Thats makes perfect sense so d'oh! on my behalf. I presume he recieved a contact extension as he was to be out of contract wasnt he? I wonder was he considered by the FAI or was he interested at all, ifhe'd get a bump in pay. We will probablynever know. I did question his interest, that it could have been sincere on the basis that the Greek national side always has had a disconnect with the Greek football fans who obsess only about their domestic clubs (except when in a European Championships final)- not based on his Irish tracksuit comments, Greece international managers have as thankless a task as England counterparts.
We are obviously looking for a Steve Clarke type appointment but he was an underwhelming appointment for Scots fans at the time with his time at Killie being the only real standout performance as manager (couldnt sustain things at West Brom after yr1). He has been a success, didnt have to rebuild from scratch but did rebuild confidence, create a resilience - where SK ultimately failed, Portugal/France/Scotland level of performance to Lux/Greece/NZ. We'd have been full of scorn if Clarke became RoI manager, a budget appointment. But who knows how it will turn out regrdless of appointment. We'd scoff at an Allerdyce but maybe we need a pragmatic approach. Carsley is all about development of team and players to this point in his career, do we need more of that, would he try to reinvent the reinvented? O'Shea and the dream team of backroom staff, under no pressure at all, may lift the sense of burden off the players and transfe to results in an almost free abandonment of not desperately trying to please to keep their manager in situ.
It was an error by SK to gut the old guard of non coaching backroom staff, physio, kitman and the like who are a type of glue for squads transitioning between eras. Maybe there is some merit in taking in coaches known by the players with a bunch of free hits in the bank.
2nd miss of the day! I will be holding back on any league games this evening until i get the headback in the game. He was capped by McCarthy, but I genuinely thought it was Kerr that was slow to introduce him considering his clu form. I can understand McCarthy not having him in the 2002 WC squad, we were robust at the back with a Staunton having a second wind and centre back and was excellent in that tournament considering his age and lack of pace.
Did Kerr bring O'Shea in at full back when he was performing at centrehalf for Man Utd, considering his young age to be in that position at club level, that we were a bit short in that position but at international level he was considered too inexperienced? I have memory of his playing left full before he eventually moved to the centre. I know he eventually played as much at full back at his club also. Im not used to getting those old calls wrong so brain fog is getting annoying!! I know Kerr was defensive minded, but I also had him down as a coach that stuck too often, reluctant to change things up when needed, slow with subs, didnt necessarily pick form players but had is 'favourites', too conservative at times so hence my O'Shea gaffe. McCarthy I recall more as a manager that had a rep for an agricultural style of tactic but his teams played some very good football, mixed the game up well. He allowed creative players like Duff freedom to roam at the right times, bomb forward, cut inside etc (compared to how he was deployed statically by Mourhino). He certainly irritated me when he never seemed to learn not to change formation to 5 in the middle to close out a game when we were dominating anyway (Holland away in the 2002 WC campaign an example when we were all over them, went negative to close out the game when not under pressure, only to end up sitting deep and under the cosh and conceding). Didnt happen in the WC finals as we were chasing games (Germany, Spain Cameroon or well ahead, Saudi Arabia He went very positive v Spain in ET to avod penos and Spain a man down). Balanced changing things with not disrupting things better before he came to the ievitable end of hs rope.
https://twitter.com/VMSportIE/status...qbrrSOUfQ&s=19
Kerr doesn't sound like a man who's been part of negotiations to come on board for a while in this interview. He chooses his words pretty carefully but it's given me some doubts that he's part of Carsleys masterplan
Last edited by Razors left peg; 01/03/2024 at 7:42 PM.
Its really not that complicated!!!
My only really vivid memory of O'Shea's century of caps is this miss against France. I'm pretty sure that it's me swearing on this clip. Pretty much where we were in the ground. I think every player in the team that day was playing regularly for their PL club. Seems like a very long time ago.
Last edited by tetsujin1979; 01/03/2024 at 8:49 PM. Reason: Embedded video
Last edited by brine3; 01/03/2024 at 9:28 PM.
Your comment about the Spain game is just not true - McCarthy didn't even realise that Spain were down to ten men (and another on the pitch was so crocked he couldn't run). McCarthy did nothing to take advantage of the situation. Spain couldn't believe their luck.
And that was on top of the fact that McCarthy played Ian Harte - who had a trapped nerve in his foot and couldn't kick the ball - so Harte could take free kicks (and a penalty that was saved).
Wasn't the trapped nerve something that Dunphy claimed in the studio, as evidence of the poor preparation, and Harte completely refuted it?
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...ove-permanent/
Kilbane wrote article that hurts my "he knows all and it's a done deal" theory.
It's behind paywall so here are a few bits from it...
"I wonder how “interim” these appointments really are, as FAI director of football Marc Canham played the same card last year before handing Eileen Gleeson the women’s job on a more permanent basis. It’s definitely the FAI’s Plan B. We all know who they want."
"Maybe he’s trying to avoid a repeat of John Delaney announcing McCarthy and Kenny at the same time with O’Shea and Lee Carsley?
But fill the void. Before others do with speculation and guesswork. Somewhere in the last 101 days, something went wrong. We continue to wait, and wait, for a four-year appointment of the new Republic of Ireland manager.
The FAI never wanted an interim coach. The appointment of O’Shea could be masking a deeper problem. If he engineers wins over Belgium and Switzerland, and Canham cannot nail down the primary target, the FAI might simply go with the flow.
That’s what happened with Gleeson and the vacant Ireland women’s job. Stranger things have happened in FAI-land."
Its really not that complicated!!!
Bilic would be a yes for me. Best name I've heard so far. Thought he'd be outside our price range to be honest.
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