This is too serious now to be f**king around.
Ireland are managerless and the country has a very, very real chance to affect change.
It seems that the choice is boiling down to Mick McCarthy and Stephen Kenny and, because of the profile of both managers, it’s boiling down to two very different options.
On the one hand, an old pro. Someone who has succeeded in England. Loads of experience, so much so that he’s taken this very job before. He’s probably what would unfairly be described as the safer pair of hands because of his years in the job and, if you’re after short-term success – get to the Euros by whatever means necessary – then Mick is the guy they’re looking at.
Funnily enough though, all Ireland ever worry about is results and getting to the major tournament and, still, most of the time, we don’t even qualify anyway.
So, with Stephen Kenny, you have a chance to change everything. For the longer term.
"Do I think that I could take charge of the next generation of Irish players and turn them into a really cohesive team; combining the best virtues of Irish sides… but introducing a more European style of play, a more fluid and expansive way? Yes, I do" https://t.co/qOPcq8dT7Y
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 23, 2018
If you give it a lash with someone who is promising to introduce a new way of playing and a new way of thinking and to try to affect how the whole country thinks and plays about ball, then you might sacrifice a major tournament that we might’ve missed anyway.
But, listen, this short term v long term argument is stupid because we’d almost certainly miss another major competition by playing the sort of hoof ball that had many Ipswich fans happy in the end to see the back of McCarthy. The safer pair of hans would be a guy looking to use the tools he has to play football.
If Stephen Kenny gives it a lash and it doesn’t work, well then at least we’ll have tried and we’ll have enjoyed the campaign a little more than the one just gone.
But, if it does work, he could revolutionise football in the whole of Ireland.
And the prospect of the Dundalk manager stepping up to the international job is too important in the eyes of St. Patrick’s Athletic who have thrown their full weight of support as a club behind the nomination of Kenny to the most of international senior men’s team manager.
“The board of St. Patrick’s Athletic FC, as stakeholders in Irish domestic football, have convened and endorse and recommend Stephen Kenny for the vacant position as manager of the national team,” their official statement read.
“We believe Stephen Kenny is the best candidate and that he has proven he has the experience, knowledge, commitment and intellect to change the current direction of the Irish senior team.
“Stephen’s appointment would undeniably be a boost for both the grassroots and domestic leagues.
“All involved would know that the country’s game would be in the hands of a man who knows and believes that the future of the game is the nurturing and proper and professional development of the game in schools, communities, academies and clubs countrywide.
“We hope that all stakeholders of the domestic game that agree, express their view in the public forum.”
And, with that, St. Pat’s have begun a movement and called on other clubs to join them.
Club Statement: Supporting Stephen Kenny for @FAIreland Manager’s job 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/Num4SBgaj9
— St Patrick's Athletic FC (@stpatsfc) November 23, 2018
Kenny’s comments about how his team would play and how his philosophy could seep down to grassroots have rightly excited the imaginations of a football country for far too long accepting our place as plucky underdogs.
