Eamon Dunphy, not for the first time during a World Cup finals, invoked the ire of a nation last night on RTE television.
Dunphy was reacting to a flood of calls of complaint to RTE, saying he had hoped Ireland would lose to Cameroon yesterday, and admitting he wants Germany and Saudi Arabia in the remaining group games.
"This whole thing has been a shambles and if it takes Ireland losing their matches in the World Cup to open peoples' eyes, then I think that's a price worth paying.
"USA '94 was a shambles behind the scenes and so was Italia '90, but the players spared the FAI by playing well and qualifying out of their group. But I would hate this time for them to get through the group and to come home covered in glory and for nobody to question the FAI."
Dunphy has been a vocal advocate of the points brought up by Roy Keane in the run up to his dismissal by Mick McCarthy. The pundit and journalist is, of course, ghost writing Keane's biography, and was visibly disgusted by the circumstances surrounding the captain's return to Cheshire.
"I'm not some flag-waving leprechaun dancing in the streets. I have my opinions and I'm entitled to them. If you don't like them, get a new guy," added Dunphy, whose criticism of Jack Charlton during Italia '90 made him, for a time, the most vilified man in the country.
by Tony Cuddihy
[setanta.com]
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