'That’s why I got the job - I am the most successful Irish manager at this time' - Kenny trumpets credentials

DEAR JONATHAN: Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny with Jason Knight of Republic of Ireland after the UEFA EURO 2024 Championship qualifying group B match win over Gibraltar. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

We’ve heard of Dear John letters but, in this case, it was Dear Jonathan who Stephen Kenny seemed to be publicly appealing to when trumpeting his credentials on Monday night.

Ireland had just won 3-0 against Gibraltar, officially the second worst team in Europe, just behind Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Azerbaijan, Lithuania and Latvia.

Those nations, all ranked 124 or lower in the world, account for seven of the 10 wins Ireland under Kenny have achieved during his 34 matches at the helm.

His five victories in 24 competitive matches, as Didi Hamann noted on RTÉ, have all been veritable dead rubbers, secured after tournament qualification or Nations League promotion was beyond Ireland.

To retrieve this latest tilt to reach next year’s European Championship in Germany – and the latest Nations League playoff complexion may mean it’s their sole route – will take a turnaround of miraculous scale.

Kenny, ever the optimist, feels the top-two finish is achievable but sensing the fallout from last Friday’s crushing defeat on that prospect, as well as his future employment, he chose his post-match debrief for the ultimate sales pitch.

FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill wasn’t privy to the monologue but will doubtless hear it.

He and the association’s Head of Football Mark Canham are kingmakers in the managerial conundrum, set to be discussed when the FAI’s board convene next Tuesday.

Journalists, and probably his press handlers, weren’t aware of what was coming as the clock ticked past 11pm when Kenny asked them for space in a small sideroom away from the press conference auditorium.

Here’s most of what he had to say.

“The reality is this: this is the way I view it, right? And I don’t mind saying this, right? I’ve never been one to speak about myself like this, in this vain – but I started as a young manager. Was successful. failed and then I failed better. I went on again, had setbacks and built a resilience and a determination.

“I have been in 16 cups finals - eight FAI Cup finals. two Scottish Cup finals and won six league cups. I won more trophies than anyone in modern history, including five league titles.

“There were 46 Champions League and Europa League games; I beat Maccabi Tel Aviv, BATE Borisov, IFK Gothenburg home and away, Hajduk Split and others as well as drawing with Paris Saint Germain and Legia Warsaw.

“That’s why I got the job - I am the most successful Irish manager at this time.

“I went on from that, managed the Ireland U21s, got good experience and took the radical approach of taking all these 17-year-olds and putting them in the team. That had never happened and we might have qualified.

“Mick McCarthy is a good manager and man but obviously Covid interrupted the succession plan, and I had the Euro play-off and the subsequent Covid games which were a bit of a farce because we had nine or 10 missing out of each camp. We lost the play-off on penalties.

“It’s been said I’ve been three years in the job. Realistically I have been two years building this team, since March 2021 when we lost against Luxembourg after the opener in Serbia.

“All of those players have come in over the last two years. We’ve given 18 players through our own system their debuts after having nine years with nothing.

“We finished third in the World Cup group which was probably parity. There was a bit of pain, a bad defeat against Luxembourg and so forth.

“This Euro campaign that I’ve built for. We had a right setback with the defeat in Greece because it was an important part of the plan to beat them in the Group of death.

“But I’m very strong, resilient and I don’t really care. I don’t need to listen to anyone’s opinions to know what I want and what I am.

“I’ve taken on a lot and it’s a small community in Ireland and people are upset over a variety of things. I’ve made brave decisions in the best interests of Irish football, OK? And I’ve made good decisions.

“I have a brilliant backroom staff; Keith Andrews is an outstanding coach, John O’Shea - a brilliant addition - and Dean Kiely.

“We will get better and still want to qualify from this group. I’ll see out until the end of the campaign. I don’t know, after that, it’s other people’s decision.

“The objective was to qualify from this campaign and I’m not trying to hide from that. I’m not trying to build forever. We’ve been building a team over the past two years to try and qualify here.

“We’ve completely transformed the way the team plays – not in every game – but it’s now assumed that you play that way, in terms of building and playing the way we have.

“We’ve scored a lot of goals but conceded some that we shouldn’t have. We lost games 2-1 on the margins. I accept criticism for that. We need to win more games. We need to win more games and I know that. That’s how I feel.” 

Yours sincerely, Stephen.