FAI interest in Martin O' Neill

I've just heard on Newstalk that the FAI have announced that if Brian Kerr doesn't qualify ireland for the World Cup they will approach Martin O' Neill. I am livid about this. Just when we have the two most important games coming up, the FAI show that they have no confidence in Kerr. I can't believe the stupidity of this move, if there is a wrong thing to do the FAI will do it......Let me see.... how can we make an already difficult situation even more difficult........Mmmm...I know!!. What do they think this will achieve? I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, there's nothing on the FAI wesbsite.

It's one thing if they have made this known to Kerr privately (I doubted, as this would be a form of communication), its another making it known publicly.

BTW: I have the faith that Brian Kerr will qualify us for WC & Losing to France was no disgrace.

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Originally Posted by Tram_14

I've just heard on Newstalk that the FAI have announced that if Brian Kerr doesn't qualify ireland for the World Cup they will approach Martin O' Neill. I am livid about this. Just when we have the two most important games coming up, the FAI show that they have no confidence in Kerr. I can't believe the stupidity of this move, if there is a wrong thing to do the FAI will do it......Let me see.... how can we make an already difficult situation even more difficult........Mmmm...I know!!. What do they think this will achieve? I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, there's nothing on the FAI wesbsite.

It's one thing if they have made this known to Kerr privately (I doubted, as this would be a form of communication), its another making it known publicly.

BTW: I have the faith that Brian Kerr will qualify us for WC & Losing to France was no disgrace.

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That would be the most absolutely mindbogglingly brainless thing they could do. What a shower of ****s. I hope it's not true. Incredibly unprofessional (but what did we expect). Kerr, in my opinion, is a good manager who has made a few mistakes - nothing that dramatic or apocalyptic - has done better than McCarthy in his first campaign and a bit, and they gave him plenty of on-the-job experience. Ireland can still qualify - even top the group - and the focus should be on providing for Kerr and his team, not weighing up future prospects should we not make it this time round.

Hope it's untrue - it would be incredibly unfair on Kerr. Not to mention the detrimental effect it might have on the squad if he is shunted out.

That cannot be true. It's disgraceful if it is. I sincerely doubt they mention they have someone specific in mind. But it is the FAI. :confused:

This can't be true.
Even the FAI wouldn't be so stupid as to announce that.

Very suprised myself, was 11.00am sports news on newstalk 106, my jaw dropped, they are normally quite reliable.. will check 1.00 news.

Nothing on 1.00 news this time, they DID say it at 11.00 though, bloody medja, Newstalk is turning into the Evening Herald?

The Sun broke the story in todays paper, so it is obviously not true!

The reliability of Newstalk is getting worse by the day. The station used to be much better without the big name personalities & now they gagging for a National licence are pandering to the lowest common denominator.

:(

Say it aint so....not even the FAI could be so stupid, actually on second thoughs??

Word around Windsor Park last saturday before Northern Ireland v Azerbaijan was that if they lost Sanchez was gone and O'Neill would be installed. Lawrie probably has a job for life now.

It may well be true in this case too but I'd be staggered if the F.A.I. actually announced anything.

Now I think it would be prudent of the f.A.i. to check if O'Neill was available. He is a top class manager and I imagine International management would suit him given his personal circumstances.

It would be harsh to sack Kerr at this stage and a playoff spot would probably be enough to save his job

Wasn't Delaney one of the ones that wanted a "big name" brit manager? IIRC he was, so wouldn't be that surprised if he's trying to screw Kerr over at all given his hate for anything eL....

On Newstalk, the News elements have gone down hill since Kiberd became news editor. Maybe a thread on Off Topic if anyone's that arsed...

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Originally Posted by Macy

Wasn't Delaney one of the ones that wanted a "big name" brit manager?

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Bryan Robson was his choice, I believe.

Would O'Neill take the Ireland job? Could we afford him?

Utterly daft if they're leaking stuff at this stage - whatever you think of Kerr, he deserves to see the campaign out at the very least.

O'Neill is from Derry of the nationalist variety with a bit of a GAA background. If his personal circumstances permitted I'm sure he'd be delighted. I wouldn't want to get into that here though. The notion that they did this is disgusting.

on the 8:30am bulletin this morning on Newstalk all it said was that the FAI confirmed that Kerr's current contract only covered the 2006 WC and would neither confirm or deny that they would be looking for a new manager if we failed to qualify. Martin O' Neill's name was mentioned by the presenter as a possible new manager if Kerr got the bullet because the part time nature of the job might appeal to him given that he wants to spend time looking after his wife. I didn't hear the 11:00am bulletin.

Wouldnt believe a word of it, total media crap.
We should all be behind Kerr not thinking of replacing him, there is no guarantee O'Neill would want the job anyway.
We gave McCarthy three and a bit campaigns in charge, Kerr hasnt even being there for one full campaign, I think he deserves alot more time.

Thats not what they said at 11, they said that The FAI WOULD approach Martin O' Neill if Brian did not quality for the WC which is very differant to what they said earlier this morning. Newstalk have rightly slagged off the Evening Herald for poor journalism in the past, but that was a big slip up from them & it is obviously sh!te.

its what you might call "speculation" news

but it was presented in a very leading way by newstalk - very poor form and obviously an editorial decision that they now want Martin O Neill


fck them - simple facts are ireland dont have any players worthy of gracing a major tournament - we're sh.t - no depth at all

Getting away from the rights and wrongs.
If Kerr doesn't get a new contract I think O'Neill is certainly the man for the job.
The fact that we don't have a great pool of players to work from at the moment, and 2 of the best, Keane and Cunningham coming to the end of the road, then surely the man who took a mediocre Scottish League team to the Final of the UEFA Cup would get the best out of what limited resources we have.

Here's hoping we get to Germany and it doesn't come down to that though :ball:

I genuinely think we do have the team for a world cup, lets see how Morrision progresses & hopefully robbie will start getting more action if doesn't he has to change at christmas, Elliot's beginning to get his game at Sunderland. But it's true about Kilbane I think unfortunately he's had his day, but the midfield can be rebuilt around Andy Reid, Duff & Steven Reid & possibly O' Shea (For god sake JOS has to come good at some point!!). Look, if we fail to beat the Swiss at home then you are right we won't deserve to go. I really believe we will get a play off place for lots of reasons.

Dotsy. That sounds close enough to what would be reported compared to FAI chase after MON. The FAI stance has been reported accurately before, neither confirm nor deny.
Mentioning MON is disingenuous, a tantalizer, to cloud over the inappropriateness of even discussing the matter at this stage - where there are 2 games left and there is still a reasonable chance of play offs, compared to the last Q group when it was very slim.

Apparently Delaney voted for Brian Robson last time they interviewed for the job & that was the post-Middlesboro unemplyed Robson.

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Originally Posted by wws

fck them - simple facts are ireland dont have any players worthy of gracing a major tournament - we're sh.t - no depth at all

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We have Shay Given, we have Damien Duff, we have Robbie, and Roy Keane, so we have players who can compete at the highest level.

Unfortunately, the current boss is naive, and out-of-his-depth at this level. He is dull, negative, and conservative. He plays the wrong players, he chooses the wrong tactics, and he has no Plan B. Every big game we play, we don't win. Throwing up 4 points to Israel from winning positions was catastrophic to our chances of WCQ. Things have got worse, not better since then. I have no confidence in his ability to do the job, and if he's given more campaigns to prove himself, the current situation will deteriorate further, and is merely postponing the inevitable. He must go before he does more damage to the confidence of the team, and the country at Senior International level. As we are now out of the WC, the sooner he leaves the better for all concerned.

mypost your verbal scours are worse and more annoying than usual. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by mypost

As we are now out of the WC, the sooner he leaves the better for all concerned.

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This is not true,be fair on the man and wait until the current campaign is finished ehh.

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Originally Posted by Dublin12

This is not true,be fair on the man and wait until the current campaign is finished ehh.

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In competitive games, Hand beat Holland, France, and Spain. Charlton beat Spain, Italy, and England. McCarthy beat Holland, Croatia, Yugoslavia, among others.

Who has Brian Kerr beaten? World-beaters Albania, Georgia, Cyprus, and the Faroe Islands. On that form, what's the chances of us getting two wins from two must-win games, particularly as one of them is against our bogey side, Switzerland? None. He's had his chances and he has failed. If you want us to become as bad as Scotland, and Northern Ireland, then by all means keep him. If you want us to qualify for tournaments as I do, we need a new boss to do that. Unfortunately, Brian Kerr is not that man. :(

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Originally Posted by mypost

Unfortunately, the current boss is naive, and out-of-his-depth at this level. He is dull, negative, and conservative. He plays the wrong players, he chooses the wrong tactics, and he has no Plan B.

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I agree with that bit. He has been given two campaigns now, and to be fair he has not delivered. People here are correct in saying we have the players and the team to qualify, and do well. However, at this stage I would seriously question the manager. Against all the big sides and in the big games he comes a cropper. The Israel results look terrible now, especially the away one where we sat back disgracefully instead of killing them off.

His tactics against France at home were woeful, "no Plan B" is an absolutely correct description. He should have taken Kilbane off before half time, he was awful and made no impact. We had Roy Keane playing like a demon and winning everything, even if he had thrown in Kavanagh or Holland alongside him they would have made a huge difference. Steven Reid was the man to bring on though, but he didn't have the balls to do it. Reid in the centre, with a licence to push on, would have pushed the French back. Even when we went 1-0 down, Andy Reid should have been moved in to the centre to add creativity, with Finnan coming on out wide. What did he do? Brings Harte on for Kilbane (who shouldn't have been on the pitch at that stage) and pushes the walking disaster that is John O'Shea in to midfield. To cap it all off, one word - Gary Doherty. It should have been Duff playing off of Robbie, as Dufff was getting nowhere out wide. Terrible, terrible stuff, and not at all impressive from Kerr. These are basic tactics that an ordinary fan like me can see. The bottom line is, Kerr is not doing enough to win the games. Which is very worrying. My major worry is that the Swiss will come to defend en-masse in October, and if so we can forget about it because Kerr just doesn't have the tactics to out-wit them.

Rumours of O'Neill will be no bad thing IMO. It may wake Kerr up and make him realise that his conservatism is two games away from costing him his dream job. He should of course be given until the end of this campaign, but failure to qualify unfortunately means the bullet as far as I'm concerned. It's a pity because he is a lovable manager, but that and the fact that he is Irish isn't enough in my book.

newstalk are after repeating the rumour. Their source is an alleged source in the tabloids. I cant belive either the tabloids are making up more lies or the FAI is scheming again. Kerr has been really hard done by.

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Originally Posted by TerryPhelan

Kerr, in my opinion, is a good manager who has made a few mistakes - nothing that dramatic or apocalyptic - has done better than McCarthy in his first campaign and a bit, and they gave him plenty .

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Not slagging Kerr. Even if we don't qualify, I think we should keep him. He seems to be learning from his mistakes. However he certainly hasn't done better than McCarthy in his first campaign. To do that, we need to qualify. McCarthy got us to the play-offs with a weaker squad than this one

You can cross Robbie off that list of players who can compete at the highest level. He's done proverbial all for going on four years now.

Other than score a boat load of goals for us consistently he's been doing nothing, agreed.

If the FAI are sending out feelers that Kerr will be dumped and Martin O'Neill is to be offered the job then Kerr should resign now. And so should the board of the FAI.

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

Against all the big sides and in the big games he comes a cropper. The Israel results look terrible now, especially the away one where we sat back disgracefully instead of killing them off.

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The sad thing is we would have had a great chance of qualifying, if we had just held on to one of those leads against Israel. :( If we had taken 6 points from them, as we should have done, we would have been in a position to buy a mistake, like losing to France.

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His tactics against France at home were woeful.

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He only has one tactic, that is to defend, defend, defend at all costs, but never take a game by the scruff of the neck, and play to your strengths, but hype the opposition up, and show them respect. Sometimes, his tactics work, but not nearly enough.

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He should have taken Kilbane off before half time, he was awful and made no impact.

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Kilbane plays for Everton. And why does he play for Everton? Because he is awful.

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Steven Reid was the man to bring on though, but he didn't have the balls to do it. Reid in the centre, with a licence to push on, would have pushed the French back.

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That would mean changing the side. BK doesn't like doing that, however necessary.

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Even when we went 1-0 down, What did he do? Brings Harte on for Kilbane and pushes the walking disaster that is John O'Shea in to midfield. To cap it all off, one word - Gary Doherty.

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He lost the plot when we went behind. The "plan" was, boot it up to, sorry towards, Doherty. :rolleyes: Where did he think that tactic was going to get us? Don't you think that firing Hail Mary's into the box, is meat-and-drink to the likes of Thuram, Vieira, and co? These blokes have been World/European Champions before. A few aimless long balls ain't going to bother them. They've seen it all before. You need to come up with something more useful to score against them than that.

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Rumours of O'Neill will be no bad thing IMO. It may wake Kerr up and make him realise that his conservatism is two games away from costing him his dream job. He should of course be given until the end of this campaign, but failure to qualify unfortunately means the bullet as far as I'm concerned. It's a pity because he is a lovable manager, but that and the fact that he is Irish isn't enough in my book.

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Kerr must go, be it now, or in the autumn. I saw the French result coming after his fk-ups against Israel. His attitude is wrong, his selections are wrong, his tactics are rigid, with no Plan B in face of adversity. The FAI have backed him logistically and financially, the fans have given him the chances, and he has had decent players, and Roy Keane at his disposal. But he has failed to guide us to the European Championships, or the World Cup in 3 years, when we had qualification in our own hands both times, and he has failed to beat a side of any note, in a competitive game. With all that armoury, failure to qualify for tournaments is ultimately his fault. Awarding him a new contract, would only see us slide further down the slope, and would eventually lead to him getting the sack. He should go now, while he's still on the good side of the Irish public. He tried, but failed. There's no shame in that. But if we want to continue to compete with the best in the world, he must go now for the good of the country, before the team's results get any worse. :(

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

Other than score a boat load of goals for us consistently he's been doing nothing, agreed.

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The reason he most likely never be a regular in a decent/any premiership team is that he not consistent.