I would love to be Ireland manager, says Poyet

AFTER doing a Euro 2024 number on the double over Stephen Kenny, Greece boss Gus Poyet said he ‘would love’ to manage the Republic of Ireland.

‘It is a big plus for us to have this situation now (in Group B) and be able to beat the Republic of Ireland twice, because I would like to be in charge of the team here.

‘I would absolutely love that. I think it is a terrific place to come and play football,’ said the 55-yearold, right. ‘When we came yesterday into the stadium, the reaction of the players was ‘Wow’.

‘In Uruguay we are patriots, but I don’t think many people buy the national team tracksuit. I was even surprised coming from the hotel, watching the people.’

From Booterstown to Lansdowne Road, Poyet may have been confused by IRFU green rather than FAI green but he was quickly on point when given Kenny’s starting XI.

‘When we saw the team we went “Whoa, whoa’. What is going on?’ I thought that Manning was injured but he was on the bench. So we had to watch a little bit of the warm-up and find out.’

Meanwhile Kenny refused to react to former Liverpool and Germany star Didi Hamann’s heavy criticism of the Kenny era on RTÉ following the defeat on Friday night.

‘I’ve no reaction to that. I’m not speaking about him. I’m not interested in Didi Hamann,’ said Kenny.

‘I have a vision about how I want the team to play. We’ve tried to radically change the way the team would have played beforehand and we’ve achieved that in a lot of games,’ added the Ireland manager.

‘We’ve changed the way we played. We’ve conceded goals we shouldn’t and I’ve got to accept responsibility for that.

‘I think I’m a team builder, that’s what I am, I have a vision for what I want and I try and build to create.’