Originally Posted by
Kingdom
Mick McCarthy left the Irish senior squad perfectly set up for someone to come in? Are you on a wind-up? I'm not sure we could even say that he had the team playing better than MoN's end of tenure horridness. Mick McCarthy was offered a job he shouldn't have been offered on good money. He had one mission - to qualify for the Euro's and he failed. He failed from the first moment of his first match in charge. It's an oft-repeated comment from me, but that's because it's relevant. He allowed, into a gale-force wind, in Gibraltar, to allow us to try and muscle and hoof them off the pitch. and it didn't work because we were ****€ and our tactics were ****€. We were blessed to win and should have gone behind only for a wonder save from Randolph.
This was the side from the final match at home vs Denmark.
23 Randolph (GK)
2 Doherty
3 Stevens
4 C Duffy
5 Egan
6 Whelan
Hendrick
8 Browne
Hourihane
9 McGoldrick
11 McClean
Subs
1 O'Hara (GK)
16 Travers (GK)
7 Maguire
10 Brady
12 Robinson
15 K. Long
17 Clark
18 J. Byrne
19 Judge
20 Cullen
21 Parrott
22 J. Collins
Of that experienced final squad, it was so experienced, that 4 of them have been shot as they were that old. Of the others, either their careers have plummetted, they aren't playing at all, or they just weren't up to standard.
We are talking and have been talking about blooding League 1 players that aren't exactly 17/18 to try and come up with some sort of coherent attacking squad. At no point in our past have we been this low on options. You and others are using the analogy that today's Irish Championship players are yesteryears Irish Premier League players - that's total bullocks, no matter what way you dress it up. And even if it wasn't, and I'm not willing to concede that point, given how much bullocks it is, but lets say that is the case, we still aren't replacing championship players with championship players, we are dipping into League 1 for squad options.
David McGoldrick was often Ireland's centre midfield, Ireland's playmaker and Ireland's striker at the same time. As a result we were constantly breaking down positive play, as Ditsy was usually directing it from deep with nobody in front of him to link with.
That's either how bad the tactics were, or the players were. If Mick had continued on, we'd still be waiting for Josh Cullen to be a regular. Our poor-performing (career-wise) youngsters are now fully blooded into international football. There's no awe anymore for Parrott, Connolly, Cullen, Molumby, O'Shea, Collins, Kelleher, Knight, Ogbene, Bazunu, Omabamidele. Kenny did that - there's nothing to say that any other manager would have done that. The squad is in a better place now to push forward, whether that is with Kenny or not. The core rebuilding is done.
Look at the managers before Kenny.
McCarthy - McGoldrick
ONeill - Robbie Brady/John Walters
Trappatoni - Robbie Keane/Damien Duff/Aiden McGeady
Kerr - Robbie Keane/Damien Duff
This is the first Ireland manager that I can remember who doesn't have a natural established/experienced outfield 'out' card to focus his team around. It's undeniable. If you have a squad - in entirity where not one players is a core part of their club side in a offensive manner - it's beyond debilitating. and that's what we had for the best part of the last couple of years. It was Callum Robinson for a short while for Kenny, but the lad is not even consistently playing club football, or scoring.
So I do not accept that this is all Kenny's fault. I accept that is the fault of the FAI who instead of pushing financial resources into youth and domestic football to try and be proactive about the long-term, they pushed money into the hands of managers who by and large couldn't give a fook about Ireland, and who weren't exactly cream of the crop at the moment of their appointments, in order to sate the short-term hard-ons of 'fans' who only give a **** about the big occasion.
Why I'm happy Kenny is still in a job, is that it finally means the FAI are looking at the coffers, and realise we don't have the money to splurge our way out of this nadir with zero guarentee of anything especially given our playing resources, but that splurge would absolutely endanger the good work finally being done underage (meagre and all that it is).
If it takes an extra campaign, I don't care. I'll gladly sacrifice it, if it means that we're in a better position to qualify for more tournaments more consistently, whether that is with Kenny or not.
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