Mon to manage Republic of Ireland?

[KevinGage]

My recollection of all that is a bit different.  Popularity wise, Brady, Whelan and God were out on their own.  And perhaps always will be.

Ability wise, Keane is close to that level (though not quite on a par). But there were question marks over his attitude and commitment during Big Jack's time, and even when Mick McCarthy made him captain in 1996, there was still a feeling that he kept his best form for Manchester United and playing for Ireland was a chore. Much of that probably owes to Ferguson's reluctance to let him travel for Ireland games he heimself didn't view as important  (as per Giggs with Wales)  so that might be somewhat harsh.

I'd say it was only from about 1998 onwards that Ireland got a glimpse of the Keane that played for his club. Then he shat the bed in 2002, and we all know the rest.

[brontebilly]

Before then football was always a minority sport. Still is to an extent.

Is that really true, SH? I was under the impression that it isn't really a minority sport anymore.

It will always be a poor relation to the GAA sports.

Prior to Jack Charlton there was still an interest in English league football, but less in the national side.

I doubt that. A lot of recent Irish players have come from GAA heartlands. The GAA have pumped a lot of money into the local Dublin GAA scene in recent years but football is still massive and the most widely played game. Id question how many play it as their most serious hobby away from the cities. Would have been the slightly poorer relation to the GAA sports in my youth in rural Ireland but it was still a decent standard. I think it was felt by the FAI that they needed the boost of a big name manager at the moment with the GAA having a big summer this year with Dublin winning the Gaelic football and a brilliant hurling championship. I dont think rugby makes any impact whatsoever with football in Ireland, different ends of the social spectrum. its worth noting though that its rare that both GAA sports are popular in the same areas, hurling is barely played in half the counties in Ireland. Donegal (where Shay Given is from) would have a very strong local soccer and gaelic football scene. Martin O'Neill I'm pretty sure played Minor for Derry in Croke Park. Kevin Moran won All Irelands with Dublin before going to Man United. Lots of other examples.

Ironically Irish league football would have been far stronger back in Brady's time. Under Giles, the side was robbed in qualification for the world cup in 1974 and again robbed against Belgium in 1982 qualifying. It was far from a complete desert football wise until Jack Charlton waved his magic wand. Little known players like Liam Whelan, Giles, Givens, Hurley did come from the Emerald Isle in the pre Charlton days. Not to mention those north of the border like Best, Blanchflower, Jennings and two remembered around B6, McParland and O'Neill.

I still find it incredible how ill informed some little Englanders are about Ireland generally. It wasnt as if the English football side was pulling up trees at the same time. Granted it was pre Sky Sports and the internet but Brady winning the English player of the year in 1979 and back to back Seria A titles (1980 and 1981) was bound to have generated more than a little interest. The amount of Irish people who emigrated to the UK in the 50s, 60s and 70s would naturally have a big interest in English club football too.

[fbriai]

That's really interesting, Brontebilly, especially the extent to which the GAA sports are stronger in different regions. I also didn't know that Kevin Moran had won the All Irelands before going to Man Utd.

[Pat McMahon]

Great update Brontebilly.

When we used to take our annual holiday in Dublin as kids (1970s) I would say that Liverpool were streets ahead of anybody else in terms of support. Arsenal and Man U were big too, with a good number of Leeds (massive in early 70s) and Everton (just over the water from Dublin, and originally the Catholic team of Merseyside, apparently). Danny Blanchflower also once said that the Irish had a fondness for exotic names like Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, WBA et al so they would always draw a measure of Irish support - particularly those in cities with Irish immigrants.

One year, probably 1977, we went to see a League of Ireland representative side play a pre-season friendly against a full Liverpool team and Lansdowne Road was sold out, with the crowd probably split 50:50. The family always used to say to me that the Irish love to hate the English but love to love their football teams.

I used to wear my Villa badge in pubs with my dad when I was 15-16 and people would always stop us to talk about football. There was definitely a passion for football, mainly the big English clubs, and MOTD was as popular as in England.

By the by, I once heard in Dublin that Man U signed Moran without having seen him play football, only Gaelic. Always assumed this was a myth.

[Irish villain]

I would say that GAA was to the Irish what football is to the British and that football was to the Irish what a sport like Rugby is to the British.

I would say that has changed over the past thirty years and that football is the closet rival to GAA. I think Brontebilly underestimates support for Rugby. I would say, that among what I see as a middle-class 'culchies on tour' cohort (people to grew up in rural areas but have settled in the professions in the cities) are pretty evenly split between Rugby and football and Rugby in Munster draws support across the social strata.

[brontebilly]

That's really interesting, Brontebilly, especially the extent to which the GAA sports are stronger in different regions. I also didn't know that Kevin Moran had won the All Irelands before going to Man Utd.

here is a clip of Moran playing for Dublin -

, his is a remarkable story alright. Nowadays some top gaelic footballers head to Aus instead to try their hand at Aussie Rules. Good few here at the moment but their success has been limited with a few exceptions. One of them Ciaran Kilkenny left a contract at Hawthorn earlier this year to go back and play for the Dubs.

The GAA ban on players playing and attending even I think foreign sports had an impact on Liam Brady. He got expelled from school in Dublin for playing an underage game for Ireland. Thankfully the days of the ban are long gone, 1971 it finished.

[cdward]

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2013/0806/466647-blog/
This article caused a bit of a stir when it was noticed that pre-season friendlies against Villa and Leeds had bigger attendances than ordinary LoI games.
In my experience football is massively popular with Irish fans, as they get to choose a club, hence the popularity of Liverpool,  Manchester United etc,  the GAA and Rugby is more parochial.
A lot of MON fans and Keane haters, in Dublin anyway.

[Damo70]

That was an interesting 'interview' with Mick McCarthy yesterday on Keane and his role in the Ireland set up.

[martin o`who??]

Good luck MON, didnt like what you did, but we had some great times with you and i wish you well for those alone.

[Rigadon]

Interesting for MON to pick out the fitness at Villa as some kind of evidence he knew how to get a squad fit!

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/10/paolo-di-canio-martin-oneill-sunderland

I recall plenty of times where we ran out of steam after an hour.

He's right about Di Canio though.  Total cretin.

[Monty]

Interesting for MON to pick out the fitness at Villa as some kind of evidence he knew how to get a squad fit!

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/10/paolo-di-canio-martin-oneill-sunderland

I recall plenty of times where we ran out of steam after an hour.

He's right about Di Canio though.  Total cretin.

When we shipped 7 against Chelsea, John *spits* Terry gave an interview where he basically said that everyone knows what to do agaisnt Villa - wait for us to get tired and then hammer us. MON's Villa were not fit: the same XI was overplayed to the point of burnout, he clearly doesn't understand fitness properly from his comments about diet yesterday (read them, he sounds like Godfrey Bloom) and the style of play, where we never dominated possession properly, meant we did an awful lot more running and chasing that we should've.

[john e]

Interesting for MON to pick out the fitness at Villa as some kind of evidence he knew how to get a squad fit!

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/10/paolo-di-canio-martin-oneill-sunderland

I recall plenty of times where we ran out of steam after an hour.

He's right about Di Canio though.  Total cretin.

When we shipped 7 against Chelsea, John *spits* Terry gave an interview where he basically said that everyone knows what to do agaisnt Villa - wait for us to get tired and then hammer us. MON's Villa were not fit: the same XI was overplayed to the point of burnout, he clearly doesn't understand fitness properly from his comments about diet yesterday (read them, he sounds like Godfrey Bloom) and the style of play, where we never dominated possession properly, meant we did an awful lot more running and chasing that we should've.

MON sounds on top form there, maybe he's got his mojo back

[andrew08]

He'll like the hours required to be an international manager.

[brontebilly]

Interesting for MON to pick out the fitness at Villa as some kind of evidence he knew how to get a squad fit!

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/10/paolo-di-canio-martin-oneill-sunderland

I recall plenty of times where we ran out of steam after an hour.

He's right about Di Canio though.  Total cretin.

Absolute charlatan - sums up Di Canio perfectly. I'm not sure who the manager before Di Canio was that spent over 25m on Fletcher and Johnson. Reporter seems to have forgotten to ask him a few obvious questions re his time at Sunderland.

Re Villa fitness, our players tended to run out of steam come March time. He had no idea how to rotate the squad throughout the season so everyone is still fighting fit and for places in the side come the end of the season. Benitez managed that really well with Chelsea last year I thought.

One of the many reasons MON didn't progress in club management but the fitness thing doesn't really affect an international manager.

[DrGonzo]

Not quite on message with the thread, but this has just raised a smile as I read it.  And for all the fallout over him being allowed too much pocket money, his dry humour is a pleasant change in this modern age of dull, media scared sheep. 

From The Grauniad:

Martin O'Neill has launched a stinging attack on Paolo Di Canio, the man who succeeded him at Sunderland, branding the Italian a "managerial charlatan".

Di Canio was appointed after O'Neill's sacking in March but lasted only 11 games before suffering the same fate. Di Canio was critical of O'Neill's tenure and, specifically, the fitness level of the players he inherited from the Northern Irishman.

O'Neill has now taken charge of the Republic of Ireland in a controversial partnership with Roy Keane. When asked if he was disappointed by comments made about his Sunderland regime by Di Canio, O'Neill replied: "Paolo Di Canio? That managerial charlatan – absolutely, yes.

"Paolo stepped in there and basically, as weeks ran on, he ran out of excuses. I had a wry smile to myself."

O'Neill clearly took particular exception to allegations that his players were not fit. The 61-year-old said: "It's like a 27-year-old manager stepping in and the first thing you do is criticise the fitness of the team beforehand. If you've ever seen Aston Villa play, you'll see the one thing I pride myself on is teams being fit.

"What you'll find interesting is that when he started the team wasn't fit for the Chelsea game. Then the following week when he won at Newcastle, not being fit wasn't mentioned.

"Then about two weeks later they got mauled by Aston Villa, someone asked him about the fitness. Suddenly, he didn't know where to go. Because the team, as it progresses, should be getting more fit.

"And then, at the start of the season, when he lost by a late goal at Southampton, he was asked about the fitness regime, that he was going to have them the fittest team in the league. Suddenly, the fitness wasn't for that game but for Christmas, when the winter months set in. You know, I did have a wry smile at that one."

O'Neill garnered similar amusement from Di Canio's decision to ban various foodstuffs. When in charge of Sunderland, Di Canio explained: "We need to have lectures about why we can't have every day things like mayonnaise, ketchup and Coke."

Speaking after he was officially introduced as Ireland's manager on Saturday afternoon, O'Neill said: "I'm hoping at some stage or another [Sunderland's captain] John O'Shea asks me at dinner table to pass him the tomato sauce and I will dispose of it immediately. But then if I feel you can't win games without tomato sauce I will empty it on his plate, with the chips.

"John Robertson [O'Neill's former assistant] once said that if every team in Italy has pre-match pasta for their meals, how come three get relegated each year? It's an interesting point. Ability might come into it. I'd have loved the opportunity to sign 15 players like Paolo did. I never got that opportunity.

"I was very disappointed at the outcome. I think I would have garnered the five points necessary to have stayed up and [had] the chance maybe to have changed the side."

The phone of Di Canio's agent Phil Spencer was ringing out yesterday.