‘What he’s done in the game won’t matter a s*** after his first session’
FAI chief Quinn backs squad to get on board with Kenny philosophy
FOR Republic of Ireland there is always an initiation challenge, usually a song, which is performed in front of players and staff. It’s a light-hearted rite of passage and this week, before the Nations League games against Bulgaria and Finland, the spotlight falls on the uncapped duo Jayson Molumby and Adam Idah.
As for the Ireland manager, Stephen Kenny, who is also new to the ways of a senior international gathering, he’ll pass.
‘No, no, it’s not something I’d considered at all,’ he smiled.
‘I’m trying to keep people in the room, not empty it, you know?’
Today marks the first formal day at the coalface for Kenny as Ireland boss.
For four months he has been preparing, assembling his senior coaching staff and overhauling an entire backroom team, while accepting a position on the FAI’s new Senior Leadership Team as International Football Director.
The soft-spoken Dubliner is, by some margin, the most influential football person in the 99-year history of the FAI.
He’s not just the manager of the senior international team, but also an overseer for a new way of football, a new identity for all the boys, and girls, in green.
No previous senior manager has ever been handed such responsibility, or such a challenge.
I suspect most of them wouldn’t have wanted it. They’d have been looking at the next match and trying their level best to get a result to help the team qualify for a tournament.
As Brian Kerr said of the Irish manager’s job, ‘It’s about getting the best players in, preparing them, and trying to win matches.’
Kenny has that role, and much more. The football side of it starts in Abbotstown today with a group of players, some know him from the Under 21s, others know him by reputation only. What happens on the grass – and Kenny says it’s all about the grass – must intrigue and stimulate the players.
Away from the pitches, the video analysis, the team hotel in Castleknock, those who have placed the football faith (or is it fate?) of a nation in Kenny, will watch and wait. Kenny’s first game comes up fast, on Thursday, against Bulgaria in Sofia. The second is on Sunday, against Finland in Dublin.
There are three games in October, one of them the Euro 2020 play-off in Slovakia, and three more in November.
Inside 76 days, Kenny must plan, pick and play eight internationals, one more than was played in all of 2018. That’s a lot of games, a lot of potential mood swings for the fans, good or bad, and others who observe the national team.
For Niall Quinn, it doesn’t matter much how Thursday goes, or the next three months.
He’s backing Kenny for the long haul, as are the FAI chiefs, headed by the board of directors. This is an evolution of Irish football, not a revolution.
‘In most cases managers come in and it’s a results business, and for the first couple of games it’s about getting a result,’ observed Quinn, the interim FAI deputy CEO.
‘But in this one I’d be asking people to understand the change that is going to be applied here and give it a little bit of time.
‘We’re asking Stephen and his group to create a new identity for Irish football.
‘That shouldn’t be judged in the game against Bulgaria. What we can do is look for a bit of difference that players will thrive and enjoy playing in.’ So, what will Ireland’s players expect Kenny’s message to be at his first training session today?
‘You don’t have to be a great player to become manager, it’s almost a problem for great players. To get a great dressing room together the players need to believe in you, what you want to achieve, and that they can do it with you. That’s his task and how he puts that together.
‘After one training session, it won’t matter a s**t what he’s done with other teams. After five sessions, it won’t matter. It’s the here and now. Nowadays players don’t look at how many medals you have. You have managers who haven’t done what others have in terms of medals and they become very strong.
That’s the way the game has gone. So many players got chances and haven’t done it. ‘Stephen hasn’t won a Premier League title as manager but he has shown his teams can play very exciting football.’
And the former Ireland international feels there will be ‘signs’ in the eight games that Kenny is ‘on to something here’.
‘The public is waiting to see a different type of Irish team. Can that arrive in one game? No. Over eight, I think we’ll have a good opportunity.’
And if the eight games don’t go well and punters aren’t happy What then?
‘I would hope there would be (signs). We’ve backed him that there would be. The evidence from the U21s would show you that,’ said Quinn.
‘To play eight games so quickly is mindboggling. We’ll try and evaluate from game to game where he is. Is there any more help we (FAI) can give him? Are the players happy? ‘Can the team go to the next stage? ‘The next stage for me is that the way we play football is starting to excite.
‘That’s the starting point. I wouldn’t put any demands on the amount of the eight games we have to win.’
Kenny will, and so will those who follow Ireland and want to see an improvement from the wretchedness of 2018 that marked the end for Martin O’Neill. As for the Mick McCarthy return of 2019, it steadied the ship, no more.
‘It’s a big thing to come out of from where we were. I’d plead for patience from people on that basis,’ said Quinn.
Where the Ireland job is concerned, patience only lasts so long, as all those who’ve ever held the fort can confirm.
Just as location, location, location matters when it comes to selling a house, so every football manager is defined by results, results, results, as Kenny found out the hard way at Shamrock Rovers eight years ago.
And for all that he has staunch support from the FAI, there are immense benefits to a fast start in Sofia this week ahead of the game that matters most of all, Slovakia on October 8 in the play-offs.
Victory there would be music to everyone’s ears.
‘I WOULD ASK PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THE CHANGE THAT IS GOING TO BE APPLIED HERE AND GIVE IT A LITTLE TIME’