Originally Posted by
DeLorean
You see, that's the whole misunderstanding and the problem with not actually listening to what people say. Nathan Murphy is very wound up in the first conversation with Kilbane, just look at his body language while he's waiting to jump in with his own points. They end up discussing different things.
It's not a "respect in the dressing room" issue. Kilbane never mentions the word 'respect' when making his points', he only mentions it to correct Murphy's misinterpretation (and clearly yours too).
NM- "Who are the players who wouldn't respect him?"
KK- "I never said they wouldn't respect him. I said if you're looking for an immediate response from a manager when he walks in to the dressing room, or walks into the building, Mick McCarthy would immediately grab you more than Stephen Kenny".
He was speaking in the context of which manager is more likely to get an immediate bounce to help us qualify for Euro 2020. He believes the players would be more familiar with McCarthy, so he's more likely to inspire a quicker reaction. He also thinks McCarthy's experience and reputation would help him if the immediate results aren't great, compared to Kenny, who might be considered out of his depth having never managed at a very high level previously.
He actually indicates that Kenny might be the better longer term option, suggesting that he's better tactically and on the training ground than McCarthy. If he really is a McCarthy 'cheerleader', this is a very strange thing to say, especially seeing as he played under him.
Kilbane believes that it would be safer to go down the "tried and trusted" route considering the importance of qualifying for these Euros. That's open for discussion of course but it's hardly an unreasonable position.
Despite all of this, and Kilbane correcting Murphy's misinterpretation, the latter still opens his discussion with Andrews with this:
NM- "Do you agree with Kilbane that Mick McCarthy walks into that dressing room and instantly gets more respect than Kenny does?"
And the more mature Keith responds by saying-
KA - "Immediately, yes, a little bit".
So Kilbane believes that McCarthy would be better equipped to inspire the players immediately, but Andrews actually believes that he would also get more respect, initially at least.
Andrews' personal experience with Di Matteo, etc. was interesting but irrelevant in the context of what Kilbane was suggesting really. Kilbane himself conceded that it's something Kenny could overcome by impressing the players on the training pitch.