Doyle gives verdict on new man at the helm
Doyle hopes new Ireland boss will handle the pressure
EX-INTERNATIONAL Kevin Doyle is caught between two stools when discussing new Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny.
Wexford’s finest is looking forward to seeing what the fledgling boss brings to the table, but he understandably feels sympathy for Mick McCarthy, having worked under him at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
With Ireland two wins away from a place in the delayed European Championships, Doyle would have liked to have seen his former boss given the chance to go out with a bang, but at the same time he fully understands why the FAI made the decision they did.
‘It was a unique situation. I haven’t spoken to Mick about it, but of course he would have liked to have seen it through,’ he said.
‘If I was in charge I would have pushed for an agreement where Mick would stay in the job until the Euros were over and then let Stephen take over, like what was originally agreed.
‘You can understand why they didn’t go down that route but you’d like to see the manager finish what he started.
‘Mick is a very good man. He was never going to throw his toys out of the pram, but I think he’ll be disappointed that after coming back and having a great opportunity to get to a European Championship that he won’t be able to finish the job,’ he added.
Although McCarthy’s second stint in charge of the Irish team may not have finished how he would have hoped, and he received some criticism for the style of play along the way, Doyle believes his former boss did okay, considering he had to cut his cloth to fit in a stop-gap situation.
‘The way it finished under Martin O’Neill, they were in a bad way. The team were very low on confidence when Mick came in and he did a decent job of turning it around. They weren’t going to be playing like Brazil overnight under him.
‘The first time around he had a young Damien Duff and a young Robbie Keane. Mick would have been more pragmatic this time with the style of play, thinking “I’m only here for a short time”, so it was more about getting in and getting results and keeping the experienced lads around.
‘He wasn’t here to develop longterm, it was a short-term, quick-fix job. Obviously that didn’t help the style of play, it was just about getting to the Euros,’ he said.
Turning his attention to the new man in the hot seat, the Adamstown native believes Kenny is a good fit for the job and isn’t overly concerned about his perceived lack of experience at a high level.
‘I think he’s as good as anyone available. You only get experience by doing the job. There’s not too many people who would want the Irish job that have international experience.
‘You have a limited pool to pick from and I think he’s as good a candidate as any. I can’t think of anyone who jumps out right now,’ he said.
Doyle, who started his career in the League of Ireland, with St. Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City, has been impressed with the style of football of Kenny’s teams and believes he will be true to his word as he tries to instill that self-belief into the senior side.
‘He had Dundalk playing very well, you have people who are asking for an attractive style of football from Ireland and he definitely tries to do it.
‘He really got his Under-21 side playing well. Irish Under-21s have never really done well and qualified for tournaments over the years but he has them top of a group containing some good sides [Italy and Sweden].
‘He had them playing well and has the players believing in him and scoring plenty of goals,’ he said.
Others have struggled to deal with being Ireland manager in the past, and the former Wolves and Reading striker believes that coping with the cauldron of pressure that comes with the job will be Kenny’s toughest task.
‘My one worry for Stephen Kenny wouldn’t be a lack of experience in football or coaching, more a lack of experience in real high pressure situations. He will never have been under that kind of scrutiny before.
‘Everyone will have an opinion on him, he’ll be under pressure from the press. It will be front page news if they lose which would never have been the case with Dundalk or any previous clubs he managed.
‘That pressure will be a test for him and it will start pretty much straight away when he tries to qualify for the Euros. I really hope he does well.
‘He’s a nice man. I’ve met him a number of times and he’s a genuine, good man, with massive passion for coaching and playing good football,’ he said.
A lot of football fans in the country are getting excited about young, potential stars coming through but, having navigated that path himself, Doyle is all too aware that there’s a giant chasm in class between Under-21 and senior international level.
‘Most of the guys playing at Under-21 probably won’t step up to senior level. A lot of them wouldn’t be in their first team at their clubs so they have to make that step up first.
‘Lots of them drop by the wayside, you might only get one or two out of that squad, but Stephen knows them inside out.
‘It will be interesting to see if he sticks with the lads that got Ireland to the play-off situation or will he transition to the younger generation? That will be his first big decision to make.
‘Will he stick with the likes of Glenn Whelan and David McGoldrick, and people like that, who played most of the games under Mick and have played well? It will nearly be a year since they’ve all played together and a year is a long time for a 34- or 35-year-old,’ he said.
Kenny has an opportunity to quickly make a name for himself, with qualification for the Euros just a couple of victories away, and Doyle believes that while progressing to the tournament is not the be all and end all for the manager, it would be a massive boost for the beleaguered FAI and the country as a whole.
‘Financially it’s massive for the FAI and it’s important for the country. You get two games in Dublin if you’re in the tournament. I don’t know if it’s vitally important for his role as Ireland manager, he’ll be given a bit of leeway, but it would be a huge boost for the FAI and for soccer generally in the country.
‘To have Ireland playing at home in the European Championships would be a big, big thing. That chance probably won’t come round again,’ he said.
Doyle also gave the thumbs up to the news that Damien Duff and Keith Andrews will be part of Stephen Kenny’s coaching staff, believing that his former Irish team-mates will work well with the current crop.
‘They’re very good appointments. Damien is an enthusiastic coach and they’re both young men, who still have a connection with the players. They’re not that long retired so they won’t have forgotten the mindset of being a player.
‘They’ll be able to relate to the players and be a good go-between between the manager and the squad. I got on really well with them and I think the players will love working with them,’ he said.
There’s no denying that Irish football has been going through a tough time of late, having been blighted by off-field scandals, and the performances on the pitch have often failed to lift the mood, but Doyle sees green shoots of recovery.
‘We have a lot of good under-age players that are doing well. We haven’t had many players coming through in the last few years, but I think we’re going to see a few coming through now.
‘There’s been a lot of negative news in Irish football in the last year or two, but I think we’re on the way up from the bottom of that curve,’ he said.