simply not good enough for the national team. It was a fanciful financial appointment riding on the back of a feelgood factor. Nice try! The vast majority of fans invested heavily but it has been a shocker. That's not a left-field opinion - it's a 30-game, three-campaign fact.

Surely you've had the feelers out for a replacement? If not you're derelict in your duty of care for Irish football. It's three months to the Euros, please remove Kenny asap and appoint someone, even on an interim basis, who will at least inject hope and optimism. Even Santa ticks that box.

If you think Santa is going to contemplate taking on the Republic of Ireland job at this time of year, you're mistaken.
Back on Planet earth, the sad reality is that the FAI has been in Santa's bad books for years and it would go against everything he stands for.

It's a complete non-runner.

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Originally Posted by texidub

If you think Santa is going to contemplate taking on the Republic of Ireland job at this time of year, you're mistaken.
Back on Planet earth, the sad reality is that the FAI has been in Santa's bad books for years and it would go against everything he stands for.

It's a complete non-runner.

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That you're possibly right is outrageous. So the FAI is sitting pretty, doing f-all? All is rosy in the garden then. We've just suffered three of our worst ever campaigns, shocking minnow defeats, a pathetic lack of tactical nous, qualification death after two games, backroom loses, garbled explanations, fanbase turmoil etc. Surely they're checking around because what we have currently is simply and historically unacceptable. It would be insane to sacrifice the Euros campaign, tough as the group may be, to the gods of more time and more failure.

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Originally Posted by Snapshot

That you're possibly right is outrageous. So the FAI is sitting pretty, doing f-all? All is rosy in the garden then. We've just suffered three of our worst ever campaigns, shocking minnow defeats, a pathetic lack of tactical nous, qualification death after two games, backroom loses, garbled explanations, fanbase turmoil etc. Surely they're checking around because what we have currently is simply and historically unacceptable. It would be insane to sacrifice the Euros campaign, tough as the group may be, to the gods of more time and more failure.

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They have to be looking - especially with the managerial churn that tends to happen around WC time. Anything can and will happen so they need a plan b (not that they would be going around broadcasting it). Carsley is tempting.

I just can't bring meself to be too critical of the manager right now. A lot of young players short of club experience in the squad. They have provided some great moments, many more mediocre moments. No one in the set up deserves a lambasting, Kenny included, IMO. At the sme time, I'm not attached to the idea that Kenny has to stay. The Ireland team is bigger than any individual. And even for all the uncertainty and poor results, it's still better in many respects than some of the turgid (albeit more successful) stuff of managers past.

The WC has been sobering though. We're in an alternative footballing universe at the moment (and not just with the WC kicking off on the same day we played Malta). Seems like any country can beat any country these days, and yet you'd fear for Ireland against almost every team.

Forgot to say, I wish Kenny would stop referencing ticket sales when he's doing interviews. It comes across like tacky self-promotion with future negotiations in mind.

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Originally Posted by texidub

If you think Santa is going to contemplate taking on the Republic of Ireland job at this time of year, you're mistaken.
Back on Planet earth, the sad reality is that the FAI has been in Santa's bad books for years and it would go against everything he stands for.

It's a complete non-runner.

---

The problem with Santa is he always uses the same team with the big lad Rudolph up front. Predictable. But he does like getting the sack once a year. So... worth a shot?

True EG, won't dispute any of that but there was a lot of terrace songs and rumours about the fact that Rudolph was kind of being isolated by his team mates and even a bit of bullying going on in the background. Santa, to be fair, was pretty decisive, made Rudolph captain and things really turned around from there. Credit where its due. On the flipside, doesnt seem like he has brought anyone young or new in for quite a while so might not be best for us going forward. My two cents anyway.

Santa Claus is Judged on Results.

Can he do it on a wet Tuesday night in Lapland?

In fairness, it's a long time since we were giantsleighers.

As long as we put the right clauses in it could be worth a look.

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Originally Posted by ontheotherhand

As long as we put the right clauses in it could be worth a look.

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I thought he already got the sack.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I’m not sure I did mention Serbia! I mentioned Portugal in reference to a ridiculous comparison above and because it was generally being discussed. Context is that I think Kenny and the team deserved quite a bit of credit for that performance, and probably the home performance too. It was the kind of performance that kept a lot of people on board and I think that belittling the performance is too subjective, using it to only downplay any credit the manager might deserve. Unfortunately as we all know, good performances haven’t been consistent, but I do think they’ve been there.

Hang on, it looks like you’re the one talking these teams up now :)

Largely fair. I think it’s within a manager’s gift to appoint a good head coach. Big Sam, Jesus…!

Recently for sure. Always, I don't think so, but as the pressure increased he took fewer risks. And Idah, Connolly were outside of his control. If he was acting in self preservation at home to Azerbaijan, for example I don't think he'd have gone with Idah, Connolly and Parrott. Overall I think it's been inconsistent.

OK, it felt to me you were getting at posters here rather than the wider public. One or two others were though.

I’m not sure that’s true. I think they got credit when it was due and criticism when it was deserved. And Martin O’Neill could have capped Declan Rice. Demonisation isn’t enough!

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I wasn't talking up Azerbaijan or Luxembourg, I was making the point that it would be ridiculous for those countries to consider that they were competing with Portugal and Serbia despite running them close in games against them. They were also rans in the group and that's our level too under Kenny. He's turned us into plucky minnows.

But as I said, this discussion is completely pointless because Kenny supporters need the role of his assistants to be ignored fully in order to make any sort of case. And even then it's a very weak argument. Remember, without Barry or Eustace running tactical sessions, Kenny has only achieved 3 victories. Those 3 were against Lithuania, Armenia and Malta.

https://m.independent.ie/sport/socce...-42230556.html

I know they are still brilliant but this is good news for us

I'm playing with ChatGPT, the new AI chatbot that everyone is raving about. I gave it the prompt: "Write a dialogue between two Irish football fans. One wants the manager of the national team, Stephen Kenny, fired. The other disagrees." I thought you lot might enjoy a robot mimicking us. Apologies for the join lines from the multi-part screenshot.

https://i.imgur.com/fzRTfYo.png

Maybe you've stumbled across the solution, a bot to manage us, pick the style, formation and players. AIreland.

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Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke

Maybe you've stumbled across the solution, a bot to manage us, pick the style, formation and players. AIreland.

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Maybe you're on to something there...

https://i.imgur.com/eQ77tng.png

D'oh!

At least it knows its own limitations.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke

Maybe you've stumbled across the solution, a bot to manage us, pick the style, formation and players. AIreland.

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Definite plus for post-match interviews.

Glimpse into future after Latvia do us over in March (via chatgpi)

Interviewer: "Stephen, tough loss tonight. What are your thoughts on the game?"
Ireland Manager: "It was a difficult game, and we didn't play to the best of our abilities. Latvian were the better team on the night and deserved the win. We have to take this loss and learn from it."
Interviewer: "What do you think went wrong for your team tonight?"
Ireland Manager: "I think we lost the battle in midfield and struggled to create chances. Our defensive errors also cost us goals. We have to work on these areas and make sure we're better prepared for our next game."
Interviewer: "How do you plan to bounce back from this defeat?"
Ireland Manager: "We have a strong group of players, and we'll regroup and review the game. We'll work on our weaknesses and come back stronger. We have a number of important games coming up, and we have to make sure we're ready for them."
Interviewer: "Stephen, thanks for your time. Best of luck in your future games."
Ireland Manager: "Thank you. We'll give it our all and hope to turn things around."

More coherent than most of Kenny's interviews to be fair.