FRIENDLY FIRE
Martin fires a warning to Mick over fixtures
MARTIN O’NEILL reckons results in friendly games contributed to his downfall as Republic of Ireland manager and has warned his successor, Mick McCarthy, against taking on a certain ‘type’ of friendly.
On his unveiling as Nottingham Forest manager, O’Neill for the first time touched on the circumstances which led to his abrupt departure from the Irish job mid-contract two months ago.
‘In the last year we did not have very good results. Five of the nine games were friendly matches,’ he observed.
‘One was away to France, before they won the World Cup; we played away in Poland and we played away in Turkey with a side that we were experimenting with.
‘Mick (McCarthy) now has taken over and Mick will know not to take on those type of friendly matches. I thought that was the point [of experimenting],’ he added.
Was O’Neill disappointed at events after
the Nations League group games ended? ‘I won’t be talking about that. I am here now to do this particular job and that’s where I’m going,’ he said. O’Neill explained the delay over Roy Keane joining him as his No 2 at Forest may be partially because of Keane’s concern for the health of his father, Mossie. ‘Roy had things planned and his Dad is not well at the moment and he has had to look at that too. So, he has had genuinely very little time to consider anything coming his way. ‘I would really like him to come to the football club if he could. It [18 months] is not a long, long period of time out of his life.’ ‘This has hit him as quickly as it has hit me, but I would like him to come. I enjoyed working with him and I think that he would be a great help. ‘I think that he is looking at a number of things.’ O’Neill defended Keane’s contribution during their five years together with Ireland. ‘Roy was great with us. I took him on board as the assistant manager. I didn’t say that I knew him brilliantly at that time. ‘Who knows after five years if I know him at all! ‘Overall, he was great for me and great for the players and the genuine truth is that I don’t think that we would have qualified for the Euros without his presence.’ O’Neill said he had little contact with Keane since they finished with Ireland two months ago. ‘We had a cup of tea together but never really discussed these things.’ Keane infamously fell out with Jon Walters and Harry Arter (below) and O’Neill acknowledged the shifting ways of conveying criticism to players in today’s world. ‘There are changes that have taken place in this modern game now that you address. ‘I think we will all look at those particular things and what I am talking about is players being able to accept some sort of criticism and fight back. ‘From my own viewpoint that would have been my stance, but I accept that it is not everyone’s. And I think that we can all learn.’ Of his new challenge at his old club Forest, O’Neill’s mood was one of rejuvenation. ‘It would be great to get this club back up. It would be fantastic and that’s why I’ve taken it on. I want to really give it everything I’ve got. I want to live every single day of it,’ he said. Ironically, given the timing of O’Neill’s remarks, the Republic of Ireland have arranged two home friendlies with Bulgaria and New Zealand for later in the year. Bulgaria will visit Dublin on Tuesday, September 10, with New Zealand to arrive on Thursday, November 14.