The New Official Republic of Ireland Football Thread

Kinsella said:
Puns galore with this appointment.
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We need to display a more professional veneer.

He'll have us well drilled, and ensure we don't open wide at the back. Goals to follow as our attackers will score braces, now.

A savvy appointment. Clamp down on nonsense. Root one football helped him beat England, his crowning achievement.

Good of O'Shea to fill in.
 
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Didn't Roy Keane confirm a few weeks ago he spoke to the FAI. Whether that was bs or not is another thing, but the idea that this guy was their number one target all along seems a bit of stretch.

Be interesting to see how he gets on and how he sets the team up, from memory Iceland were fairly pragmatic but played with a lot of organisation with speed and intensity on the counter.
 
I checked and Ireland are 60 in the world rankings while Jamaica are 53 and Iceland are 70. The idea that an Icelandic manager who just worked with Jamaica isn't good enough for the Ireland job doesn't seem right.

There seems to be a sense from irish media that they aren't impressed by this but I don't think they realise how bad Ireland are right now. Obviously he wasn't first choice but no-one better wanted the job which should tell us something about how attractive it is.
 
Zebs said:
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Yeah, he handled that really well. Was listening to Second Captains earlier, who talked to people that know him well. Everyone said one of his great strengths is as a communicator, to players, to the press and to the fans. So far, so good.

Apparently when he was in charge of Iceland he heard about a supporters club who was unhappy with team selection and he rocked up at a pub they hang out at the Friday before a big game and told them his starting line-up, face to face!
 
Tyrion said:
I checked and Ireland are 60 in the world rankings while Jamaica are 53 and Iceland are 70. The idea that an Icelandic manager who just worked with Jamaica isn't good enough for the Ireland job doesn't seem right.

There seems to be a sense from irish media that they aren't impressed by this but I don't think they realise how bad Ireland are right now. Obviously he wasn't first choice but no-one better wanted the job which should tell us something about how attractive it is.
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That sort of cribbing is coming from lads who'd have probably been happy to settle for the likes of Neil Lennon.


I'm thrilled with this appointment. Exactly the type of left field appointment I wanted from day one.
 
Fr. Todd Unctious said:
That sort of cribbing is coming from lads who'd have probably been happy to settle for the likes of Neil Lennon.


I'm thrilled with this appointment. Exactly the type of left field appointment I wanted from day one.
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Honestly I'd agree. It's more interesting that some guy who's been around for a decade. Plus I do hope he does well because him being a dentist so recently is pretty funny.
 
Heimir is a top, top man. He's never had a job that was easy so you've got a manager who's experienced at making something out of nothing.
 
Snow said:
Heimir is a top, top man. He's never had a job that was easy so you've got a manager who's experienced at making something out of nothing.
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He’s the right man for the job so. I’d say with Ireland he needs to turn water into wine, but I’m not convinced we even have the water.
 
Zebs said:
I'm Absolutely backing this fella, seems to be a good honest man, hopefully the players don't throw him under the bus like they did with Kenny!
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Kenny was a godawful appointment. Some clowns thought he was the messiah after he took Dundalk to six straight Europa CL group stage defeats.

Deservedly sacked.

A good answer regarding Greenwood but he should not have participated in the 'political response'. Especially when an actual political figure (mayor of Marseilles) can openly speak out.

Suggesting the media would 'spin things either way' is why one should just be honest from the outset.

But, anyway, that's that, hopefully he can crack on and get us going.
 
doubleohseven said:
Kenny was a godawful appointment. Some clowns thought he was the messiah after he took Dundalk to six straight Europa CL group stage defeats.

Deservedly sacked.

A good answer regarding Greenwood but he should not have participated in the 'political response'. Especially when an actual political figure (mayor of Marseilles) can openly speak out.

Suggesting the media would 'spin things either way' is why one should just be honest from the outset.

But, anyway, that's that, hopefully he can crack on and get us going.
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There are no consequences for the mayor though. Heimir (calling him by first name not as a sign of affection but because I can’t be arsed learning to spell his surname) explained that he gave a political answer because his employer (Jamaican FA) were trying to convince Greenwood to play for them. So he toed the line because he might have to work with the player whether he likes it or not. Which is a very different situation to what’s going on in Marseille. Where the mayor doesn’t have any conflict of interest.

I think he can be criticised for not speaking out but his explanation is very honest and open. Which bodes well for the future.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I think he can be criticised for not speaking out but his explanation is very honest and open.
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Maybe he's just a political whizz and knows what to say in whatever room he is.

But yeah, harsh to isolate one comment and judge the man.
 
IrishMcD said:
I just want someone who goes back to using the granny rule and caps a load of Ray Houghton/John Aldridge/Mick McCarthy types. Hell, I’d even accept some Clinton Morrison/Lee Carsley/Matt Holland types. Anything that might improve the viewing we’ve had to endure these last number of years. It hasn’t even resembled professional football at times.
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I wasn't sure whether to ask about this or not as I'm sure it's not seen as ideal but, post brexit, there's probably a lot of players who have discovered Irish ancestry. Is it worth going down that road again to make yourselves competitive. Would a period of relative success give the FAI a kick up the arse to invest in youth development etc...?
 
Pogue Mahone said:
There are no consequences for the mayor though. Heimir (calling him by first name not as a sign of affection but because I can’t be arsed learning to spell his surname) explained that he gave a political answer because his employer (Jamaican FA) were trying to convince Greenwood to play for them. So he toed the line because he might have to work with the player whether he likes it or not. Which is a very different situation to what’s going on in Marseille. Where the mayor doesn’t have any conflict of interest.

I think he can be criticised for not speaking out but his explanation is very honest and open. Which bodes well for the future.
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His 'toeing the line' over such a prospective employee is not a good omen of anything. Do we really need more cronyism at the FAI?

The mayor absolutely has a conflict of interest: he needs (or at least wants) to get re-elected.

As for Halgrimson's explanation, well, fair enough, it's better than nothing, but we don't know if the FAI have coached him to say such a thing. It was well articulated.

Anyway, moving on, hope he can get us back on track - prioritising rearing our own (that includes Nordies, of course) and not running after granny cap England rejects.
 
Pragmatic football is fine. With the absolute shower of shite available to us it was always a pipe dream to attempt anything expansive. But pragmatic doesn’t have to mean pure shit on a stick. Hopefully there’s a happy medium. I don’t remember Iceland being unusually poor to watch when he was working with them.
 
doubleohseven said:
His 'toeing the line' over such a prospective employee is not a good omen of anything. Do we really need more cronyism at the FAI?

The mayor absolutely has a conflict of interest: he needs (or at least wants) to get re-elected.

As for Halgrimson's explanation, well, fair enough, it's better than nothing, but we don't know if the FAI have coached him to say such a thing. It was well articulated.

Anyway, moving on, hope he can get us back on track - prioritising rearing our own (that includes Nordies, of course) and not running after granny cap England rejects.
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You’re assuming what the mayor said might harm his chances of being elected. Maybe he thinks speaking out will do the opposite? Either way it’s very different to Heimir choosing to not criticise a player he was potentially about to work with, whether he wanted to or not.

Anyhoo. Water under the bridge now.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Pragmatic football is fine. With the absolute shower of shite available to us it was always a pipe dream to attempt anything expansive. But pragmatic doesn’t have to mean pure shit on a stick. Hopefully there’s a happy medium. I don’t remember Iceland being unusually poor to watch when he was working with them.
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They were a bit Jack Charltony and playing for percentages, which is fine when you get results. We've had so many periods over the last decades of poor football and worse results, that's why so many people had such patience with Kenny but ultimately again we had poor results and less than entertaining football.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
You’re assuming what the mayor said might harm his chances of being elected. Maybe he thinks speaking out will do the opposite? Either way it’s very different to Heimir choosing to not criticise a player he was potentially about to work with, whether he wanted to or not.

Anyhoo. Water under the bridge now.
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I think a politician rarely has nothing to lose, and while I think the mayor deserves credit for such a forthright statement, he seems to be quite a liberal lefty so it was very much on brand.
 
John XII said:
I wasn't sure whether to ask about this or not as I'm sure it's not seen as ideal but, post brexit, there's probably a lot of players who have discovered Irish ancestry. Is it worth going down that road again to make yourselves competitive. Would a period of relative success give the FAI a kick up the arse to invest in youth development etc...?
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At the moment we need players badly and the FAI should do whatever they can.

The structure of football in Ireland is quite odd but the FAI should definitely pay more attention to grassroots and junior football. I don't know as much about as I did when I was playing, but then their attitude was basically negligence.
 
moses said:
At the moment we need players badly and the FAI should do whatever they can.

The structure of football in Ireland is quite odd but the FAI should definitely pay more attention to grassroots and junior football. I don't know as much about as I did when I was playing, but then their attitude was basically negligence.
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It’s still pretty terrible. There’s substance to Duffer’s ranting about the crappy pitches and facilities.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It’s still pretty terrible. There’s substance to Duffer’s ranting about the crappy pitches and facilities.
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Yeah, I assumed as much. It needs some sort of restructure into one organisation or else it'll never change. Such a shame all that money in the late 80s and 90s went into pockets or was blown on ice sculptures.
 
moses said:
At the moment we need players badly and the FAI should do whatever they can.

The structure of football in Ireland is quite odd but the FAI should definitely pay more attention to grassroots and junior football. I don't know as much about as I did when I was playing, but then their attitude was basically negligence.
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The structure has improved.

Every youth league has an ETP (emerging talent programme) squad, those ETP squads will play against each other and go to tournaments in Ireland and abroad every year.

From there players get picked to work with regional development squads working under proper FAI coaches a couple of times a week from u12/u14 upwards. From there the players that are good enough get picked for underage internationals and if they are good enough go to the LOI clubs for the u14/u15 LOI. This is the route a lot of the younger LOI players coming through the last few years have followed. The structure and route is there for the players that are good enough.

I've said before in the league I'd be mostly involved with, I don't like how they pick the players for those league ETP squads, basically the coach is asked to forward 5 or 6 players for a trials. Coaches involved will generally heavily preference players from their own clubs, because usually they are involved with a club and the league team. So players only have 2 or 3 trials to try and make an impression.

It seems nobody ever actually goes out and watches games to look for players, not where I am anyway. For me talent identification has to be brought in from u10s not u12s. And they need to build a proper scouting network to identify players from coaching leagues etc to be brought into those development squads and not be relying on bias coaches picking favourites over players that might actually be better.
 
Oranges038 said:
The structure has improved.

Every youth league has an ETP (emerging talent programme) squad, those ETP squads will play against each other and go to tournaments in Ireland and abroad every year.

From there players get picked to work with regional development squads working under proper FAI coaches a couple of times a week from u12/u14 upwards. From there the players that are good enough get picked for underage internationals and if they are good enough go to the LOI clubs for the u14/u15 LOI. This is the route a lot of the younger LOI players coming through the last few years have followed. The structure and route is there for the players that are good enough.

I've said before in the league I'd be mostly involved with, I don't like how they pick the players for those league ETP squads, basically the coach is asked to forward 5 or 6 players for a trials. Coaches involved will generally heavily preference players from their own clubs, because usually they are involved with a club and the league team. So players only have 2 or 3 trials to try and make an impression.

It seems nobody ever actually goes out and watches games to look for players, not where I am anyway. For me talent identification has to be brought in from u10s not u12s. And they need to build a proper scouting network to identify players from coaching leagues etc to be brought into those development squads and not be relying on bias coaches picking favourites over players that might actually be better.
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Thanks, that's interesting.

I dint mind the idea of the coaches putting players forward. Scouting can be haphazard unless it's a huge operation with lots of committed bods. Having the coaches involved also makes it more of a pyramid which we've badly needed for a long time.
 
moses said:
Thanks, that's interesting.

I dint mind the idea of the coaches putting players forward. Scouting can be haphazard unless it's a huge operation with lots of committed bods. Having the coaches involved also makes it more of a pyramid which we've badly needed for a long time.
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Yeah, but the other side of that is a lot of the time the coaches just go with players they know, it's very hard to assess a player from 3 training matches. When you might have 50 other players there as well.

I just think if the leagues could get people involved as scouts for these teams, to go to games, then you can watch players in games and invite them for trials rather than relying on individual coaches to put them forward. It's very hard to judge a players full ability and potential in that environment.

I will also say that the structure and facilities all over the country by and large are improving, but certainly there's still a long long way to go. Some clubs have a decent setup, but if you have a club that doesn't have proper changing rooms and toilet facilities etc, as far as I know they are not allowed to have underage teams. So, a lot of rural players/teams could be missing out on chances.
 
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