TheCity.ie spoke to Irish soccer fans before the game with Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on November 15th.
The verdict over whether Martin O’Neill was still the man to lead Ireland was unanimous among supporters. Many have since got their wish as the Football Association of Ireland parted ways with both Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane.
The pair endured a turbulent end to their stints in the Irish setup with a lack of quality on the pitch and an abundance of controversy off it.
The duo had enjoyed some of Irish soccer’s fondest memories including a victory against Italy in reaching the last 16 of Euro 2016 and win over the World Cup holders Germany at the Aviva stadium.
A crucial victory away to Wales ensured a World Cup qualification playoff in 2017 before succumbing to Denmark in an embarrassing 5-1 home defeat.
The Euro 2020 draw takes place in Dublin on December 2nd and Mick McCarthy looks to be the man tasked with taking Ireland to the tournament.
Roy Keane’s new book is an intriguing masterpiece that finally reveals the hard-man midfielder’s well-hidden good points.
Ghost written by Roddy Doyle The Second Half does little to dispel the notion that Keane could pick a fight in an empty room. At times it seems he is at pains to reassure us he was this monster of myth and legend, portraying his violent clashes in detail. Such as his infamous clash with Alf-Inge Haaland, the incident in the Highbury Tunnel and a fight with his own teammate Peter Schmeichel.
Another intriguing part was Keane’s own take on the fallout with Alex Ferguson and the infamous MUTV interview. He even admits to breaking down in tears just two minutes from Old Trafford upon realizing it was all over.
This was the first instance in the book where he shows his extraordinary capacity for self-analysis. Light years from how he appears on the surface as an individual with gruff indifference “This is me, if you don’t like me tough”.
He shows a lot more of this side upon becoming a manager; there is definitely a lighter tone at that stage of the book. Such as when he got his office at Sunderland “I had a leather chair that swung around, a swivel chair. For the first few days I used to swing around on it. If any of the players or staff had peeped through the office window they would have seen me going, “Wheeeh!”
There is also surprising self-doubt when explains his reasons for not getting too comfortable in the office by putting up family photos; if things went badly it could be cleared quickly “one box”. On the flipside he felt not having many photos might present an image to the players that he really is a hard case.
He supplies a delightful putdown of Robbie Savage who he considered bringing to Sunderland to add character to the squad, “So I got Robbie’s number and rang him up. It went to his voicemail: “Hi, it’s Robbie — whazzup!” — like the Budweiser ad. I never called him back. I thought: “I can’t be f****** signing that”.
Slowly he comes to love the club and becomes engaged in the complexities of management. After completing a massive turnaround in his first season Keane took Sunderland from the bottom to top of the championship and promotion. In his second season he managed to keep Sunderland up but after an okay start to his third season an innocuous phone call with new owner Ellis Short resulted in his resignation.
After six months out of work he became manager of Ipswich, he didn’t enjoy his time there near as much and was sacked after 20 months. On this he was again brutally honest “I don’t think I’m a bad manager, but at Ipswich I managed badly”.
The rest of the book covers his time as a pundit right up until his appointment as Ireland assistant to Martin O’Neil and subsequent appointment as Paul Lambert’s assistant at Aston Villa.
The Irish dream-team of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane have now presided over two friendly matches, and the country is once again tentatively optimistic about Irish soccer. We asked the people of Dublin what they thought:
How do you think Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane will do? Let us know in the comments.
Roy Keane is a man that has polarised opinion both on and off the field through-out his career. We asked the public what their best ‘Keano’ memories were.
What are your best Roy Keane stories/memories? Let us know in the comments.
FAI chief executive John Delaney has confirmed that Martin O’Neill will be the new Republic of Ireland manager, with Roy Keane as his number two in what the Irish support hope will signal “a new era for Irish football.”
O’Neill is expected to appoint his own backroom staff with the combined package estimated to cost the FAI more than €2 million per annum.
Delaney has stated that an official press conference and unveiling will take place on Saturday 9th November.
Interestingly, it was Martin O’Neill’s decision to bring Roy Keane into the frame, with Delaney claiming that the FAI had no participation in the decision.
The new number one and two have a lot in common despite their almost 20 year age difference. Both have played for Nottingham Forest under the great Brian Clough, and both men have held the reins at Sunderland football club.
With Keane and O’Neill both having taken a brief hiatus from the game since their last jobs, the Ireland vacancy seems like a fantastic opportunity for the two Irishmen to get back into the game, albeit at an international level which neither have experience in managing.
Keane will take his first step back into the game after his spell at Ipswich Town in 2011. Credit: Figo29 on WordPress
O’Neill and Keane are a perfect balancing act – O’Neill, the affable Belfast man with his modest personality and calm temperament. Keane, with his determined and infallible attitude, renowned for his hot-headed nature and no-nonsense take on the game.
Neil Lennon stamped his approval on the appointment stating “they’re two great characters with a vast knowledge of the game, two very proud men as well. God help the players!”
On paper, this looks like a potentially successful appointment, although the danger is also there for all to see. It would have been a huge mistake to hire another foreign manager after Trapattoni’s spell, but Keane and O’Neill are widely respected and influential figures in the game. And more importantly, they’re Irish!
However, can two big characters and personalities work so closely together and generate a successful partnership to take Irish football forward, or will it be a case of one step forward and two steps back for John Delaney and the FAI?
The Irish support has already taken to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in particular, to voice their opinions on the matter. The decision seems to be met with a widely mixed reaction.
Paddy Power have tweeted: “Ireland to qualify for Euro 2016 now 5/6! 3/1 to qualify for World Cup 2018. First to leave their job, 4/6 Keane v 11/10 O’Neill.”
Noel King’s time as interim manager after Giovanni Trapattoni’s swift departure as Ireland’s head coach was originally seen as a breath of fresh air by the majority of Irish fans.
The 57-year-old Dubliner is no stranger to the beautiful game, having played for more than two decades in the League of Ireland, managing in it for twelve, and even had a spell at French second division club Valenciennes.
Having managed the Irish women’s international team from 2000-2010 and the Irish U-21s for the last three years, King has more than enough experience to work with the senior players of the national team, having coached a handful of his squad at the U-21 level.
Trapattoni’s spell in charge took a drastic turn after the miserable performance in Euro 2012. Photo courtesy of Davit Hakobyan on flickr
His decision to invite a couple of the Airtricity League’s top players to train with the national team before the Germany game was revitalising and invigorating to see, compared to Trapattoni who continually denied the fact that there is a competitive football league in Ireland.
The easy approach for King to adapt in the last two qualifying fixtures of the campaign was to deploy an attractive, attacking philosophy of play with a ‘nothing to lose’ mentality, which has been called for on numerous occasions by the Irish supporters and also by some sections of the media.
In doing so, King may have won some fans and finish his interim spell earning some plaudits for giving it a go against Germany and Kazakhstan.
However, this was indeed the easy choice and King opted to take the harder and more courageous route by stamping his own authority on the squad for those two games and no Irish supporter can complain about the two results recorded, regardless of the performance against Kazakhstan in the Aviva.
King’s defiant and belligerent reaction to RTE’s Tony O’Donoghue in the final post-match press interview was met with great interest. Asked about his team selection after the game, he jumped into a histrionic defence of his choices and berated the journalist after walking out of the interview.
His short spell in charge has been a drastic contrast to his Italian predecessor and his outburst illustrated his passion, emotion and patriotism for the country’s football, unfortunately this also showed a certain naïveté about the demands on those involved at the top level of management on the world stage.
Former Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill is the bookmakers’ favourite for the Ireland job. Photo: dalli58 on flickr
Noel King has been and will continue to be an influential character on the Irish football circuit, but he was never going to be chosen to fill the void as the national coach.
John Delaney and the FAI have a tremendously important decision to ponder regarding the appointment of the future manager of Ireland, with Mick McCarthy, Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane all being deemed early frontrunners for the post.
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