FAI...June 2024 Friendlies v Hungary and Portugal

[seafoid]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2018/1122/1012595-fai-to-blame-for-state-of-irish-soccer-says-brady/

Brady has a degree of sympathy for O'Neill and believes that the problems in Irish soccer go deeper than just the manager, blaming the FAI for a lack of foresight and investment in the future of the game in the country.

peaking to RTÉ Sport, Brady questioned the work of the FAI's high performance director Ruud Dokter and his predecessor Wim Koevermans, while criticising their lack of desire to involve former Irish players.
"What worries me above anything else is the lack of players we have coming through," he said. "I'm no expert in that regard with the FAI but I know whatever has gone on hasn't worked.
"We're simply not seeing the talent that we once had in the years gone past. The likes of Damien Duff, Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne and Shay Given – all top class players. We haven't replaced them with anybody of the same quality.

[Milltown Row2]

No, it was just he managers fault, the players are there apparently!

[Applesisapples]

Martin O'Neill proved over the years that he was a good manager. His reign had as many highs as it had lows. The problems endemic in Irish soccer are not unique to Ireland. Wales, Scotland and OWC face similar issues. On the plus side for Scotland they have a relatively strong domestic league, albeit like the premier league they have too many foreign players, but it is still an outlet for scottish players. In fact in Celtic's last game in Europe the stand out players on the night, McGregor, Tierney and Christie are all Scots. The strength of the premier league dominated by foreign players has led to a lack of opportunity and development for players from these Islands. Michael O'Neill's article in the IT articulted this better than I could. He also cited the growth of GAA and Rugby as alternative sports in Ireland. The answer for both parts of this Island is a strong All Island domestic league to begin with. I would not suggest an all island team as that would be virtually impossible to sell to OWC's knuckle dragging support. It also will need greater investment. Rugby's success has come on the back of attracting sponsorship and teams that attract support from a wider base, look at the numbers of diehard GAA people support the provinces who haven't laid a hand on the oval ball. The question is, is it too late?

[mouview]

Seems we're getting Mick McCarthy back.

If he signs today, does he come with a Black Friday discount?

[AZOffaly]

Seems we're getting Mick McCarthy back.

If he signs today, does he come with a Black Friday discount?

You get a free Bacon Slicer.

[BennyCake]

Seems we're getting Mick McCarthy back.

If he signs today, does he come with a Black Friday discount?

The squad will get a free set of training bibs. Probably the same ones that got lost in 2002.

[Capt Pat]

It looks like it is confirmed, McCarthy is back according to the RTE web site. It looks like he was lined up before O'Neill was out the door. I would have preferred if they had taken their time with the selection process and interviewed some high profile candidates before selecting whoever they wanted. But it looks like money was a key consideration in selecting McCarthy.

I like him and I wish him the best but heading into the qualifying for the last successful world cup qualifying he had Roy Keane, Damien Duff, Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne, Shay Given, Steve Staunton, and other premier league players. He will have nothing like that in his next qualifying campaign.

[BennyCake]

Oh dear. I thought you had some sense, Mick.

[Captain Obvious]

Oh dear. I thought you had some sense, Mick.

He has plenty of sense, the money he will get off the Irish FA will be far greater than what he got from Wolverhampton Wanderers,Ipswich Town,Sunderland. A nice retirement package you can call it.

[Applesisapples]

Well Big Joe;s second coming with Armagh worked out well, so who knows.

[BennyCake]

Well Big Joe;s second coming with Armagh worked out well, so who knows.

Joe was coming into a far different setup than Mick is.

[From the Bunker]

Oh dear. I thought you had some sense, Mick.

He has nothing to lose. He's not trying to build up a his reputation as a Manager at this stage. He is on good money and International Football suits an older Manager as a lot of your time is free time as games only come in pockets during the year. He knows the Irish international setup and how it works. Expectations are at the lowest in years.  This will take the pressure of initially. If he fails the ''Sure we don't have the players line will be rolled out''!

Despite what people think. Marin O'Neill did quiet well during his tenure. Just the slide toward the end was ''Tsunami' like. Between results, style of play, leaked stuff, player management with Arthur and Rice.

[BennyCake]

Oh dear. I thought you had some sense, Mick.

He has nothing to lose. He's not trying to build up a his reputation as a Manager at this stage. He is on good money and International Football suits an older Manager as a lot of your time is free time as games only come in pockets during the year. He knows the Irish international setup and how it works. Expectations are at the lowest in years.  This will take the pressure of initially. If he fails the ''Sure we don't have the players line will be rolled out''!

Despite what people think. Marin O'Neill did quiet well during his tenure. Just the slide toward the end was ''Tsunami' like. Between results, style of play, leaked stuff, player management with Arthur and Rice.

We all know Ireland lack players, but that didn't save O'Neill.

To be honest, two big defeats was all O'Neill had in the last year. Goals were an issue, but the team has changed a lot in the last 18 months or so.

I hope Mick does well, but I fear this will severely damage his reputation. Ok so he won't get a top 4 to manage, but his last stint and decent enough club reputation could be tarnished after this.

[Itchy]

No one on here believes Ireland have great players but do we have players good enough, for example, to threaten the defence of N Ireland. N Ireland should have scored 3 and their two forwards are playing in League 1. We have as poor a squad as we ever had but for god sake we still have player to be a relatively solid 3rd tier team at the moment.

Who are these players? Granted this last while I've watched very little of the ROI but Shane Long, O'Dowda, O'Brien are not these players.
MON & Keane did a wonderful job. They constantly over achieved. They will be very hard acts to follow. FAI should consider a statue in honour.

Here are some premier league players,  not saying they are top class but they are with premier league clubs none the less...

Coleman
Duffy
K Long
S Long
Hendrick
Arter
Obafemi
Christie
Brady
Ward
Cunningham
Clarke
Doherty

Mcclean, Randolph were recently also in premier league.

I also think o dowda and Stevens are capable of being premier league too. Now no doubt there are no world beaters there but is it unreasonable to expect us to be able to string a few passes together and make some chances? I don't think so.

Come of it Itchy, most of those lads are very average and of their clubs got relegated this season there wouldn't be a Premier League side beating down their door to sign them. Only Coleman, Hendrick & Brady are genuine Premier League players and perhaps Duffy is on his way to be being one too. Shane Long is nearly 32 and this is probably his last year in the PL. Its the worst squad Ireland have ever had.

I never said they were anything but average and I also said in a previous post that its probably the weakest ever Irish panel. However I still think we are 3rd tier and should be very competitive at that level. The N Ireland game is a perfect barometer. We did not threaten their goal and they dominanted the possession. Lets look at their team...

Peacock-Farrell - Leeds (Championship)
M Smith - Hearts (scotland)
Cathcart - Watford (premier)
J Evans - Leicster (premier)
Lewis - Norwich (championship)
C Evans - Blackburn (championship)
Whyte - Oxford (league 1)
Davis - Southampton (premier)
Saville - Middlesboro (championship)
Dallas - Leeds (championship)
Boyce - Burton (League 1)

Subs
Jones - Kilmarnock (scotland)
McNair - Middlesboro (championship)
Lafferty - Rangers (scotland)
Ward - Charlton (league 1)


Darren Randolph - Middlesboro (championship)
Seamus Coleman - Everton (premier)
Darragh Lenihan - Blackburn (championship)
Shane Duffy - Brighton (premier)
John Egan - Sheffield Utd (championship)
James McClean - Stoke (championship)
Glen WHelan - Villa (Championship)
Hendrick - Burnely (Premier)
Brady - Burnley (Premier)
O Dowda - Bristol (championship)
Robinson - Preston (championship)

subs
Christie - Fulham (premier)
Stevens - Sheff Utd (championship)
Hourihane - Villa (championship)
Curtis - Portsmouth (league 1)
Maguire - Preston (championship)
Hogan - Villa (Championship)

So not a huge difference in quality of the players on display in terms of the level they play at, I would argue the republic slightly stronger. Yet the stats show

North had 60% possession
North had 11 shots versus 8 at goal
North had 11 corners versus 3

If you watched the game you would have seen that only one team was playing football. So how can that be? Management is the answer.

[Capt Pat]

So Stephen Kenny is to replace Mick McCarthy after the 2 year contract expires according to the rte rugby commentator.