QuoteIs anyone in Irish punditry holding out and saying O'Shea doesn't look a good fit? A completely homogenous set of opinions - when those opinions seem optimistic at best to so many here - suggests arms being twisted for sure.
What makes Cawley's comment even more bizarre is, according to someone on twitter, Cawley claim not too long ago that in his opinion assistant managers shouldn't be hired as they "have the same ideas/methodology" and should leave with the manager.
What changed for Cawley, his theory about assistant managers leaving seems to have some sort of logic but his theory for O'Shea to stay doesnt have any logic and is (in blunt terms) complete garbage. Like I said earlier just reading from a script.
Last edited by CSAD; 13/06/2024 at 5:47 AM.
Is anyone in Irish punditry holding out and saying O'Shea doesn't look a good fit? A completely homogenous set of opinions - when those opinions seem optimistic at best to so many here - suggests arms being twisted for sure.
Thinking back to Jack Charlton... he put the fear of God into players. And he wasn't liked.. he was loved. Being likeable isn't enough. Whether it's as easy to put the fear of God into Irish international players as it used to be is another question as the status of international football has changed IMO over the years with so much money in the club game.
Bad and all as Kenny was - at least he had experience.Originally Posted by ifk101
The team really needs someone to steady the ship - we are not going to get close to qualifying for anything with O'Shea in charge and it would be a waste of two years growth for the younger players.
I'll go back to my original suggestion - a highly regarded coach, with a good managerial record in the PL and has experience of international management - Chris Hughton.
And so we are clear - John O'Shea's record as a coach is - an uneventful 2 year stint as a coach at Reading - 10 months at Stoke - and then an utterly disasterous 3 months with Wayne Rooney at Birmingham (one of four coaches hired and fired with Rooney).
There is zero reason to believe that he is any good as a coach - and his judgement seems far from stellar as well.
I'm not too hard on the FAI over the O'Shea interim appointment. It was a free hit, and if it had worked it would have looked inspired.
But it hasn't worked. Nothing vetured, nothing gained, but it's time to move on to serious candidates.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
A manager / boss has to be respected ~ ~ Liking / loving you is for your Mammy and Daddy and maybe your Wife / Husband ! ! you
I've said it from the start. Give it Gitsy!
Would be nice also for him on a personal level to have managed both countries of his ancestry
Folding my way into the big money!!!
His time is long gone, yes he'd better better than what we have now but that isn't saying much.
Chris Hugthon and John O'Shea = = The Dream Team.
Hughton has serious knowledge of the game and I've no doubt he would set us up to be a well drilled team that is hard to beat. I was never against him, but as it stands I would bite my own hand off for him. He cares about Irish football and his knowledge of professional underage structures could be exactly what the FAI need in the coming years - Rovers and Bohs etc are doing great work but I mean a national co-ordinated structure. He's not as exotic as Sagnol, but he knows the score here and has an emotional attachment to us - with Sagnol if he was successful in the next two years (having us compete and maybe beat Greece/Finland etc) would he stay for 2028, which is a big campaign for the country. I'm not sure.
Right now, we are a mediocre team with potential to be a good one. We have very good goalkeepers, very talented centre halves and a very decent selection of strikers. Btw, I'm comparing us to lower 2nd seeds to higher 4th seeds in my comparison of quality. However, you look at what countries like Scotland and Hungary have and that's good midfielders. We just have to hope some of the u21s or younger age groups produce something. Mad when you think we produced players like Giles, Brady, Whelan and Keane in the past, but hopefully we produce even a good pl quality midfielder. Until we have that, having any kind of cohesion to our play is very hard. I had hoped Knight or Smallbone might be those players, but I'm not sure they'll be anything more than decent championship players.
You're assuming they won't hire him.
Again, we are relying on people we can't rely on( the FAI)
I absolutely do not what Houghton but what I will say, if we had to take Houghton if it meant we avoided O'Shea I would offer him the contract in the morning. It's so evidently clear that this team needs someone with knowledge and experience as you can just see the confidence is shot and the players dislike playing for Ireland.
The issue I have is with the comparison of Hungary and Scotland is we certainly are better at the back man for man than both when it comes to defence and GK but in practice both sides look much better defensively than we do. My big issue is if we cant even get the defence right (an area we actually look pretty strong in, Kelleher in goal and a CB duo of O'Brien & Collins is probably as good if not better than most teams outside of the major nations can come up with at the Euros this summer and with potential for growth given their ages) what hope do we have of getting the areas of the field we are less good in? We can talk about the midfield until the cows come home but ultimately our 2016/2018 sides were constantly getting outplayed in midfield as well by pretty much everyone yet we were able to stay in games due to us being strong at the back and being compact as a collective and if anything we should be even better now than then as what we have now that those sides didn't have is a goalscorer in Evan Ferguson. Whatever we say about the midfield there is absolutely no excuse for this side to be poor defensively so if we cant fix that area of the field then the whole team is a write off.
Like I said previously this is all theatre, they are absolutely going to hire him and right now they are just trying to create a narrative that they can hire him and not get ridiculed for it...that's what RTE is being used for now by providing them with scripts and twisting their arm to say nice things about O'Shea.
We are like battered wife's
We put up with this cr*ap and they keep on sh*ting on our heads.
Btw the FAI have saved circa 300k because we've no manager in half a year. Why isn't that extra lolly being allocated to the new managers salary. That would be over 1m
I think this could actually be what transpires, with Paddy McCarthy.
In football you need the right man taking on the right job at the right time. We're so soft at the momnent I think a bit of Hughton leadership might be what we need. (Edit: kind of what Bungle said above. I've been away and am catching up on activity here).
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 13/06/2024 at 1:34 PM.
It's completely true, I don't want Houghton as a manager but I feel what he might bring, leadership etc, is exactly what the doctor ordered. What bothers me watching Ireland more than anything is how easy we are to play against, you feel disaster is almost inevitable when the opposition has the ball and that's the most annoying part.
Good post CSAD.
As you say, if we can't get our strengths right, it really is concerning. That's where a good manager can enhance your strengths and likewise negate our weakness (midfield - central midfield really).
I do think that Hungary and Scotland (and others) benefit from having one or two good/very good players in midfield. Top midfielders can do it all - neither McGinn or McTominay are anywhere near world class but put them in a well coached Irish team and we would instantly be 100% better - a bit of nous around the pitch, protecting the defence and chipping in with goals. Imagine players like them feeding Ferguson and our other strikers.
Hughton definitely brings that bit of nous and experience.
I don't have a clue who else is realistic for us anymore - Anthony Barry made such a difference under Kenny so he would be interesting, but again he's so well thought of in the club game, I don't really get why he would take a chance with us.
Especially when you don't have the money to tempt some-one like Barry to take a chance !
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