Pressure My Arse.

The Premier League management brigade are the greatest bunch of spoofers of all time. I guess they have to be to keep themselves in the job seen as they don't do anything tangible like kick the football on the pitch.

Steve Bruce is perhaps the exception. The man just oozes chill and relaxation. Steve realises that his team have nothing to play for and are in no danger of anything either. He is in a comfortable position and is very well compensated for his troubles. He does try at least to look like he's bothered. He comes out in press conferences afterwards giving out about the referee and cursing his luck but he is really just spluttering out the same tired lines. He's almost gone beyond cliche if that's possible for a Premier League Manager.

Essentially you see it doesn't matter to Steve because he has nothing to gain. Any pressure experienced by managers in the Premier League is entirely fake and based on outcomes and results which are in fact utterly meaningless. David Moyes was making all the right shapes recently when Villa came back and stole the points at Goodison but when you think about it, the only bearing that result can possibly have on Everton's season is where they might finish between 5th and 16th. Even if they do qualify for the UEFA Cup, a competition which nobody watches or cares about, they'll only be complaining about having too many games next season.

There is no pressure in the Premier League because the managers have nothing to lose. They can lose their jobs of course but their contracts will be paid out, which in every case amounts to several millions of pounds. So even if they are absolutely useless, win hardly any games and have no qualifications, you will still need to pay them millions of pounds to get rid of them.

Yes I am thinking about Paul Ince here. Incey was crying about there being a vendetta against ex-Manchester United players, young managers, him in particular and so on. He was emotional in press conferences and "came out fighting in the press every week"but when the inevitable finally occurred he walked away a substantially richer man than when he started the job only a few short months before.

There was a statistic floating around a couple of years ago that managers in the lower league are actually paid less than the minimum wage. This was calculated because they work about 90 hours a week and are paid a yearly salary which if you divide by the number of hours you work actually comes to less than the minimum wage.


The particular example I remember was Ronnie Moore who was Oldham manager. He'd previously had some success with Rotherham bringing them from the League 2 to the Championship or whatever it called at the time. He was separated from his wife, lived alone and spent every evening driving up and down the country watching reserves, youths, non-league and any other kind of a game trying to find players to improve the team. Oldham had zero cash at the time and Ronnie was left to do all the scouting, training and recruitment himself. He said he'd be back in the training ground for 6.30 every morning to prepare for the days training. I'm not sure if I'd call this pressure or madness. I'm leaning towards madness I have to say. He is currently in charge of Tranmare Rovers in 8th place in League 1.

The hardest part about being a Premier League Manager is getting the cushy job in the first place. Upon being appointed, you are immediately financially secure for life, you have a full scouting network at your disposal and because at least two of the promoted clubs will be relegated and are expected to be relegated (taking any perceived pressure off them too), only one established Premier League team will go down (the promoted one that stayed up the previous year perhaps). They are good odds.

In Ronnie's job he doesn't have any of the support mechanisms in place, he doesn't have job security because his wages are relatively low to begin with. I'm sure there is quite a lot of pressure involved in deciding whether to give a contract to a player who is not trained to do anything else but might have a mortgage to pay.

Brucey knows he has it good. Incey knew he had it good and this possibly even led to his downfall such was his smugness on joining the millionaires club. Martin O'Neill, Moyes & Co. put on a show and they are still passionate about trying to win a given game (as long as it's not in a meaningless cup competition) but please don't be fooled into thinking it actually means anything.

An Interview with Paul McShane

I interviewed Paul McShane today for the radio show. It will go out this Sunday between 3-5 on http://www.westlimerick102.ie/. Paul is a pretty interesting character and it's a testimony of his determination and character that he has at this stage become an established premier league player. Hull were 2-0 to the good when he went off against Liverpool and Phil Brown blamed Paul's early substitution due to concussion for only coming away with a draw.

As he said "I just couldn't see a thing, everything was just a blur". I told Paul I thought it would take a lot for him to come off at Anfield and he said "I didn't want to come off at all but I thought I should at least tell the bench I couldn't see and they made the decision".

He attributes Hull success this season to their team spirit and the organisation Phil Brown brings to the team. In that respect Paul says that Phil's style is quite similar to Trappatoni's for Ireland. He loves coming over to work with Trap and sounded very determined to qualify for the World Cup. He even suggested we might finish ahead of the Italians saying we had a game in hand over them.

I asked him what kind of a character Roy Keane was. Keane of course signed Paul from West Brom at the start of last season. Paul didn't divulge too much "I'm not going to talk about Roy Keane. Roy Keane is a good man, he did a good job and that's the end of it". I only wanted to find out what Roy was like in person and on that point Paul simply said that what you see is what you get.

I thought Paul might be able to convince Stephen Ireland to return to the Irish set up when they play Man City on St. Stephen's Day. Paul said he was great friends with Stephen (and still is) when he was part of the squad having played with him all the way through with the Irish underage teams. Paul told me he'd try to get him back and if he doesn't he'll stick the foot into him during the match!

Paul would like to make the move to Hull permanent but he says the ball is very much in Sunderland's court. He is due back at the Stadium of Light in January but he hasn't heard anything yet so he just going to keep focused on the next game. He struck as the kind of guy who is just happy to be playing regularly in a winning team. Sounds like a pretty good time to me.

Paul Ince- The Man Who Had It Made.

So Paul Ince got the bullet at Blackburn. No surprise there. He spoke a couple of weeks ago about not feeling under pressure because real pressure he said was only to be found at places like Macclesfield where the players' future mortgage repayments depended on their ability to keep the club in the football league.

Unfortunately that seemed to be the problem at Blackburn. Incey didn't appear to be under any pressure and his team weren't exactly scrapping like they had much on the line either. Paul Ince's ambition was to manage in the Premier League or as he'd put it himself "to be the first black manager to manage in the Premier League" whatever that has to do with anything.

To achieve this he started right at the very bottom of the managerial ladder by taking over a team who lay adrift in 94th and last position in the football league. He was suitably bitter and twisted over not getting the Wolves job and he felt (possibly with some justification) that there was a reluctance by clubs to hire black managers. Whether any of this is true or not, it certainly gave him the serious motivation necessary to focus a team and force them to get results. There is nothing quite like a siege mentality to get everyone pulling in the one direction and no one is quite as dangerous in football as someone who feels they've been shafted and have a point to prove (unless that someone is Ian Dowie that is).

Sure enough Incey somehow managed to keep Macclesfield up and having done so he took the job at MK Dons which he would rightly have seen as the promotion he deserved. It still wasn't where he wanted to be but it was another opportunity and a better one to show the world what he could do. Unprecedented success followed for the Dons who up to Incey taking over were in free fall and at one point looked like they might be passed by their former incarnation AFC Wimbledon who were moving in the other direction. Incey not only stopped the rot, he actually led MK Dons to their first and second trophies, the League 2 title and the FA vase or some other trophy which means a lot to teams with low expectations.

Paul Ince was equally ambitious as a player. He was famously photographed wearing a Manchester United shirt while still a West Ham player. He moved from United to Inter Milan before to returning to a Liverpool team I'm sure he thought were going somewhere. Now as a manager he was showing the same hunger and thirst for recognition. There isn't anything wrong with that. It's just that as a player he wanted to win everything, as a manager the height of his ambition was to manager in the Premier League.

Blackburn Rovers offered him that chance during the summer and Incey jumped at it. Finally he'd arrived. He'd achieved what he had set out to do. He was now a Premier League manager after only a season and a half in the dugout. The problem is that when he got the Blackburn job, his demeanour seemed to change. He was more contented, self satisfied almost. I felt like he was enjoying the experience a bit too much. In fact I got the impression he was wallowing in it.

Maybe he thought he was invincible having been so successful in his previous two jobs or that Blackburn's squad was so much stronger than the promoted teams that they couldn't possibly go down. Either way I had my doubts whether Incey fully appreciated the scale of the challenge he was facing or maybe he just didn't care seen as by becoming the Blackburn Manager he had achieved all he had set out to achieve.

He was hardly in the job when he lost Brad Friedel to Aston Villa. Ince didn't seem overly concerned at losing Blackburn's saviour on so many occasions. He probably thought Friedel was too old or that he was entitled to have one more shot at the big time before he retired. It's fine to think like that if you have a replacement lined up otherwise you should make a point of doing everything you can to keep him.

The signing of Paul Robinson in itself wasn't such a bad move. £3.5 million for a well established England International looks like good business on the face of it but Robinson is just not a good goalkeeper and no amount of long kick outs are going to change that. He is far too slow for the top flight and I think his form has shaken the confidence of the previously solid Blackburn back four. It was obvious from Robinson's performances for Spurs that he wasn't agile enough for this level but still Ince put his faith in him. Still even if he'd bought Scott Carson or Ben Foster instead of Freidel, I doubt the results would have been much different. It's hard to find a good keeper these days.

Ince was unlucky in that he also lost David Bentley. There wasn't much he could have done about that and again Bentley was one of Blackburn's key players in previous seasons. His loss would have been a massive blow to whoever took over. His replacements have failed to fill the void. Grella and Villanueva might be good players but I've never heard of them and it's asking a lot of these players to replace Bentley and adapt to the Premier League so quickly. Both have shown flashes of quality but neither have had any real impact. Another example of players signed by Ince who were happy to be in the Premier League without having any particular pressure on them to perform now that they'd arrived.

Jermaine Pennant would have been available this summer and would have proven an established if lesser replacement for Bentley. At least you know what you're going to get. Keith Andrews has looked the part at times but like Blackburn's season, the games pass him by and he rarely seems to be where the action is. He is Premier League quality but like the rest of the Blackburn players he should take more responsibility and get more involved in the play. It's not enough just to be there.

The hallmark of Blackburn teams in recent years was that they were defensively strong, difficult to play against and sharp on the attack. They didn't show any of those qualities this year. Defensively they were a mess. The full back Olsson in particular but they have all been guilty of basic errors and they have obviously lost confidence in themselves and each. Although having heard Nigel Winterburn's assessment I would be inclined to lay the blame for that firmly at his door but then Ince shouldn't have brought in such an inexperienced and obviously incompetent coach. The man was a full back after all.

There was little fight in them either and the way they lay down against Man U at Ewood Park was symptomatic of how they have played all season. The mentality seemed to be "If you take it easy we will". They have shown no ruthlessness at all. They lost to a shambolic Sunderland and were thrilled to take a point at West Brom.

Santa Cruz and Benny McCarthy haven't looked fit this year or maybe they just lost interest. Pedersen isn't and probably never was the player we thought. He had a poor season last year too and is a player Ince probably should have moved on in the summer if he needed to raise funds.

It is Ince's job to motivate the players, organise them and get them playing to their potential. He didn't do that and that was why he had to go. He didn't tackle the job as if his life depended on it. He let certain things slide and having finally "arrived" he took his eye off the ball. There is no doubt that Ince will be back. There is no shame in being sacked at this stage of his managerial career but he didn't fulfil his potential at Blackburn because I don't think he fully appreciated that there was a job there to be done.

Why Not Dave O'Leary for the Sunderland job?

Listen, O'Leary is one of our own for God's sake. Just because Deadly Doug Ellis and the English Premier League have turned against him doesn't mean we have to. Are our memories really that short? Does no one remember that penalty against Romania? Men have had airports named after them for less (O'Hare, De Gaulle- what have they ever done?). Everyone went out and got shitfaced afterwards, having a great time. Not me, I was only seven but I sometimes look back at the video footage from that World Cup. The scenes of the homecoming, the sheer euphoria that swept the country every time Captain Fantastic launched the ball towards the opposition penalty area. It was a great time to be alive.

Not only did O'Leary extend the party by a week but he also brought us our greatest ever victory over Causcescu's Romania and and the mighty Gheorgi Hagi. In my book that actually makes David O'Leary a national hero so I can't understand all this hostility and indifference towards him now. We should at least be defending the man but no one speaks up for David O'Leary and that is a terrible indictment on the people of Ireland. Did we use O'Leary for our own selfish purposes and then toss him aside when we'd had our fun?

O'Leary is never considered for any job that comes up. I don't mind the English media ignoring him but I think his credentials should be given more consideration by the Irish press. For me he's more qualified to take over Sunderland (the most Irish club in the Premier League) than any of the other candidates being touted. O'Leary finished in the top six with Leeds every year and in one of his two years with Villa.

I couldn't believe when I heard that Ally McCoist is even being linked with the job ahead of O'Leary. Not only has he never managed a team in his life but he also has about as much in common with the average Irish football supporter as Queen Elizabeth or Ian Paisley. Politics don't come into football but rivalries do and how Ally McCoist has risen above O'Leary in the pecking order is simply beyond me. It defies logic. If I'm completely missing something totally obvious here, please tell me.

There was a vendetta against him at Villa whether it was justified or not. Deadly Doug refused to give him the money to strenghten the squad probably because he wanted to sell the club and didn't want to invest any more to make the maximum profit. Then he sacked David O'Leary even though he was on the verge of selling the club. Surely that decision should have been left to the new owner.

O'Leary didn't do himself any favours by whining to the media about the lack of funds. I think he wanted the fans to put pressure on Doug to give him some cash but it just sounded like he was making excuses for poor results on his meagre squad. The number of young players he brought through at Villa (or had to bring through) shows how lacking in experience that squad were and what a good a manager he is that he gave these players the confidence and the know how to perform at this level. When they beat Birmingham 3-1 towards the end of his final season at Villa Park Ridgewell, Cahill, Gardner, Davis, Agbonlahor, Samuel and Milner all played. O'Neill quickly swapped a few of these guys for some much needed experience.

I'd nearly give the job to Ricky Sbragia just because he's obviously a good coach and he seems to be playing Sunderland to their strengths which I'm sure will be rewarded with good results. He probably isn't high profile enough for the club if they're looking to attract top players or 'market their product overseas'.

Allerdyce and Curbishly are small club, small mentality managers and both showed that at Newcastle and West Ham. Big Sam couldn't appease the supporters or handle the pressure and Curbishly showed no tact or savvy when dealing with the board. That might be harsh on Curbs but in any case I think O'Leary is a much better manager than him. It could be argued that Allerdyce is more tactically aware (than anyone else in the game) but I don't think the Newcastle fans appreciated scientific analysis of their defeats nor did they care that based on the Pro-zone stats, they actually won.

I still think O'Leary should be considered. I don't know why there is so much opposition or indifference towards O'Leary. He isn't even being considered yet he was able to make Paul Robinson, Alan Smith and Ian Harte (briefly) look like good players. He was a model pro playing 772 games for Arsenal which speaks volumes in itself. He scored the winner against Romania. Like it or not careers and legends are built on such things. Avram Grant might be the best manager in the world were it not for the lottery of penalties.

I think he actually did a good job at Villa, even in the second season. If you saw the game against Birmingham in April that year, Villa needing to win to be sure of staying up against a resurgent Birmingham side, you'd see why. Villa produced a very determined robust performance that day. Villa's players were either rubbish, injured or too young that year and because O'Leary couldn't replace them, they struggled.

O'Leary's teams are organised always and he gets the best out of all his players. See above and note Dacourt, Viduka, Ferdinand, Matteo, Kewell amongst others. I'd even say Baros when he played that last season for Villa looked good. He also bought Bouma, Melberg (I think), Laursen, brought through Cahill, Davis, Gardiner, Whittingham, Agbonlahor and Moore. They didn't all make it but they all looked good for a time under him.

He was also the first one to notice just how bad Ian Harte is. Even Roy Keane took a while to catch on to that one. The problem with O'Leary are the stories about how he is too squeaky clean, no laugh and no good for going on the lash. Unlike Martin O'Neill who is chummy and affable like Tel, Harry and Fergie (sometimes). They're the popular managers with the press and fans alike and it is, in part for that reason. O'Leary just isn't one of the lads but he is a good manager and this is what we should really be focused on.

I think he was made the scapegoat for a lot of the Leeds debacle. O'Leary wasn't writing the cheques (Peter Ridsdale was) and he bought a lot of very good players. Seth Johnson stands out as signing where it all fell apart and it is one which still haunts O'Leary but Johnson got injured not long after that move so we have no way of knowing how good he would have become except to say that other top sides were looking at him at that time as well. Again it was Ridsdale who negotiated the deal and wages, not O'Leary.

The book was a mistake but so what. So many different people were involved, all with vested interests in making sure it got optimum publicity. Publishers, editors, newspapers, it wasn't all his fault. I'm willing to accept he was badly advised. At Villa he had deadly Doug to contend with. With Sunderland, he'd have no excuses only the players at his disposal to work with like the early days at Leeds. He plays the game as it should be played too which would keep Gilesy and the fans happy.

The concern I keep coming back to is his character. For some reason I think he's sly or dishonest. Why do I (and everyone else) think that? Have we been brainwashed by the British media? Of course we have but what I mean is have we been brainwashed on O'Leary? "O'Leary is dour". So what, his teams aren't and he scored that goal!

He has been successful for most of his life, he has something to prove and deserves his chance. Quinny and himself have history having played together at Arsenal. This makes it even more bizarre that he is not being linked with the job. Quinny was something of a hell raiser in those days and writes in his (excellent) autobiography about O'Leary being squeaky clean and how he had to try to hide the smell of alcohol off himself when he used to gives him lifts to training.

You don't get to playing all those games for Arsenal unless you're both exceedingly talented and professional. Quinny didn't last that long at Highbury and maybe it's just O'Leary's style of management which is needed now to take Sunderland to the next level and establish that big club mentality which Keane himself so often spoke about.

Robbie & I

It's been a tough six months for Robbie and I. Those heady days of summer when the world seemed so full of possibility feel like a long time ago now. We were on top of our game then or at least Robbie was at the top of his, I just happened to be doing a little better than I am now. We didn't think for a moment that things would be as barren as they have become. We had to leave our respective clubs this summer. Our relationships there had run their course and I think in the end all parties accepted that it was best that we seek a new challenge elsewhere. For Robbie that meant a big money move to Liverpool. Nothing quite as dramatic happened to me but we both had cause for optimism.

We'd proven ourselves consistently in successive seasons as good players and now with the chance to go and play alongside even better players, unqualified and unprecedented success seemed inevitable. It hasn't been working out that way for either us. The first couple of months were quiet but we didn't worry too much. Everything was new and it was bound to take time to adapt. In any case the team were doing well so people were willing to give us the time to settle.

Everyone knew the goals would come. I'm no Robbie Keane but I've proved myself a consistent twelve goals a season campaigner and I wasn't worried. Where I come from you're never far from a slump or a streak. My friends were delighted to have me back on board as well. It was just like a new signing they said.

The Kop were equally pleased with their man and rightly so. With Torres, Gerrard and now Robbie Keane banging in the goals, Anfield was certain to be a goalfest. Best of all we were both coming into our prime as players. We couldn't possibly fail.

In those first games, the chances failed to present themselves but that was no biggie. This was a bit of a surprise considering our previous all-conquering campaigns but it could be easily attributed to the new surroundings and the unfamiliar predicaments we found ourselves in. Robbie made the same runs and I used the same tireless lines which had always been so effective in the past but it was as though everyone was on a different wavelength and we were never where the action was.

The boys didn't mind. The extra man gave the squad a bit of depth plus our presence improved the quality of the team overall. Robbie was still able to hold up the ball and keep possession as Liverpool defended a lead. His vision and ability to find the man in space brought a consistency to Liverpool's performances even if they sometimes lacked the goals their dominance deserved. That's all well and good but it doesn't make headlines. You don't go home at the end of a night boasting about the intelligent conversation you made.

For my part, I was more charming and mature now than ever before and like Robbie I knew it was only a matter of time before I caught a break. The chances were bound to come to along and sure enough they did. It's just that we still came up short. They weren't easy but they were definitely good oppertunities. The kind of chances we used to lap in years gone by. Not anymore. The ball at your feet and you know the defender is closing in fast but for that split second you have a sight at goal. You take a deep breath, prepare to pull the trigger then for some reason you pause or hesitate and the chance is gone. Maybe you miss the chance completely and stand there in red faced embarrassment. You hear the crowd groan and it's as if everyone in the whole place is staring at you. Annoyed that you missed of course but more than that, it's the lingering disappointment at the feebleness of your efforts. Occasionally if you're lucky you manage to hold onto the ball and make a dignified exit. At best you might set up a friend for the easiest tap in of his life.

The worst thing about it was that the harder we tried the more difficult it became to score. As the months wore on and the goals dried up, we found it harder to relax and be ourselves in front of goal. The expectation became so great that all we could see were the consequences of our failure. The simplest of chances became massive undertaking full of untold dangers. The ball might bobble, the keeper is out too quick, the defender has it covered. There was always an excuse.

Robbie did score a couple but in meaningless matches. That's not what he came to Liverpool for. He came to compete with the big boys and have a say in the destination of trophies. It kept going from bad to worse for Robbie and it became the worst ever for me. Against Fulham, Liverpool couldn't break them down. It was a typically organised defensive performance from Roy Hodgson's men but the best chance of the game fell to Robbie. One on one with Mark Schwarzer, he could have scored in any number of different ways, the goal was gaping at his mercy but Robbie chose blast it into Mark Schwarzer's chest and the danger passed. It was on a plate for him and still he fluffed his lines. He could have been the hero in front of the Kop and further reinforced Liverpool's title credentials. Instead Rafa hauled him off.

I've had a few chances like that myself in recent times but the confidence just isn't there any more. At least we both gave it a shot to begin with. Now we just hide in behind the first defender or stand quietly in a corner for fear we might make a balls of it if we put it all on the line again. Rafa didn't help. He kept taking Robbie off after 60 minutes when everyone knows that the whole game opens up and all the action happens in the last half hour. That's the time to strike.

Giving strikers like Robbie Keane and myself chances too early in the game is no good either because we're not warmed up and we get caught cold. Unfortunately Robbie was too enthusiastic. He tried too hard to make an impression like a back heel from three yards when he should have just blazed the ball to the net. I got caught out like that myself a few times, trying to be too clever in front of goal. Football is a simple game and if you try to be flamboyant or extravagent about it you can end up looking stupid.

Rafa got sick of it. He could see there was no way Robbie was going to score. It was obvious from his body language. A real player exudes confidence whatever the circumstances. Almost without exception Robbie was called ashore in every game he started. I just went home early. It wasn't happening.

The lowpoint for both of us came last Saturday. Robbie was left on the bench for the whole ninety minutes against Blackburn. I just stayed in. What was the point? If any night over the last six months were any indication of the future, it was clear that nothing was going to happen. Maybe we should just give up being professional footballers altogether.

Rafa has the right idea though. It's all a matter of confidence. We're lacking it just now and Rafa has decided to take Robbie out of the firing line. Robbie stood there at Ewood Park on Saturday (from the outside looking in) and he saw the guys who were getting all the action. The likes of Kuyt, Ngog and Benayoun. Robbie knows he's capable of more than those guys are. He knows he should be the one leading the line for Liverpool but he needs to be given that perspective just now so he can come back stronger and with more belief in his ability.

Kevin Doyle Needs a Move

There is no point Doyler tearing up Championship defences for the rest of the season. He's been there, done that and got Reading promoted. The boy needs a new challenge. He's proven himself at International level and that he is competitive in the Premier League. I wouldn't even blame too much for Readings demise. It was the amount of goals they leaked more than their failures at the other end which sent them down last season. They conceded more than 5 in at least two matches. Doyler had a hamstring injury which hindered him all year and it wasn't exactly like the players further out the field were putting chances on a plate for him. Playing up front for Reading last season was a thankless job, working your socks off for 90 minutes and barely getting a sniff of a chance. Doyler did that job last season with all the commitment and determination you'd expect from a Paddy because that's what Paddy's do.

That's how the Irish players seem to be viewed by Premier League Managers these days anyway. About 5 Irish players start every week in the Premier and that's if you include Robbie Keane whose days of starting at Liverpool look numbered already. Premier League managers see the Irish as solid squad players at best. Josh, Kilbane, Glenn Whelan and the like are not players their managers look at to win games. They are players you can throw in in a crisis. The reality is that the Irish players are no worse than most of the foreigners plying their trade in the Premier League but they are the easiest to leave out of the side. The supporters will probably want to see local lads or English lads getting a run, they'll most certainly expect the big money overseas signing to be playing but no one is going to kick up too much of a fuss over an Irish player getting a run.

My worries for Kevin Doyle are twofold. If he goes up with Reading this season they look hopelessly ill-equipped survive in the Premier League. Steve Coppell is a great manager but he is not a man to make drastic changes so I would expect Doyler to spend the season faffing about trying to close down marauding full backs and doing his best to hold up the ball just to give a moments respite for his overstretched defence.

Kevin Doyle doesn't need another season like that. He's too good a player. That job is for the likes of Ricardo Fuller and Marlon King. Doyle needs to be playing on a team that have half a chance of winning and will create chances for him. A team like Reading, only better.

This might well happen for him. Everton, Aston Villa and Spurs are sniffing around and he's cheap compared to the £12 million Fulham spent on Andy Johnson or even the £20 million Liverpool paid for Robbie Keane. Apparently he was available for £7 million during the summer but no one was willing to take the chance. Why pay that kind of money for a squad player, I suppose? I'd would surprised if they all feel the same in January. The trouble is if Kevin moves to one of these clubs, he'll rarely play. If he does play, it will only be to cover injuries or maybe 20 minutes at the end. Clubs will play him as a right winger and do everything except give him a run of games at centre forward.

Everton badly need a striker with Yakubu out injured for the rest of the year but when James McFadden was there, he only played sporadically. If David Moyes did sign Kevin Doyle it would be as back up to Yak and Saha, not as their replacements. That's just the role of Irish players in the Premier League, they are the supporting cast, not the main event. No, no I don't think Doyle moving to the Premier League would be a good idea. He'd either never play or end up being wasted on a bad team but Kevin Doyle does need a move. He needs a fresh challenge and he has to be playing at the highest level because he is that good a player. He has already proven himself in the Championship (he won Championship player of the season in his first year at Reading) and playing there this season is a step backwards.

What Kevin Doyle needs is a move abroad. He needs to move to Serie A, La Liga or the Bundesliga. These leagues are full of top class international players, great crowds, Stadia and atmospheres. I am certain Doyle would excel in any of these leagues. There is less money available so in theory and based on Champions League performances, you might even say that these leagues are weaker than the Premier League. Yet there are still good enough for the vast majority of the players in the Italian, Spanish and German squads. Quality wouldn't be an issue and Doyler has shown himself well able for the Premier League.

If Doyle moved abroad he wouldn't have to overcome the idea that the Irish are only squad players which is holding back so many of our players in the Premier League at the moment. In Europe he would just be a foreigner like everyone else. If he is going to leave Reading, why not go abroad? One club is the same as any other.

The move didn't work out for Robbie Keane but he was very young and the manager who signed him was sacked soon a few weeks later. It did work out for Liam Brady. It semi worked out for Ian Harte except he wasn't good enough to play at any level and it seems to be going ok for Steve Finnan. He's pushing on and suffering a few injuries but I'd imagine Steve will be as consistent as ever when he gets a run of games. Doyle himself trained with Turin for a summer as a youth and Mick Wallace often took his Wexford team on tours around Europe. In many ways Doyle is already a European style player. He is technically excellent and it is obvious from the way he plays that he has been well coached. He just looks the part.

He is a bargain at £7 or even £8 million and he has already proven himself on the international stage. He was about the only Irish player to give our opponents any trouble in the last qualifying campaign and who can forget his goal against the Slovaks. It says something that he was able to walk away from that disastrous campaign with his reputation enhanced. Doyle is level headed enough that he would be able to adapt in a foreign country. What difference does it make to him anyway. He already is in a foreign country.

My hope would be that Doyle would get a regular run of games, improve as a player by playing in a technically superior league and also improve his confidence because it would be that little bit easier to score goals. The most important thing for a player like Kevin Doyle is to be playing regularly at the highest possible level. He is not going to get that in the Premier League and the Championship isn't doing him any favours.

I've taken it upon myself to engineer this move for Doyler. I'm going to have the following letter translated into Italian, Spanish and German and e-mail it to every club in the top division in those countries. I'm doing them a favour by offering them the bargain of the Century, I'm doing Doyler a favour and I'm doing the Irish team a favour by getting Doyler back playing at a decent standard.



To Whom it May Concern:

I think you should sign the Reading and Repubic of Ireland Striker Kevin Doyle in the January transfer window. He is already the top scorer in the English Championship with 15 goals in just 21 games. He has also scored 6 times in 23 games for a badly struggling Republic of Ireland team. He scored 13 goals in his first season in the Premier League but struggled with injuries the following year and only scored six times as Reading were relegated. He was awarded Man of the Match in Ireland's recent World Cup Qualifying Game against Cyrpus.



He is available for £7 million pounds which represents a great bargain for a proven international goalscorer. He is a quick, strong, skilful old fashioned centre forward. It is likely that Premier League clubs will try to sign him in the January. Everton, Tottenham and Aston Villa have already made their interest known but I fear that they will only use him as a squad player and that is why I think he needs to play in Europe. He is only 25 years old and there is no doubt he would be a great asset to your club.

Watch these youtube clips for more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNeqiOPmDw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhkAYcb6q1E&feature=related


but I assure you he represents excellent value and guarantee you at least 15 goals a season.


Yours sincerely,


Kieran O'Donovan


I didn't want to make it too long because my buddies probably wouldn't translate it if it was. I don't think there is any need to say too much more. The clubs I'm sure will carry out their own investigations if he is not already known to him. The purpose of the letter is purely to bring Doyle to their attention.

This is the letter I sent to my buddy Pablo from Spain. I met him in college in Germany hence the brutal German, he'll hardly get back to me but at least the wheels are in motion.

Pablo,

wie gehts dir?

Kann ich ihnen einen gefallen bitten? Kannst du die folgenden Brief auf Spanisch untersetzen. Ich will diesem Brief zu jeder Mannschaft in La Liga schicken denn Ich moechte diesem Spieler in la Liga spielen sehen. I weiss dass es schwer zu tun ist und es macht nichts wenn du es nicht machen kannst. Ich freue mich auf dich zu Hoeren.

Danke Schoen,

Kieran


I also wrote to Sarah from Itlay and Jan from Germany to get the letter translated by them. It is a big job but we'll see what happens. Just to keep ya'll in the loop I thought it best to publish all correspondence. I've already sent it to Ajax, surely they're in the hunt for a centre forward now that they've sold Huntelaar to Real Madrid.

Hey Sarah,

We were in Marburg together but I don't think we ever hung that much for some reason...pity but I definitely had a great year there. Oh, how I miss those crazy nights in Schwarz Weiss!! Anyway could you do me a favour...it's a big ask I think so don't worry if you don't have time to do it. I just thought I'd ask. I want to email all the clubs in Serie A to try to get them to sign an Irish soccer player so I wonder if you could translate the letter below into Italian....

thanks, Kieran


Hey Jan,

What's going on in the Burg? Can you do me a favour and translate the following letter into German. I want to get an Irish striker a move to the Bundesliga and I'm going to send this letter to all the clubs there. If you get a chance, if not there is no problem.

thanks,Kieran

The Irish Soccer Team and the Media

There was a time we were all in this together. The fortunes of the Irish football team actually meant something, the same thing, to everyone. We won and lost as one. As a team and a nation. We also travelled to away games together, the players and the team sitting next to each other on the same plane. It wasn’t perfect but that’s how it was and while I was only young at the time, I do remember it being a happy time. Yes we questioned leaving out Dave O’Leary and Chippy but ultimately there was an acceptance that Jack was in charge, that he’d won the World Cup and that he obviously knew the game a whole lot more than any of us Paddy’s.

That’s not really the case anymore is it? Since the intrusion of Sky and the British media into this country we’ve all become experts. The English football team have been getting the treatment for years. Right back to Ron Greenwood being sacked, they called for Bobby Robson’s head and gave him a torrid time until at the last minute, they decided that being defeated on penalties to Germany in the World Cup Semi Final was a noble way to exit the stage so they conferred the status of national treasure on him. Graham Taylor was made to look like a turnip, Terry Venables a dodgy businessman, Glenn Hoddle a spacer and prejudiced against the disabled. I could go on but I think you get the picture.

There’s a lot you could have said about Big Jack but not a lot of journalists did. Then the British Media came over and started asking why the national team wasn’t being analysed and questioned a bit more. Cue opening of the floodgates of derision and outrage. Roy Keane was booed in Lansdowne Road on the promptings of Cathal Dervan, the then Sports Editor of Ireland on Sunday. Mick McCarthy was booed after the defeat to Switzerland in 2002 in spite of the fact that he had taken our small island nation to within a whisper of toppling Spain in the World Cup just a few short months earlier. Steve Staunton was booed in Croke following the draw against Cyrpus which signalled the end of his reign.

One might say that there was justification for these reactions but the bigger issue is that booing the national team at all has become acceptable. A constant bombardment of criticism from the media has brainwashed the Irish public into thinking that they are entitled to the unattainable high standard demanded by the press pack. Stan was a muppet so The Irish Sun sent around Kermit and Miss Piggy to the Irish squad training session. Everything Brian Kerr did was questioned and scrutinised with the qualification being that Brian Kerr is inexperienced at Senior level so it is only right that his suitability be tested at every turn.

The media in this country need to be more broadly supportive of the national football team because they have a greater responsibility than the media in larger nations. If there are to be criticisms, they should be made in a measured constructive fashion rather than the kind of sensationalist punditry and analysis designed purely to sell newspapers, advertisements and whatever else.

The players and their families actually need to be protecting from irresponsible reporting regardless of how true the stories might be. While the early and unfortunate retirements from International football are not exclusively the fault of the media in this country, they more than played their part. Following on from the reaction to the 5-2 defeat against Cyprus, it’s a wonder why any of the players ever bothered to come back and play for Ireland again.

Of course, the brainwashed viewing public were baying for blood but after years of watching Sky Sports and the RTE panel that is what they are conditioned to do. You’re team is supposed to win every time and if it doesn’t then you must demand an explanation and just to help you out Sky will analyse every facet of the play finding fault and apportioning blame. The English can do this if they want, it’s not our problem but it becomes our problem when players no longer enjoy playing for Ireland because of the stress that accompanys it.

There was an accusation some years ago that the players and the press were all cozied up together. They all stayed in the same hotel. The press turned a blind eye to a few drinks being taken here and there and people were given a positive, even heroic portrait of the Irish team. People said this was all a bit too cosy and only Eamon Dunphy was telling it like it is.

The effect of all this nonsense now is that it is discouraging the players from wanting to play for Ireland. There are few enough reasons as it is for players to play internationals. They might get injured and lose their place on their club team, their form might dip as a result of too many games, they don’t get paid any extra for coming over for the games and it might end up costing them money if their club form suffers in any way as a result. The international campaigns themselves are tiresome and arduous with no guarantees of success. I’m sure if it wasn’t for the honour of representing your country that they’d prefer to be doing other things than travelling to the likes of Georgia and Bulgaria to play away matches. They’re not there for the sightseeing. Those trips alone will make it difficult to be prepared for the following club game. It’s the players performances at club level which will determine their contracts so theoretically or rationally that’s where their loyalties should lie.

That is starting to become more and more the case. The players are not interested in coming over here to be criticised and just used as cannon fodder for the local press to sell papers. There was a time when not playing for your country was unheard of. It was the greatest honour you could be given in the game. Now it has clearly become a burden for the players. They are not applauded because they play for Ireland, they are criticised because their results are not good enough. I don’t blame the players for the attitude being adopted. It’s inevitable by the shift in emphasis from the big media organisations away from the international game and into the Premier League and the Champions League.

I do feel sorry for the Irish supporters though. The Irish team is the closest we have to a local top class club team and they receive phenomenal support. The Irish football team have probably done more to raise the spirits of the Irish people in the last 25 years than any other event or organisation. This phenomenon of early retirements and the unyielding expectation is making the return of the glory days less likely than ever and more difficult to achieve. Therein lies the responsibility of the media.

Players have to be made feel welcome in the press. They should be encouraged and supported at all times. Criticism is necessary but it shouldn’t be sensationalised or personal and it is the responsibility of the Irish newspapers to ensure that this is the case. Reporting of the Irish football team needs to be broadly supportive of the Irish and the positives must always be emphasised even if they will sell fewer papers. The point is the welfare of the Irish team is more important than circulation figures.

Let’s go back to Dunphy again for a second. On a given international game, he gets to voice his opinion for about half an hour before the game, 15 minutes at half time and maybe 15 minutes again at the end. For one full hour, the whole country is being told what to think about the Irish team. He is being given this platform to set the agenda. All the players get is 90 minutes to do their best on the pitch under pressure from the opposition and to get a result. They don’t get the opportunity to justify what they’re doing but Eamon Dunphy is one man getting the bones of an hour to nit pick and criticise the players and their performance. Sometimes I wonder if these shows are more about the famous panel than the actual game itself because it occasionally feels like more of a sideline feature than the analysis.

The RTE panel have upset many ex-managers and players down through the years. This has been well documented. The views expressed on the panel are often sweeping generalisations and those making the comments are rarely taken to task. No one on the RTE panel has the guts to manage a football team so they are hardly in a position to analyse the performances of those who do. How do they know what it takes? Giles, Souness and Ronnie Whelan are failed managers, the rest of them haven’t even tried. We actually beat Cyprus a few weeks ago yet Dunphy & Co. spent the entire post match analysis criticising the team, the performance and the manager.They are not impartial themselves because they are making a career out of tearing Irish teams apart. An editorial decision needs to be taken in RTE that the analysis be more balanced. It’s not a question of protecting free speech because only the panelists are allowed to talk.

There is no doubt that the criticisms of the RTE panel and the Irish papers have made life more difficult for the Irish team. There is no longer any honour in simply being selected to play for your country. To my mind that privilege alone is worthy of respect and admiration whatever the result. Their families no doubt are offended by the comments of the public who know nothing more about football than what they are told on TV or in the papers. It all filters through to the protagonists. A positive slant on the Irish team even if things aren’t going well would at least keep everyone onside and keep the players coming over. Journo’s who say they have to report the truth are being disengenuous themselves because the champions league and the premier league are mostly uncompetitive and boring yet these competitions are worshipped and adored unquestionably by every media organisation in the world.

The Irish media need to be more patriotic because we are a small country and we need every player available to be willing and able to play for us. It’s the only way to maximise our chances of qualifying for a major tournament. If this means toning down the criticism a bit and bigging up the praise, then it’s a small price to pay. It’s time to change the agenda.

The Irish team is less of a laugh now than it was 20 years ago and when it stops being a laugh, then no one is going to have any interest in turning up.

Referees

It seems that every losing manager nowadays has a ready made foolproof excuse for his teams defeat. It definitely wasn’t his fault of his players for that matter. Oh no, it was the referee stupid. The referee cost us the game, isn’t it obvious. The manager outlines the referee’s mistakes in the post match interview which are then analysed in minute detail by pundits in the sky or BBC studios. This was brought to a head on Sunday night by th einclusion of former Premier League referee Paul Durcan as a pundit on BBC’s Match of the Day 2. Durkan had nothing of substance to say on the quality or otherwise of the featured games and one even got the impression that this was because he didn’t know what to say. “It was a great game- very exciting” was about the height of his insight. At least it allowed Lee Dixon to stand out like a proper expert for a change.

Instead Durkan and Adrian Chiles analysed different decisions over the weekend to say whether they were good or bad. A viewer doesn’t need to be told the glaringly obvious when viewed in the comfort of a TV studio with the benefit of slow motion replays and different angles. A referees job is difficult, boardering on the impossible. The referee ahs to make a decision on every single action during a game, whether to blow his whistle or not. In making these split seccond decisions a referee has to contend with thousands of partisan fans screaming at him, players unashamedly feigning injury and the sheer speed at which incidents at the top level of sport occur.

It’s a given that referees are going to make mistakes and that they will be many and terrible. Everyone involed in sport at any level is aware of this before they ever take the pitch. They should also be aware that generally referees do not favour one team over another. They sometimes display incompetence but rarely bias. Bad refereeing decisions blance out over the course of a season. They are not responsible for teams being relegated or promoted. They don’t cause strikers to miss sitters nor are they to blame for the howlers of defenders and goalkeepers.

There is no doubt that bad decisions affect teams that are struggling more but this is because their opponents usually have so much of the ball that they will simply be given fewer decisions and they will invariably give away more free kicks, thereby suffering from a higher percentage of the referee’s mistakes.

We don’t need goal line technology or instant replays. It will only slow down the game and cause it to lose some of it’s sponteneity. Bad refereeing decisions are as much a part of the game as profligate strikers and tardy defenders. The difference is that a bad referee makes mistakes for both teams. Bad players are picked and played by the managers who try to lay th eblame for defeat at any door but their own. The ref is the easiest target.

It’s not in the interests of either the BBC or Sky to be too harsh in their criticism of either players or the teams their viewers support. You won’t offend anyone by pinning it on the ref. Goalline technology and instant replays would increase footballs reliance on television making it an integral part of the game as opposed to a mere observer. Of course it would also make more time for advertising but I’m sure this doesn’t form part of anyone’s thinking. Respect for the finality of a referee’s decision goes hand in hand with the integrity of th egame. Teams will do anything to gain an advantage and undermining the referee only encourages gamesmanship and more frivilous appeals. Bad decisions made by referees in good faith and in split second need to be protected and kept because they are part of what makes sport so exciting and immediate.

Referees should be trained to the highest possible standards and it’s their training and experience which should be the benchmark of their competency, not how leniently they treated the England skipper. Once a well trained and experienced referee steps onto the pitch, they need to be given the freedom to make mistakes without it being a hanging offence just as it is with players, managers, pundits and everyone else.

Mr. Keane (10th November 2008)

Sunderland have now lost three games in succession since their much flouted derby victory over Newcastle United. That was their first victory against their bitter rivals at home since 1980 and they haven't looked like winning a game since. In the build up to their next game against Stoke City, Roy Keane spoke about guarding against complacency and he said he would be looking out for signs at training such as players walking on to the training pitch or having their socks down.

The players obviously fooled him because they did get beaten at the Brittania Stadium with a very tame performance. Keane said after this game that he could see from the start that certain players were going to let him down and he should have made substitutions early in the first half. Keane left his players with the ominous warning that next time he would be braver and sure enough he rang in the changes even before the game had started making five changes for the visit to the visit to Stamford Bridge. One of those changes was the inclusion of youth team striker Martin Waghorn whose only previous start for Sunderland came in the 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford last season. Needless to say Waghorn hardly got a kick in either game.

Whether it was a warning to his players or a ploy to confuse Chelsea, Waghorn inexplicably started this game in place of more established strikers like Cisse, Diouf and Daryl Murphy. That list gets even longer if you include David Healy and Anthony Stokes. Keane also started Kenyne Jones who was just returning from injury and didn't look fit at all. So Keane took his side to Chelsea playing two out and out strikers, one plucked from the obscurity of youth team football and the other just back from a six month lay-off.

In Sunderland's previous encounter against a top four side, the home game against Arsenal Keane played a more responsible 4-5-1 with Cisse leading the attack. Sunderland came away with a 1-1 and were desperately unlucky not to win the game. They attacked Arsenal on the counter attack using Cisse's pace to break through the Arsenal defence. They also crowded midfield not allowing Fabregas and Walcott the space to impose their talents. They got beaten 5-0 by Chelsea and it could have been 10. They only have Chelsea's benevolence to thank for keeping the scoreline in single digits. They'd scored the 5th by the 58th minute and after that they just toyed with Sunderland without inflicting any further damage. They didn't trouble the Chelsea goal at all and who'd bet against Chelsea beating their previous unbeaten home record if visiting teams were to play like that every week at the Bridge.

In fact the only time Sunderland looked menacing at all in that game was when Roy Keane got sent to the stand for berating the referee at half time. Roy Keane is not the type of person to bask in the glory of his success. We all know that. Mind you I would have thought after beating Newcastle United, he might have encouraged his players to use that result as a springboard from which to kick on this season. Instead he immediately put the players on the backfoot warning them about their demeanour at training. The Stoke game came four days after the derby victory and to me they looked tired and lethargic that night. Did they train too hard between those games? Was too much demanded of the players in this period when they would have been wiser to have spent a day or two winding down from the highs of the Newcastle game before building themselves up again for a difficult game at Stoke. Instead the players went into training after the Newcastle in fear of being dropped for percieved complacency after achieving what no other Sunderland team had in twenty eight years.

Keane is famous for raging against complacency and mediocrity. Footballers like every one else need time to settle and to develop. The trouble is Roy Keane is not like everyone else. He signs, replaces and drops players at will particularly midfielders and centre forwards. Since he has come to Sunderland he has played the following centre forwards; Connolly, Rada Prica, Anthony Stokes, John Stead, Cisse, Diouf, Murphy, Healy, Kevin Kyle, Chris Brown, Jones, Chopra, Roy O'Donovan. That's 13 players and the midfield is almost as bad. Leadbitter, Whitehead, Edwards, Reid, Wallace, Tainio, Malbranque, Richardson, Jordan Henderson, Liam Miller, Dwight Yorke, Dickson Etuhu.

It's very difficult to develop an understanding between players who don't play together regularly and it's even more difficult to play freely and establish decent form when you're immediately facing the axe every time you're selected. Sunderland players don't know who is going to be playing beside team or in front of them from one game to the next. Even against Chelsea, despite having Andy Reid on the bench, Keane chose to bring on Jordan Henderson another youth team player at half time leaving Reid and other far more experienced players on the bench. If Keane is trying to make the point that reputations count for nothing then he is doing so at the expense of his player's confidence and the continuity of the team. Andy Reid and Daryl Murphy have been key players for Sunderland and they have been helping the team to good results ever since they linked up on Reid's debut for Murphy to score one of the goals of the season against Wigan.

Murphy even set up the late winner at White Hart Lane this season though he has hardly played since. Keane brought both back into the side to play Portsmouth yesterday. It had the feeling of a measure of last resort to stop the rot and it seemed to work as Sunderland were one up at half time with Reid providing the assist. True to form, Roy hauled Murphy off at half time replacing him with Diouf who duly gave away a last minute penalty by which time Reid had been taken off as well. The reason for Keane's indecision could be that he demands the same standards from the players as he did of himself and if they are not reached then he tries out someone else.

No one will ever reach Keane's standards, certainly not the players he has at Sunderland but equally they will not become the solid premier league players they have the potential to be if they get thrown in every five games or so and then dropped right back to the bench again. Roy needs to stop playing mind games with his players and either give them a chance to prove themselves or get rid of them.

Roy of course has his own demons to wrestle. He still hasn't signed a new contract and the exasperation he feels at managing players who will never be as good as him is obvious in his team selections, his prolific transfer dealings and the sideline frustration he almost always keeps under wraps. Keane might well walk away from Sunderland, just as he did with Ireland and Manchester United because he seeks perfection and he's just not going to find it at Sunderland.