In defence of Martin O’Neill: Ireland lack creative talent, says Andy Reid

By John Fallon

Martin O’Neill will take support from any source he can get it from these days and Andy Reid has chipped in to back the Ireland manager as the pressure cranks up on his position.

A glut of former internationals, most vocally Keith Andrews, are calling for time on O’Neill and his sidekick Roy Keane’s five-year tenure following a woeful run of one win in eight matches over the past year.

Defeats against Wales, home and away, sandwiched in between by a stalemate with a Denmark side without their talisman Christen Eriksen, over the past six weeks, has heaped the spotlight on the Derryman.

Still, ex-Ireland midfielder Reid attributes the slump to a dearth of option in personnel, including the potential loss of dual-eligible Premier League star Declan Rice.

The Dubliner earned the last of his 29 senior caps in O’Neill’s first game against Latvia five years ago and doesn’t see a credible enough candidate waiting in the wings for a change of guard to be engineered by John Delaney and the FAI top brass.

“I believe that the manager should remain for the time being,” said the former Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, and Sunderland midfielder.

I don’t know who else you’re going to bring in, so I think Martin is the man for the moment now. He’s an experienced manager.

“We’ve got to realise where we’re at. This is not the strongest squad we’ve ever had.

“I’d like to see Ireland on the front foot a little bit more; winning more tackles and headers but, quality-wise, it’s difficult time at the moment and there’s is no way around that. We don’t have loads of creative players.”

Since retiring two years ago, the 36-year-old has worked in coaching roles at Nottingham Forest and Notts County. His latest assignment is closer to home, as assistant manager of Ireland’s U18s, and he remains confident about the future.

Still, he’s pleading with the expectant Irish fans to be patient.

“Unfortunately, this is not a quick-fix,” he noted.

“Everybody wants a stream of Robbie Keanes and Damien Duffs coming through but football doesn’t work like that. It goes through phases.

“But I think the right things are being done behind the scenes. I’ve seen some good players in the underage ranks, including Troy Parrott, Glen McAuley, and Jason Knight.

“It will take time for these players to progress towards the senior team but I’m more optimistic over the past year since starting work with the Irish teams.

“People are going to have to be patient. It’s a difficult time for the senior team but I’d say to the supporters that this is not like a club situation where you can get away from it.

This is our country. Although it’s not the best that it’s ever been, you would hope that the fans will stick by the team. It’s alright throwing things out there but no one is saying what we can do to make it better. That’s what I’m looking at.

One key element to any potential revival is Rice, a player Reid initially told O’Neill to forget about when he went into exile amid England’s interest.

He said: “I was pretty emotional when I heard the news, saying cut the cord, but the more I think about it, I wonder can we afford to just cut the cord with a player of that quality? Probably not.”

Meanwhile, an imminent announcement is due from the FAI on the future of U21 manager Noel King.

His team won just one of their final six matches of their European qualification campaign which ended last week.

Andy Reid helped launch the third year of the FAI/Fingal TY Course in Corduff Sports Centre yesterday.