GREEN SHOOTS HIDDEN UNDER DARK CLOUD

The Roy Keane affair affected the side in the defeat to Wales and overshadowed progress in Poland

AFTER the terrible result and performance against Wales, followed by the improvements and deserved draw against Poland, Martin O’Neill has enough on his plate for the next two Nations League matches in Dublin next month.

We are all too familiar with just how good Wales are and the worldclass players they and Denmark possess. O’Neill says confidence has been restored to his Ireland squad following the game in Wroclaw on Tuesday but we will need a lot more than that.

For the supporters, there is a better feeling going into these two home games but I would not necessarily say there is a change in optimism. It is still fresh in everyone’s mind that we got absolutely battered in Cardiff.

There was criticism going into both games and, while the negativity surrounding the team performance has lessened, the scrutiny on O’Neill and his assistant Roy Keane has increased after another bizarre week off the field.

These are the issues O’Neill could do without but ones he has to resolve immediately because the uncertainties surrounding squad selection, availability of some players and their relationship with the assistant manager has to end.

You cannot have players that feel fear around the management team. It would not be the case in any other walk of life and it cannot be the case in football at any level. We can’t have a player like Harry Arter deciding whether he is going to play international football based on an argument with a member of staff. It is ridiculous.

You only get one shot at your career. How can it come to that?

O’Neill insists there was no con- nection between the off-field issues and the performance in Cardiff but, if there is a major concern I had with the performance in the 4-1 defeat, it was that there didn’t appear to be any harmony and togetherness in the team which suggests to me there was a problem.

I know what it’s like to be in an Ireland squad under siege, with the manager getting hammered in the papers, on radio and TV.

When we came back from the 5-2 defeat in Cyprus, it was relentless, and some of the stick thrown at Steve Staunton was personal and nothing to do with his profession. It was a tough environment to be around but all that negativity brought us together. The same clearly happened with the Danes after their strike. They played with togetherness and beat Wales.

Throughout my time with Ireland, stories got out. Sometimes you would scratch your head when a tale made it into the papers. But of course, journalists covering the team have their sources and, 99 times out of 100, the stories were pretty accurate.

Whenever you come back from an international game you will be asked by your agent, family, mates, team-mates, physio, coaches, how it went and if there was anything eventful on the trip. If there has been a bit of controversy, the first question is: “What happened with so-and-so?”.

Some people are bound to talk, especially if it doesn’t really affect them. It is not ideal but these were never life-changing episodes.

This, though, is serious and it implicates the way the assistant manager talks to players or speaks about them. The latest reports created the impression there is not a great feeling within the squad and you will be shot down when you are told you are not a part of it.

How can the team be expected to go out and perform at the best level if there is that sort of feeling around the side? It needs to be addressed and sorted. I do not doubt the veracity of Stephen Ward’s version of the Keane/Arter exchange. If it is wrong, someone is telling lies. If that conversation is accurate, I don’t think that’s the way to get the best out of players.

My first thoughts when I heard the recording were not on the content, but about Stephen. I feel sorry for him. I do know it would have all come out anyway, these things always do, but you can imagine how he must have felt when he heard the news. We live in very different times, and we are all learning by each other’s mistakes on social media. Stephen made a big one but he was really let down by a mate.

Under normal circumstances, in a normal squad, this sort of thing would not have any impact on a player’s future selection and it would be sorted out with a drink, a laugh about it and a handshake. You don’t have to be best mates and sit next to each other at dinner moving forward, but you must have a working relationship. It is logical.

While Enda Stevens might have done O’Neill a favour with his confident performance at left-back in