Noel King believes Ireland should work on adopting a more modern, European style of football but any progress in that direction, he suggests, will take time on the training pitch as well as patience in the stands.

Republic of Ireland 3 Kazakhstan 1

Aiden McGeady caused a few waves this week when he called the job of managing Ireland “a poisoned chalice”.

Noel King is a football fan and a football manager — but it will be the latter not the former which dictates how Ireland set out to play against Kazakhstan tomorrow night.