Keano to quit!

[martin_rules_ie]

Please, martin, one excuse will do, but would you ever settle on one...

ok den. the first is my opinion and the second is fact. both are valid points in the debate i think

[martin_rules_ie]

...Tactics were never McCarthys strong point but there was no doubting the squads fitness levels...

sweet jesus !! tactics weren't his strong points! speaks volumes
if mick had a clue about tactics we would have went further in the WC

and if we're bringin his tactical awareness into question, how about his man-management??

[martin_rules_ie]

^^^

thats not imaginative, thats down-right silly

i'll leave the silliness to the kerry men

[tiktok]

I'm still looking for an example, and the best people can do is what Kerr may or may not have done were he the manager at a different time?

Main difference in my mind can be summed up as follows, McCarthy gave 23 caps out against Nigeria in a friendly before the WC2002, Kerr had Miller and Reid holding the ball up in the corner at the end of the game last wednesday, Kerr is methodical and cautious, but we won't see if that's worth anything for a while.

Fact is that no-one can give an example of too many improvements, anyone who mentions Kerr's away draw in france can easily have our away draws in Holland and Portugal brought up as evidence of McCarthy's abilities.

If anything, Kerr has a better starting eleven and squad than McCarthy had, although there are players who the former is getting more out of (although Kilbane's resurgence is probably more down to Moyes).

The FAI as an organisation hasn't changed much at all, they're still an incompetent old boys club from what I can see, although we seem to be attracting a better quality of Friendly opposition, and under Kerr, the EL fans have been well looked after in terms of our allocation.

If we get to WC2006, we'll see if Kerr's organizational skills can outdo McCarthy, we still haven't gotten past the second round since 1990 so that'd be nice.

[mandrake]

well said tiktok....good level headed synopsis.
everyone from cork seems to put there cork hats on and argue pro cork and everone from outside cork have anti cork opinions. what if keane was from roscommon/tipperary.
anyway in my opinion everyone one was at fault (boring or what).

[martin_rules_ie]

on this page alone you can see that cosmo, macy and colinR are being totally level-headed and sensible in their approah to this topic. they don't seem to be anti-cork. and maybe i am biased for roy but i can assure you there are quite a number of corkonians who are anti-roy!
roy has been called alot of things so far.. a horrible embassador for ireland??... that is total BS. roys does so much for charity and sick children and is a model professional.
that said, there were a few parties at fault for saipan.

[martin_rules_ie]

oh and i don't no about roy being from tipp/roscommon but i guarantee he would be supported to the end by all people if he was a dub
but what can you do shur

[sadloserkid]

oh and i don't no about roy being from tipp/roscommon but i guarantee he would be supported to the end by all people if he was a dub
but what can you do shur

Sounds like you're quite at home with geographical racism yourself...

[martin_rules_ie]

Sounds like you're quite at home with geographical racism yourself...

i have no problem with dubs bein good footballers and making a success of their careers. pity that some sectors can't accept roy as a footballing great.
ans slk as i have already stated many cork people dislike roy too, i'm not geographically racial mi amigo

[Cosmo]

'on this page alone you can see that cosmo, macy and colinR are being totally level-headed and sensible in their approah to this topic. they don't seem to be anti-cork.'

For the record i dont particularly like cork people

[sadloserkid]

ans slk as i have already stated many cork people dislike roy too, i'm not geographically racial mi amigo

Yet you've already managed to throw jibes at Dublin and Kerry in this thread. Weird huh?

[Éanna]

brought about the resignation of one mick mccarthy. kerr is a much superior manager.

Has Kerr got us to a world cup finals? When he does, then maybe you can think of calling him a superior manager. McCarthy was probably the best manager the Republic of Ireland has had to date. I think Kerr will be better in the long run, but right now, he's proved nothing.

[martin_rules_ie]

...On that basis, Niall Quinn and Gary Kelly walk on water...

i was simply referring to the comment that roy is a 'horrible ambassador' for ireland. what a horrible man he is

[martin_rules_ie]

Has Kerr got us to a world cup finals? When he does, then maybe you can think of calling him a superior manager. McCarthy was probably the best manager the Republic of Ireland has had to date. I think Kerr will be better in the long run, but right now, he's proved nothing.

women's intuition.. call it what you will! IMO kerr has proved he is a good manager and i feel, like you Eanna, that he indeed will be a great one. he is superior

[tiktok]

McCarthy was probably the best manager the Republic of Ireland has had to date.

It's funny that Saipan has created this Roy -v- Mick split where neither side dares to acknowledge the merits of the other. It's resulted in a load of people being of the impression that McCarthy was a poor manager, which he wasn't, he was fine, an improvement on Charlton anyway, though the man got us to major finals, we're still living with the tags of being a physical long ball side.

[Closed Account 2]

Dont think McCarthy was that great to be honest (ignoring the Saipan incident etc)... Getting to WC2002 was great, but missing out on France98, and Euro2000 were missed oppertunities. We were a better team, man for man, than the Belgians and probably as good as the Turks in 2000... we should have shut those games against Macedonia etc down, it was very sloppy that last minute corner in Skjope (or Titov Vales or where ever it was). Mick had 3 tournaments to qualify for :-

France 98.
----------

We had Romania, ourselves, Lithuania, Macedonia, Iceland and Litchenstein. Romania were a good side and had a 100% record till the last match except 1 draw. I'd still like to think our team of 96-97 could have matched them or at least won at home - but we finished 10 points behind them (28pts, we had 18pts). That was sloppy. We drew at home with Iceland (0-0), lost in Macedonia (3-2 the McAteer tackle game), lost in Romania (tricky fixture - fair enough), and then drew at home to Lithuania and Romania (should have picked up at least 4 points there, if not 6). We woefully underperformed for that tournament. I'd like to think with better performances we could have piped Romania - if not we could have picked up points against the lesser teams and taken the best European second place slot (which the Scots got) and gone to France that way.

Euro 2000
---------

The former Yugoslav group:-

Croatia, ourselves, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, the Maltese.

We had a decent start, beat the Croats 2-0, and the Maltese 5-0 (both home) - good results. Then went down 1-0 in Belgrade, but beat them 2-1 at LR. We then lost 1-0 in Croatia and just beat Macedonia 1-0 at LR, and again a narrow win (3-2) in Malta. The final match was vs Macedonia which we drew 1-1. Had we won that, which we should have - we would have gone thru in 1st place. But the truth was our away form was very poor, we lost against the 2 bigger teams and our performances in Valetta and Skjope were poor. The Croats and Yugoslavs drew their games against each other which meant they picked up only 2 points from those games - those were great results from our point of view and we should have exploited that and done better.

The net result was from post Usa94 to Wc2002 we were probably the best team not to qualify for a major tournament, 2/3rds of that was on Mick's watch - that was a poor showing.

Ironically the one Mick got us to, was the one where we had the hardest group (Us, Portugal, Dutch, Estonia, Cyprus and Andorra) - we did very well to get thru that group as on paper we were the 3rd strongest team, but we finished level on points with the Portuguese (who got 1st place) and 4 above the Dutch. I'd also say he should never have let Kilbane and Ratboy take the pens vs Spain, as sure as night follows day Ratboy was going to muck up that pen, he should have put Clinton on instead of Ratboy, and/or he should have got Duff (or forced Quinn) to take pens.

Also dont forget the results in Moscow and vs the Swiss at LR were poor imo.

[1MickCollins]

With that sort of 'clannish' parochial attitude it's hardly a surprise!

As always you miss the point.

[Superhoops]

As always you miss the point.

Seems like you have an infantile and irrational dislike of all things Cork, even your location says "Not Cork (thank God"). Grow up kid and stop being a dick.

which is fair enough, i understand that.
but, my opinion is that your opinion is fuelled by your anti-cork attitude and/or black and white perspetive of things...

dont u just love misinformed muppets...!! i'm not pointing any fingers though ....kerr's tribe, you are talking rubbish

its actually physically painful reading your posts conor

thats not imaginative, thats down-right silly.. i'll leave the silliness to the kerry men

QUOTE=martin_rules_ie]on this page alone you can see that cosmo, macy and colinR are being totally level-headed and sensible in their approah to this topic, they don't seem to be anti-cork.[/QUOTE]

Cork has spoken! Super-intellects, what chance have the rest of us got?

[Metrostars]

Roy Keane may "unquit" after all: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlin...325008&cc=5739

Not unexpected.

[tricky_colour]

Roy Keane may "unquit" after all: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlin...325008&cc=5739

Not unexpected.

I guess there is a fine line between quitting and negotiating a new contract

Obviously he can't go on forever, but he does, like Man U, seem
to be going through a period of improved form.