Sport

Brendan Crossan: A manager's message is key as Stephen Kenny leads from the front

Stephen Kenny wants all Irish teams playing a certain way
Stephen Kenny wants all Irish teams playing a certain way Stephen Kenny wants all Irish teams playing a certain way

SINCE covering the Republic of Ireland team over the last two decades, different managers have brought different things to the table. Some brought more than others.

Mick McCarthy eventually got things right before we watched him age 10 years before our very eyes in the quaint little city of Izumo as the events of Saipan a couple of days earlier took a firm and irrational grip of the nation.

Ironically, McCarthy had got the team playing some decent stuff with the emergence of Damien Duff and Robbie Keane blending well with the left-over nucleus of Jack Charlton’s team.

After a couple of Euro 2004 qualification games, though, McCarthy succumbed to the pressure and left for Sunderland.

Brian Kerr, who had huge success at underage level, replaced him.

I liked Kerr from the start. He was pure blue-collar from Drimnagh and was a celebrated example of how a grassroots coach could make it right to the top.

I always remember Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel bursting at the seams. It was the kind of unveiling fit for a rock star.

I can still see Kerr’s smart suit and tight smile as the cameras flashed.

Kerr made a decent fist of Euro 2004 qualification despite being behind the black ball when he came in.

He was soon let go by the FAI. He deserved another contract and a crack at qualifying for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

But, in their infinite wisdom, the FAI opted for Steve Staunton who was a desperate disappointment, even with the fatherly presence of Bobby Robson by his side – which, in many ways, was tacit acceptance that one of the best defenders Ireland ever produced was simply not up to the job of managing the senior team.

Long before Staunton’s time, the prevailing narrative was that the Republic of Ireland team would occasionally punch above its weight and reach a major tournament every now and then.

But Ireland’s perceived lack of ability really gathered pace during Giovanni Trapattoni and Martin O’Neill’s periods in charge.

That was 10 years of quelling expectations. Now, neither ‘Trap’ or O’Neill were blessed with many world class players during their reigns.

Damien Duff, Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne, Shay Given and Seamus Coleman were the best the Republic had to offer.

And, yes, both managers had their fair share of average footballers.

But, looking back, O’Neill nor Trapattoni needed an invitation to tell reporters and the general public that they were overseers of an average team.

Everything was caveated in their press conferences: ‘What we lack in quality, we more than make up for in spirit and determination…’

Basically, the Irish were a gutsy bunch but average. If you’re told often enough that you are average, you’ll rarely aspire to be anything other than average.

And so a stereotype takes root and was perpetuated by the dreadfully bleak ‘kick and rush’ style their teams played with.

This was classic self-fulfilling prophecy.

Press conferences are weird arenas. Before a manager assumes his seat at the top table there are a number of different audiences in front of him.

There is the media themselves, the general public, there is the football fraternity back in Italy or, in O’Neill’s case, England and there are the players.

For any manager, the most important audience should always be his players. When he’s in front of a microphone, he should be talking with his players in mind.

The Irish media loved Trapattoni. But the veteran Italian was more interested in his audience back home. He would regularly portray that he was in charge of an average group of players.

Likewise, O’Neill. If they were average – and, in many instances, they were – it shouldn’t have been the manager’s primary role to ram home the point.

The messaging was all wrong at their press briefings. It was about lowering expectations and buying time in the job – and if the team happened to breach their modest targets, the manager could always share in the credit.

On reflection, Trapattoni and O’Neill probably stayed one campaign too long.

Stephen Kenny has only conducted a handful of press conferences since taking on the senior job.

His messaging takes a bit of getting used to – but it is clear nearly every answer he has given to the media over the last week is for the eyes and ears of his players.

Every uttered word is like a confidence injection into the arms of Adam Idah, James McCarthy, Darren Randolph, John Egan and Robbie Brady.

“It’s my job to make players better,” he has said repeatedly. It sounds an obvious thing to say but previous managers acted like innocent onlookers to the average nature of the squad.

Upon taking the senior job, Kenny could have spoken about ‘building for the future’ to buy himself time, or highlight how Mick McCarthy’s second tenure had, understandably, warped the development of the senior team largely because of the ridiculous terms of his contract.

McCarthy had one objective: qualify for Euro 2020.

Why would McCarthy want to ‘blood’ new players if he was out the door as soon as Ireland’s interest in Euro 2020 expired?

As a consequence, 35-year-old Glenn Whelan was recalled to anchor the midfield. Everything had short-term written all over it.

A strong identity is absolutely essential for any successful football team or football nation.

For the best part of the last two decades, the Irish team’s identity has been one of plucky underdogs who will shed their last bead of sweat for the cause.

But it’s all a bit outmoded now. Football has moved on.

Ireland have been constantly outplayed by lower-ranked nations in midfield because successive Irish teams have never placed enough value on keeping possession.

For a time during Martin O’Neill’s era, the ageing Wes Hoolahan gave a glimpse of what Irish midfields could look like if they were encouraged to be braver on the ball.

It’s no surprise Stephen Kenny is trying to implement a playing philosophy from underage level right through to the senior team, so that Irish football has an identity that is more imaginative, more enduring than what went before.

Even if Kenny doesn’t get results in the top job, his template for Irish football is one that should be embraced and built upon.