There was Fr Purcell as well. ("What's your favourite humming noise?")
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There was Fr Purcell as well. ("What's your favourite humming noise?")
Considering he's dead he'd be interestingQuote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
Maybe he's just been at the floor cleaner!Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
The sound of a fridge humming.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
The Robbie debate is fun. Loved him as a player but think he's made some pretty questionable decisions since. Comparing his financial moves to us mere mortals taking jobs in superpower countries or a wage from an employer full stop isn't really useful. We have mortgages to pay and families to feed. The lines become a bit more blurry for us out of necessity. Robbie is a multi millionaire. He doesn't need to chase the money. It's a simple moral decision for him. In fact, turning down the FAI or Tel Aviv money might have had positive knock-on effects for him such is the nature of celebrity and fame. Not sure he's always thinking things through to be honest but Robbie looks after Robbie. Served him well in his career but I wouldn't be a huge fan of the non-playing version.
Still interested to see if he can carry the managerial form through to another league. I'd be surprised if he does but ultimately, he's an Irish legend and a flawed human like all the other ones. There's a story to follow.
David O'Leary or Dreary O'Leary as became his nickname when people got fed up listening to him in England !
I think rich people are more inclined the chase money bizarrely - look at how many jumped to play in the Saudi league for example.Quote:
Originally Posted by ontheotherhand
There's always a bigger yachtQuote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
A few of them are probably sociopaths to begin with?Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
There's been a fair few footballers who have rejected the Saudis. Not necessarily on moral grounds I suppose but it has happened.
Maybe we could also look at the golfers who said no to Liv? I didn't follow that too much though so maybe there were other layers.
Probably so, yeah. I suspect more than a few footballers who rejected a Saudi offer did so on the basis of the league being crap, and concern about what it could do for their longer career.Quote:
Originally Posted by ontheotherhand
I'm reading Michael Palin's Diaries at the moment; he has a bit in it where he met Bob Geldof in 1987 and quotes Geldof as saying to him "My morality is absolutely clear. I just want to make lots and lots of money"
Geldof in 87 - a year or two after the Rats broke up - probably wouldn't have been particularly wealthy; certainly not as well off as Keane today. But I think they could empathise with each other.
An interesting gamble by the FAI, for sure, but would definitely get a bit boring after a while.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Pre-match press conferences with a medium would be a twist on Trap's Manuela Spinelli years.
Mind you, is there anybody there? could be asked of our midfield far too often lately.
https://www.speechcamp.ie/uploads/7/...jpg?1492325589Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
"Following the creditable performances in our recent 3-0 defeat to Belgium and, in particular, our excellent 2-0 defeat to Switzerland, a decision has been taken to reward interim manager John O'Shea with a new four year contract as Ireland Head Coach."
This was on BBC Breakfast this morning (context - the bloke in the picture was a 65 y/o surfer waiting for a huge river wave (or bore) to arrive later this morning in Gloucester. I saw it in real time and thought it was gas!Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
https://x.com/jonkay01/status/1767453312356327696?s=20
I guess the mystery man was Rafa all along!
Unless they had inside info on when he was gonna be sacked it's not Rafa. Would make a lot of Irish Liverpool fans happy thoughQuote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
Not a hope it's Rafa unfortunately, there's a few million reasons why, would have been an interesting one though!
It's going to be Louis Van Gaal. I'm sure of it!
If it is I'm giving up football foreverQuote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
money, money, MONEYQuote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
The nonplaying version of Robbie has really impressed me. What he has done with Maccabi Tel Aviv is pretty impressive. The football they played against Olyampiakos was breath taking at times. If Robbie has influenced them to do this then I'd have him as Irish boss tomorrow. But for some reason I don't think our lads have the technical ability to play that brand of football. And one other thing about his moral decisions - I don't remember anyone questioning his decision to go to Israel at the time.
I'm not interested in getting into a political debate, but the day he was named manager, there were several comments on this forum about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by mark12345
Yes I think lots of people had reservations about it at the time
I think the Saudis specifically targeted players that they felt would chase money.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
As for Geldof - a chancer of the highest order who used Live-Aid to relaunch the flagging career of the Rats.
Olympiakos are an absolute shambles at the moment - they are owned by the same guy who owns Forest and he has been using Olympiakos as a dumping ground for players they wanted out of Forest (Marinakis doesn't care about his Greek club anymore now that Forest are in the PL). This season there was a massive turnover of players - 36 out and 28 in - most of the ones that came in were free transfers (or on loan) - the club have had four separate managers since last June. The Greek Super League is so bad that they are going to finish third at worst no matter what they do.Quote:
Originally Posted by mark12345
Going poorly for Robbie Keane tonight. Olympiakos 3-0 up in Tel Aviv at half time.
It’s being played in Serbia. They’ve just got a goal back through a penalty which was their second shot of the game. Seem to be getting dominated but they now lead by a goal on aggregateQuote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
Stevan Jovetic just scored in the 98th minute to knock Maccabi Tel Aviv out.
The game finished 4-1 in normal time and went to extra time. Jovetic scored in the 3rd minute of extra time. It’s currently half time in extra time and 6-1 to Olympiakos. A sheer and utter embarrassment from Robbie Keane and his boysQuote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
Pretty shocking capitulation. From the admittedly very small sample size that Robbie Keane's managerial career constitutes right now, it doesn't paint a good picture. It's especially poor given the state of Olympiakos this season, as outlined above. He needs a few years before he can be seriously considered for a job like Ireland's.
Olympiakos have won eight of their last ten league games and beat West Ham in the Europa League (not a dead rubber); they were unlucky not to do better in the groups actually. They can't be doing that badly, even if they're not as strong as usual (given they usually win the league)
Against that Maccabi had to play their home leg in Serbia - that's a big factor too, and one outside of Keane's hands.
It was a bad defeat for sure, but I think it's a bit excessive to use it to judge a record-breaking campaign (the furthest they'd ever gone in Europe)
Awful defeat for Robbie, but hes done well to get them this far and is still top of table in League. Hopefully enough to get him a move to a better situation next season.
As I pointed out - Olympiakos are a mess this season. Four different managers since last June (Diego Martínez from June to December - Carlos Carvalhal lasted 11 games - Sotiris Silaidopoulos - and now José Luis Mendilibar) - 36 players out and 28 in during the off season. Given the poor quality of the Greek Super League, it is difficult for Olympiakos to do any worse than third. The only real competition are AEK, PAOK and Panathinaikos (and PAOK are punching above their weight at the moment) - and Olympiakos have lost twice to Panathinaikos in the last few weeks (0-2 away and 1-3 at home). The Greek Super League is now in the play-off phase and Olympiakos are likely to be very badly exposed over the next few weeks.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
As for Maccabi Tel Aviv - well they were not the only Israeli team to have progressed in Euro competition. Maccabi Haifa were also in the last 16 of the Conference League - they lost 3-4 to Fiorentina in the first leg (conceding 6 minutes into injury time) and then drew 1-1 in Italy last night - and Fiorentina are a much better team than Olympiakos.
Now all of this isn't worth a hill of beans - Maccabi Tel Aviv are a big fish in a small pond with a bucket load of money behind them - a team that, since Goldhar has bought the club, has systematically been removing any association with Palestinian or Arabic players and that has refused to take action against the racist antics of its Ultras. Keane knew what he was doing taking the job - he gets to pad his bank balance and his CV - irrespective of the political message that it sends.
Seems that Lukaku is out of the Belgium squad now, De Bryune also gone. Got me thinking about what happens if we get 2 good results in these 2 games. I think the FAI may have a PR own goal on their hands by dragging the new manager process out so long and in such secrecy. If O'Shea does well in these 2 games a lot of people will want him to stay on, and the new manager will be battling that from the start.
Usually when a new manager comes in there is a bounce in the mood of the general fanbase. Theres always renewed optimism in the air, especially if previous results have been poor. To me there seems to be a big of a feel good factor around this squad. It may be the sorting out of the Szmodics situation, or even the nice story of Brian Kerr being brought back. Whatever it is, the mood amongst the keyboard warrior brigade seems to be fairly positive towards O'Shea, and I think a lot of people are just p1ssed off with the dragged out manager hunt and are happy to let O'Shea just get on with it.
It leads to an interesting scenario if we get 2 good results here. Instead of the new manager being the hero coming into replace Kenny who got bad results, he becomes the guy taking over from the guy who did well. There could be an O'Shea shadow hanging over the new guy immediately if he doesnt hit the ground running with good results in June and September. There will always be those wondering if O'Shea should have been left on.
From a PR perspective they will probably have to say when the new guy takes over that O'Shea had been working in consultation with him, just so there is a continuity and the new man can take some credit starting out..... might be interesting times ahead!
Don't worry. Its a Belgium B team now. Wont count.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Ah but it will now, thats the benefit of being the new man :)Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
If we get two good results ~ ~ The FAI will pull back the curtain and it will be John O'Shea !
The FAI would probably say the other deal fell through !
I think John O'Shea's situation is future-proofed. It's unlikely he would compromise his future on results from two difficult friendlies. He'll be Carsley's assistant with Whelan alongside (IMO, of course!).Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
Having reported Carsley was out of the race, will Sky now fund his deal for the Ireland job?
So, not Carsley. That will upset a few people anyway!
A lot of journos left looking like idiots as well. In fact, nearly all of them reported Carsley as the most likely candidate at some point.