football

[westcorklad]

I suppose the biggest losers in all this are dundalk. They wont be happy to lose their manager. How will they do without him and who will replace him.

Kenny could possibly combine the two roles but if not I don't know.

[Galwegian1993]

I'm glad to see Kenny being a chance although I was hoping Delaney would be gone before a LOI manager came in. Hopefully Dundalk could get a decent lower league English or Scottish manager but they'll probably have to settle for a former LOI manager. I don't get Mick coming in for one qualifying campaign only though. If he doesn't get near qualifying he could leave Kenny with a tough WC qualification draw through low seeding. If he got to the Euros and possibly got to the last 16, quarter or semi finals, why would you get rid of him?

[blue rebel]

Do you honestly think we have a chance of getting to the euros let alone quarter or semi finals?? I think Mc Carthy is as good a choice as any and no matter who you get the reality is our players aren’t good enough, yes they can play better with some plan devised by a manager but we are nowhere good enough to even qualify for euros

[RickyBobby]

McCarthys first task will have to be getting Rice to come back. As for Stephen Kenny, I think the U21 job is a great move for him. To suggest that he will be the senior coach in 2 years is ridiculous, what if he has a shit 2 years or McCarthy has a good campaign? I would agree this is bad news for Dundalk. The history books are not kind to managers who have moved on from the league of Ireland.

[westcorklad]

Do you honestly think we have a chance of getting to the euros let alone quarter or semi finals?? I think Mc Carthy is as good a choice as any and no matter who you get the reality is our players aren’t good enough, yes they can play better with some plan devised by a manager but we are nowhere good enough to even qualify for euros

I agree with you that the quality of the current Irish squad is the lowest it has been for at least 50 years. However, because of the new format for qualification for Euro 2020 with Nations League final standings also taken into account at the end of the regular series of matches, it`s possible that Ireland could finish third or even fourth in their group and still be in with a chance of a play-off place so we will see what happens.

[blue rebel]

I hope you are right but unless we get a few new players onside I can’t see any manager going anywhere with current bunch ..

[westcorklad]

Well at least we avoided pot c. Lucky that we are a host city. So its switzerland, denmark, republic of ireland, georgia and gibraltar. It will be tough but it could have been a worse draw. Poor northern ireland.

Denmark and Georgia again! Irish football supporters must be sick of the sight of them at this stage. Anyway, if McCarthy and his backroom team can get the most out of the available players, they may have a reasonable chance of finishing in the top 2. That's a big if though. Yeah, N Ireland will have a mountain to climb to directly qualify while England and Scotland are guaranteed at least a play off place through their Nations League standings. Wales have a 50/50 chance of automatic qualification.

[Galwegian1993]

A real shame Kenny doesn't have the job now as this would have been a nice group to ease him into international management, qualification or not. Now if Mick doesn't qualify us from this kind group, or a playoff, the bad vibes from the end of the O'Neill era might return to some extent, and Kenny might have a more difficult job to qualify us for Qatar.

[peregine]

Liverpool are knocked out the FA cup by Wolves.

[SuitedAndBooted]

Liverpool are knocked out the FA cup by Wolves.

Liverpool are notorious for having a disastrous January.
I am hoping they banish that hoodoo by winning their next few matches but I have to say I am a little concerned.