Poor results led to end of O’neill’s reign.. but FAI chief needs to be called out too

WHEN Ireland lost at home to Wales last month, Martin O’neill came out fighting and kept reiterating the phrase “I’ll win, I’ll win.”

In his eyes, he would have the last laugh on his mounting critics by delivering qualification for Euro 2020 when, crucially, four of the games will be staged in Dublin.

But as many an Irish manager can attest to, when public opinion turns you tend to sink without trace.

In Aarhus on Monday, O’neill was noticeably less bullish about the future but was still determined to dig his heels in despite the relentless waves of criticism.

This has been a wretched year for the team and it has undone the goodwill he banked on the back of Euro 2016.

But in truth, 2018 was a year in the making as this team has been in decline since 2017 when a golden opportunity for automatic World Cup qualification was spurned.

When Ireland won in Vienna two years ago, O’neill boasted a better win to games ratio than any of the Irish managers before him.

Now, his record (34%) has fallen below that of Giovanni Trapattoni (36%), Brian Kerr (55%), Mick Mccarthy (43%) and Jack Charlton (50%) and is level with Steve Staunton.

James Mcclean’s winner in Cardiff has become an iconic night in Irish football in what was a win or bust last game to set up a play-off.

But it should never have come to that.

The wheels had come off a month before when blowing a winning position to draw in Georgia before losing at home to Serbia days later.

The crushing defeat to Denmark a year ago ought to have been the time to draw a line in the sand. Instead, the FAI decided to double down on O’neill after the messy Stoke City saga by arming him with a contract reportedly worth £1.7million a year.

For that, and in the wake of yesterday’s decision to remove him with a year left to run, John Delaney’s own position deserves to be questioned.

The players knew their manager was flirting with suitors elsewhere and results and performances nosedived.

Ructions in the camp between Roy Keane and players – as exclusively revealed by Mirror Sport earlier this year – certainly didn’t help matters.

This Irish squad has not looked a happy camp for a considerable time and yet too often managers alone are made scapegoats.

O’neill deserved to go on the evidence of the last 18 months.

Irish football was going nowhere under his watch. There was no obvious approach or strategy in games.

And the principles on which he built his reputation in the early days of the job had abandoned him. The magic was gone.

Ireland were once hard to beat and thrived on punching above their weight but they are a soft touch these days.

When the public start voting with their feet, the FAI get trigger happy. But what about the FAI’S board of management – the decision makers – themselves?

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the removal of the manager alone will fix the deep rooted problems facing Irish football.

Delaney (below left) has been CEO since 2005 and the majority of today’s board were in place when the FAI parted company with Kerr, Staunton and Trapattoni.

What about change at the top? A fresh approach, a fresh voice and fresh ideas to take Irish football forward.

Who should replace O’neill? I’d like to see Stephen Kenny (below right) given the opportunity. The Dundalk boss is a visionary who plays eye-catching football. He would be a progressive appointment but a risk too. Kenny has his quirks and some wonder would he command the respect of the dressing room.

Well, Seamus Coleman and James Mcclean would fight his corner for starters having come from League of Ireland stock. There are others in that bracket too.

Ireland rely heavily on players from Championship and League One clubs – many of whom have done little of note in their careers to date.

So who among them has the standing and clout to baulk at the idea of a supposedly ‘unproven’ manager who would certainly relish the challenge.

Either way, you can’t help but feel the FAI have missed a trick.

2018 was an experimental year where five of the nine games were friendlies. That ought to have been valuable time for a new manager to bed in with next year in mind.

Instead, having offered O’neill an improved contract in January before dispensing with him 11 months later, the year has been a missed opportunity.

With four of the Euro 2020 finals games in Dublin, the next campaign is arguably the most important there has been for an Irish manager.

The FAI appear to want a safe pair of hands and that may mean Kenny has to bide his time with Mick Mccarthy – who is available and interested – the likeliest successor.

Mccarthy has never hid his desire to return to the hotseat. He would divide opinion by those still hung up on Saipan but would represent the safe option the association seems to want.

When the dust settles, O’neill will be remembered for delivering some of the biggest nights in Irish football but who then stayed too long.

Kenny’s time will come. But appointing him now would show vision and is a risk worth taking.

Giving O’neill a new contract after Denmark thrashing was a huge mistake by the FAI

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE Martin O’neill and his backroom staff have left after five years at the helm