Prime time last night

[razor]

Had Eoin Hand shouting Kerrs corner from the Cork studio and with Mark Woods in Dublinia were Dolan and Dunphy.
Pat and Eamo had a bit of a love in. Agreeing on everything.
I nearly got the gawk.
Eamo wants Kerr out, constantly pushing the point that Kerr had no experience of managing at a senior level, true but he has managed most of these players at under age level, they are the same people.
Dolan pushing the build up from the grass roots etc etc. and neatly mentioning we are in crisis as the U21's haven't won in over a year.

All it was missing was Alan Hunter.

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

Have to say that Dunphy and Dolan spoke a lot of sense last night. As for Eoin Hand, what a plonker he is. He spoke nothing but sh!te, while at the same time trying not to upset the FAI. Hand is such a bitter fcuker. He can't accept the fact that Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy brought us World Cup Finals, but himself and his domestic comrade, Kerr failed to do so. He seemed upset that Mick McCarthy got three chances to get us to a World Cup and Kerr wont. The difference was that Mick got us to play-offs, while beating the likes of Croatia and Yugoslavia in competitive games. Things visibly improved. On the other hand, Kerr has left Irish football in a dismal state. Get over it Eoin. Both you and Kerr had your chances.

[razor]

Have to say that Dunphy and Dolan spoke a lot of sense last night. As for Eoin Hand, what a plonker he is.

Is that where Dunphy said the FAI have a very professional organisation now and and excellent CEO. Jesus I nearly choked on my fig roll.
Hand does have some sort of axe to grind, you can see that.

[OwlsFan]

Have to say that Dunphy a lot of sense last night. .

You can't win with Dunphy. The last 3 managers we've had have failed to match his expectations, the previous two bringing unprecedented success at international level. He won't be happy until Joe Kinnear gets the job and then he'll turn against him as well.

I agree with what Mark Lawrenson said on Today FM. Unless we can bring in someone who is palpably better than Kerr then we should stick with him for another campaign. There is no point in change for the sake of change and we're talking the likes of Brian Robson, Kenny Dalglish, Peter Reid etc here. Now Ron Atkinson would be a different kettle of fish

[Peadar]

Hand does have some sort of axe to grind, you can see that.

Am I correct in saying that Eoin Hand is the only one mentioned there who is an FAI employee?

[Ash]

Eoin Hand was on the 6/1 news aswell I think, basicially saying he was
in the same situation back in '83 but didnt run for the job again as he
knew the knives were out and he's had enough

[Troy.McClure]

Surely Dolan didnt say anythiing negative about Kerr? (or is he looking for the senior job! )

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

You can't win with Dunphy. The last 3 managers we've had have failed to match his expectations, the previous two bringing unprecedented success at international level. He won't be happy until Joe Kinnear gets the job and then he'll turn against him as well.

I agree with what Mark Lawrenson said on Today FM. Unless we can bring in someone who is palpably better than Kerr then we should stick with him for another campaign. There is no point in change for the sake of change and we're talking the likes of Brian Robson, Kenny Dalglish, Peter Reid etc here. Now Ron Atkinson would be a different kettle of fish

That's a fair point about Dunphy and his treatment of our managers. However, for those of you who remember his other appearances on Prime Time - after we lost to Holland in December 1995 and during Saipan in May 2002 - you would be struck by the more mellow approach which Dunphy adopted. I'm not a fan of his but was impressed with how he conducted himself. Also, when you hear Dunphy praising the FAI its worth paying attention. Dunphy has always despised the FAI so they must finally be getting things right when he praises them.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Eoin Hand was on the 6/1 news aswell I think, basicially saying he was
in the same situation back in '83 but didnt run for the job again as he
knew the knives were out and he's had enough

Christ I got some scare when I read that. On first glance I thought it said "Eoin Hand is 6/1 on"

[gspain]

In fairness to Hand he all but brought us to Espana 82 only for a Portuguese referee (Nazare) who was almost certainly bribed by the Belgians (Anderlect were proved to be bribing all round them at the time as came out many years later) as no referee can be that incompetent.

Subsequent to that it went pear shaped and he had to go after 2 poor campaigns.

It should also be noted that Hand had a fantastic bunch of players in 82 - Lawrenson, O'Leary, Brady Stapleton, Daly, Heighway etc etc and rumour has it that he didn't pick the team but ultimately we were robbed of a place in Spain.

Even after Nazare we still only lost out on goal difference to France who scored 7 on grass in Limassol against Cyprus while the Dutch, Belgians and ourselves all won by 1 on sand in Nicosia.

[Ozymandias]

dolan wants the u21 job

[thejollyrodger]

It was a very good (but short) debate on last nights show. I’m glad to see RTE get some things right and cover these important matters.

Dolan Hand and Dunphy by in large did talk a lot of sense. They kind of split the manager problem away from the other major problem (THE LACK OF QUALITY PLAYERS).

Dunphy tried to explain away Ireland’s poor performance as being Kerr’s fault. That is complete tosh in my opinion. He looks up to English managers as if they are god The one thing that cuts them above Kerr IMO is the fact that they have very strong personalities and wont take any crap from the media.

Personally now that I have calmed down after the WCQ's I think Kerr did an ok job with a few unlucky mistakes. He is media naive and is too meek in some respects. I know for a fact an English manager like Sam Allerdice wouldn’t have put up with the same stick as Brian Kerr and he probably would have been offered a new 2 year contract. I don’t think a new manager will solve Ireland’s problems and doubt if we can make the next world cup no matter whom we have in charge unless we find another 2- 3 world class players.

The topic that they didn’t go into too much and I thought was the REAL ISSUE in Irish football is the lack of quality players. I nearly tore my hair out listening to Giles on Newstalk last night. He said the fans don’t care where the players come from and poured scorn on the grass roots approach. For me he is now a stupid old man who has lost his marbles when it comes to talking about the game. We were known as the England B team back then and I don’t want ever to be called that again. I never liked seeing all the English players representing us. Giles doesn’t care about Irish football; he is as English as the English themselves since he spent most of his life over there and he has always approached Irish football from an English perspective.

He also reckoned that Irish players should go to England as early as they can. It just shows how out of touch and old his ideas are. Most Irish players going to England don’t make it; they waste away at the lower divisions learning nothing. They would have a better chance here if they could work on their technical ability and knowledge of the game in a club with European ambitions.

Delaney mentioned a football academy for the country. Personally I think it would be a god send. We need something like that for our underage players. France had similar problems in qualifying for major championships and Clarefointaine did wonders for the country. Of course we can’t expect the same world success but we can expect our clubs to compete in UEFA Cup and Champions’ League football and the national team to qualify for major championships more regularly with an academy.

[Kingdom]

I wonder if you made a list of the truely great Irish players who actually made the grade in England, what would be the average age of these players?

Paul McGrath - 22 before he went over.
Kevin Moran - About 21 I'd reckon
Roy Keane - 19 was he?

Just three off the top of my head. Obviously the current crop all went over when they were kids, but how amny have really made it?

[Stuttgart88]

Delaney mentioned a football academy for the country. Personally I think it would be a god send. We need something like that for our underage players. France had similar problems in qualifying for major championships and Clarefointaine did wonders for the country. Of course we can’t expect the same world success but we can expect our clubs to compete in UEFA Cup and Champions’ League football and the national team to qualify for major championships more regularly with an academy.

Agreed, and other improvements can be made too.

[pete]

I also couldn't believe what I heard when Dumpy said the FAI was "...a serious organisation" & "...had an excellent CEO"

Eoin Hand was compromised as he works for the FAI.

Dumpy is the typical hurler on the ditch - always complains but never offers solutions. He said none of the candidates on the list except O'Neill were suitable but when pushed to name someone else couldn't come up with a name.

[thejollyrodger]

Yeah good point Pete, its easy to have a go at the person in charge but if you cant think of a better idea it looks like barstooler stuff.

The FAIlure does look like it has sharpened up its act in fairness. I wouldnt say its completely reformed from its corupt ways but there are signs of improvements.

[gspain]

Dolan Hand and Dunphy by in large did talk a lot of sense. They kind of split the manager problem away from the other major problem (THE LACK OF QUALITY PLAYERS).

Dunphy tried to explain away Ireland’s poor performance as being Kerr’s fault. That is complete tosh in my opinion. He looks up to English managers as if they are god The one thing that cuts them above Kerr IMO is the fact that they have very strong personalities and wont take any crap from the media.

Personally now that I have calmed down after the WCQ's I think Kerr did an ok job with a few unlucky mistakes. He is media naive and is too meek in some respects. I know for a fact an English manager like Sam Allerdice wouldn’t have put up with the same stick as Brian Kerr and he probably would have been offered a new 2 year contract. I don’t think a new manager will solve Ireland’s problems and doubt if we can make the next world cup no matter whom we have in charge unless we find another 2- 3 world class players.

The topic that they didn’t go into too much and I thought was the REAL ISSUE in Irish football is the lack of quality players. I nearly tore my hair out listening to Giles on Newstalk last night. He said the fans don’t care where the players come from and poured scorn on the grass roots approach. For me he is now a stupid old man who has lost his marbles when it comes to talking about the game. We were known as the England B team back then and I don’t want ever to be called that again. I never liked seeing all the English players representing us. Giles doesn’t care about Irish football; he is as English as the English themselves since he spent most of his life over there and he has always approached Irish football from an English perspective.

Name anybody in the Swiss or Israeli team in the same class as Given, Roy Keane or Damien Duff.

The players we have are as good as anything under McCarthy. Even at this worst (Keane sweeper home to Iceland, Harte centre half and Gary Kelly up front) we still made the playoffs.

We've come 3rd and 4th respectively in 2 weak groups.

[NeilMcD]

I agree, I was a supporter of Kerr when he got the job and I really thought we would do well under him. Away to Holland and all the signs of a team finally having a purpose about them. But the facts are that over the last 2 years and 9 months of football only 110 minutes of it have been a joy to watch in a game that meant anything


90 minutes against France and 20 minutes against Israel at home. However I do think that we should only replace Kerr if we have somone that is better lined up.

To me this includes

Martin O Neil

Ferguson/Keane

Hiddink

David O Leary.

Outside of that I think we would be going backwards.

[Clifford]

Name anybody in the Swiss or Israeli team in the same class as Given, Roy Keane or Damien Duff.

The players we have are as good as anything under McCarthy. Even at this worst (Keane sweeper home to Iceland, Harte centre half and Gary Kelly up front) we still made the playoffs.

We've come 3rd and 4th respectively in 2 weak groups.

Undefeated Israel is it? What do you know of the Israeli league? I think yer man Beniyoun looks as good as Duffer this season so far, but I don't know enough about their league to comment in general, just cos they not in the EPL doesn't mean they aren't any good.

[razor]

However I do think that we should only replace Kerr if we have somone that is better lined up.

And lots would agree with you there but this again is a matter of opinion.
Whose to say who is "better", at the end of the day.