Colin Sheridan: Communication key to Kenny’s survival

Publicly commenting on someone’s inability to communicate is a little like commenting on somebody’s weight. It’s rude. No good ever comes from it.

QUESTIONS: Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny celebrates his side's second goal scored by Michael Obafemi during the UEFA Nations League B Group 1 match between Republic of Ireland and Armenia at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Pic: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

STEPHEN KENNY has a communications problem. Whether or not that problem extends beyond his press briefings to the dressing room is not clear, but, if the FAI are to genuinely back Kenny to succeed, it is in everyone’s interest to better equip him with the tools to articulate himself in a manner commensurate with the job he is paid to do together with his talents as a football manager.

By not doing so they are signing his death warrant. Kenny may be winning the footballing philosophy war, but, with every good performance and bad result (see Scotland), and bad performance and good result (see Armenia), the aura he projects reeks of a man persecuted by the weight of being misunderstood.