Greece is the word
Well, Greece is certainly the word that will get the most mentions when the FAI heavies get together later this month and, assumedly, terminate the uninspiring reign of Stephen Kenny as Republic of Ireland senior men’s team manager.
Whatever small level of acceptance there might be among the ‘suits’ (and, lest they forget, a minimum of 40 per cent dresses!) in Abbotstown that our results against France and The Netherlands in the alleged ‘group of death’ were not disastrous (albeit the bottom line was two home and away defeats), losses to a beatable Greek team in both Athens and Dublin will be surely be seen as a bridge too far by CEO Jonathan Hill (whose personal ‘things will be different now’ mantra has already been severely tarnished) and others in power.
Last Saturday night’s 1-0 ‘hammering’ by the Dutch in Amsterdam rounded off a truly miserable Group B campaign. Apart from an expected 7-0 two-game aggregate thrashing of a dreadful Gibraltar outfit – the French doubled that in just one game three nights ago – a zero points return from the other six games is totally and utterly unacceptable. Throw in the fact that we managed only two goals in those six games – including a penalty – and, frankly, it makes for truly depressing reading.
Incidentally, from the south and east of the country, in a freak ‘snap’ moment two former members of Mullingar Athletic AFC (a club yours truly is honoured to have co-founded) texted me concurrently when we played the minnows away, to opine: “Double DDs (our original name) would beat Gibraltar.” And to think that if our respective parents had moved to Gibraltar when we were kids, we could have been international soccer players!
On a serious note, it has become progressively more difficult to listen to Kenny’s excuse-laden interviews with Tony O’Donoghue et al after his side has lost. Yet again! No doubt he is an eminently decent and well-intentioned man who was more than a little fortunate to have landed his dream job with no managerial experience in England on his CV, but he has failed to deliver results over a three and-a-half year period. This scribe never felt he had the track record needed and I greeted his appointed with a complete lack of enthusiasmus (to coin a word from the muddled English vocabulary of one of his very high-profile predecessors, Giovanni Trapattoni).
Indeed, I often think back to when Brian Kerr was unveiled as Irish manager in January 2003 and viewing the must-watch late-night ‘You’re on Sky Sports’ programme at the time. When braces-wearing host Rob McCaffrey mentioned Kerr’s name to guest Rodney Marsh (who was controversially fired from the slot two years later for a non-PC remark), the former England star said: “I wouldn’t know him from a bar of soap.”
Kerr, of course, was well known and respected in these parts for his phenomenal underage success with his country, but occasional European nights with Dundalk apart, Kenny had less gravitas when inheriting the top soccer job in the land. His ‘pass like Barcelona’ ambition was admirable, but an assortment of run-of-the-mill pros will not out-pass the Frances of this world, and a pragmatic approach to actually picking up qualification points was/is needed. The sad reality is that we are now right down in the mire with the 'Mickey Mouse' footballing nations in Europe, the failure to even garner a play-off spot adding insult to injury.
As for a successor, assuming one is needed, it is not a job that will attract many truly top managers, given the obvious dearth of star quality in the side. Indeed, in this regard, Nathan Collins, the man seen as the next possible Paul McGrath/Mark Lawrenson in defence, has gone backwards this campaign. This scribe also remains adamant that Evan Ferguson, envisaged as the next possible Frank Stapleton/Don Givens, is still just an exciting prospect, significantly short of being the real deal, albeit he is still a teenager. As for the all-important midfield area? There is not a screed of a top international play-maker/midfield general in sight as of now.
Unless another Denis O’Brien type comes forward as a benefactor, an attractive remuneration package is going to be a big problem. The situation could not be any further removed from the heady days when Jack Charlton was hired for small money to get more out of a squad laden with outstanding footballers, with his name alone as a legendary World Cup winner in 1966 an enormous help in securing umpteen Granny Rule players who furthered bolstered the team. The recent defections of quality players like Declan Rice and Jack Grealish is symptomatic of the new, ‘we’ll only play for Oireland if we are really stuck’, mentality among those eligible through parents and grandparents.
Later tonight, this passionate and devoted Irish fan for over five decades will sit in my usual seat in the Aviva to suffer the most meaningless of friendlies against New Zealand (a country where any sport other than Rugby Union is considered a nuisance) pondering on badly shattered dreams to return to Germany next summer to replicate the glorious eight days spent by myself and six others (one now sadly deceased) at Euro ’88 (when just eight teams qualified). It would have been hard to imagine as we sat proudly in Stuttgart, Hanover and Gelsenkirchen in June 1988 that we would have gone so far back from the top table in Europe 36 years later.
Oh yes, a new manager? Well, the only declared candidate is Gus Poyet who, of course, oversaw the two aforementioned campaign-ending competitive defeats for Kenny’s charges in 2023. Maybe Greece is still the word!