What the future holds is a matter of opinion
I’VE OFTEN heard the rather crude phrase ‘opinions are like arseholes, everybody’s got one’ being tossed about like unfurled toilet rolls on to pristine playing surfaces.
However, like most sweeping generalisations, it doesn’t always ring true.
In fact, everyone doesn’t seem to have one – an opinion that is, not a posterior.
Opinions are formed by the few and recycled by the masses, who forcefully regurgitate what they’ve heard elsewhere and desperately try to put their own spin on it.
It’s astounding just how gullible people can be, and they’ll open their jaws like a famished crocodile to swallow whatever meal of fact or fiction that happens to be thrown at them.
Anybody who dips their toes into the shark infested waters of Facebook is bound to have stumbled across the inspirational ‘last words’ of Steve Jobs, who supposedly told us on his deathbed that we should forsake material things in favour of family and love.
Now of course for most rationalthinking folk, like my good self, the moving essay that was attributed to the late Apple chief is about as believable as a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow, but that didn’t stop the post which was accompanied by a photo of a gaunt-looking Jobs being shared by millions.
People tend to accept things they see without question and believe what they want to believe based on little substance. You’ll find hundreds of quotes pasted on photos of those in the public eye, but you could bet your bottom dollar that most are about as realistic as Manchester United’s chances of winning the Premier League. It’s amazing how initially people are so easily fooled. However, once they have been persuaded they tend to become set in their ways, steadfastly holding on to their beliefs, and their opinions couldn’t be swayed even by a biting gale-force wind.
It’s that stubborn mindset that got Martin O’Neill where he is as he contrarily stuck to Plan A and refused to accept that there may be other ways of doing things with the Ireland squad, even with an admittedly limited pool of players.
This is not the time for O’Neill bashing though, although his critics display a similar degree of bloody-mindedness as the Derry man, allowing the lows of the past twelve months to completely eradicate any of the positives of his five-year tenure.
So many simply see things in black and white, whereas in most situations the truth lies somewhere in the grey, hazy mist in between.
There’s no doubting that it was time for a change but we shouldn’t forget the good days that the much-criticised O’Neill- Keane combo brought to the Emerald Isle.
Beating reigning world champions Germany in a European Championship qualifier in 2015 will go down as one of the greatest nights in Irish sporting history, while who could forget Robbie Brady’s late winner against Italy in the finals a year later?
I’ve been a firm critic of O’Neill for the past year or more when it became clear that he and his outdated methods had become as stale as a month-old sliced pan, but now that the dust has settled I won’t allow his recent shortcomings to completely overshadow the golden moments.
Now, after Roy Keane has had his chance with the international side, albeit in a supporting role, we’ve come full circle, with his arch nemesis Mick McCarthy back in the hotseat. For most grown ups, the whole calamitous Saipan shenanigans is exactly where it should be, gathering dust in the past with our ill-fated electronic voting machines and Bobby Charlton’s comb-over, but some just can’t seem to let sleeping hounds lie.
For me the appointment of McCarthy for two years, with Stephen Kenny stepping into the role after serving his apprenticeship with the Under-21s, doesn’t sit that comfortably and smacks of FAI C.E.O. John Delaney trying to appease everybody to take the heat off of problems within the organisation that run much deeper.
What if the impossible happens and McCarthy has turned us into world beaters, while Kenny has struggled to make any inroads with the Under-21s? Will the FAI have a rethink then?
Although, it remains to be seen if McCarthy is indeed the best man for the job in the short term.
He had a decent innings the last time around with a much better calibre of player, but football has moved on in the intervening years, so an argument certainly can be made for a fresh face and some forward thinking.
Surely it couldn’t have done any harm to have trawled the net far and wide for young, progressive managers instead of rushing the process through in time for the draw for the European Championships. At least then we could have had a proper look at what’s available before diving in head first as usual, like a ravenous arctic fox leaping into a snow drift in search of morsels.
However, despite my reservations I’m prepared to open my mind to the idea and maybe, just maybe, in two years’ time I’ll have come around to the FAI’s peculiar way of thinking.
Whether or not everybody has an opinion to match their arsehole is still up for debate, but what is for certain is that every arsehole thinks their opinion matters.