FORMER IRELAND INTERNATIONAL Andy Townsend believes that change should come at governing level within Irish football, rather than solely with the current management set-up.
Speaking in the wake of Ireland’s 1-0 defeat at home to Wales on Tuesday, Townsend reflected on the running of football in this country and said that the current poor run of form is the result of deeper issues beneath the surface.
“There needs to be a regime change at the very top of Irish football,” he said speaking on RTÉ 2fm’s Game On. “That is the area that needs to change; the powers that be that run our game here. Clearly there has to be a different mindset coming from those people.
“That will ultimately take time to develop and time to implement. Whether indeed it ever happens, because that is a boys club. It’s a job for the boys that run the game here. If you try to get rid of any of them, you are doing well.
“All I know is when I look at David Brooks, Harry Wilson, and some of those [players for Wales], it shows there are other nations able to produce and find players.
“There will be some that argue that we don’t integrate them fast enough into the senior team in order to develop them.”
The former midfielder earned 70 caps for Ireland between 1989 and 1997. He added that getting rid of Martin O’Neill as manager would not resolve all of the issues affecting the senior team at the moment.
“That’s not a performance from a team lacking any courage, heart or commitment. They gave everything,” he said. “We don’t have enough at the top end of the field. Honestly, in world football, you have people paid fortunes to make the difference in the top third of the field. That is what usually happens.
“When we talk about the very best players playing Premier League or international football, the best make the difference.
“We have nothing in that area. With the greatest of respects, we have a lot of guys who are prepared to give their all, effort, but not one of them looks like they have a goal in them.
“If we had something in the top third, we would always have a chance to win more games.
“With this particular group, there isn’t anything there. I hear what is being said but my own opinion is you can change the coach, you can change him every six months, but you’re not going to change those boys into goalscorers.”
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I agree with Andy !! Delaney out !!
@Nightowl: MON, Keane and King need to go too. They don’t seem to take any responsibility for the performances and when questioned they become aggressive and belligerent. If it’s ALL the players fault, why do we need a manager in the first place?
As a League of Ireland person, I find the disregard shown towards the domestic league very frustrating. With the continued and ever increasing globalization of the English Premier League, the League of Ireland is the way forward for players to be developed.
It just strikes me as bizarre that to have a chance of playing senior international football for the Republic of Ireland, you must be playing your football *outside* of the Republic of Ireland.
Even at underage level, the signs aren’t great. At the Under-17 Euros over the summer, just one player in the Irish squad played his club football in Ireland! (In fairness to O’Neill and Keane though, they do attend League of Ireland matches semi-regularly.)
@James Clancy: The infamous magic plane.
Underage teams and management actually give reasons for optimism.
@Eamonn Duggan: Indeed. Amazing what that magic plane can do. Three weeks after leaving the League of Ireland to join a British club, an Irish player is suddenly called up to the senior international team.
Yes, the underage teams and management give reasons for optimism. The U17s were unlucky to lose to the Dutch on penalties, who went on to win the tournament and Cork City’s Colin T O’Brien doing good things there. Also, the U19s qualifying for the Elite Round of the European Championships with a game to spare, so there’s definitely hope!
I would love to see a day where at least a few players in a competitive Republic of Ireland senior starting XI play their club football in the League of Ireland. Alas, I don’t think that will ever happen.
How long can someone sit on the FAI council, should be a maximum of 10 years ( 2×5 year terms ) , fresh members will bring fresh ideas, also an age limit maybe
Bottom line is we don’t prioritize technique to the degree we need with our kids. Quote from English Championship club recruitment manager – ‘Irish kids are very physical and have great attitude, but they’re behind technically’. Wenger says technique is developed between the ages of 8-12. Our kids at that age are in school so 2 training sessions and a match every week. We don’t have enough contact hours to dramatically improve their technique at training. So what they do on their own is the key. We need to give them the tools to make the best use of their time with the ball on their own in the garden/park. Drills & programme to work on solo. Lots of kids with desire. But a 10 year old has to figure it out by himself. We are failing them. Allied to our strengths, we could be great.
@Adrian O’Farrell: I could not agree with you more. Be it soccer or GAA young players are left fend for themselves. By that I mean not all young players develop at same rate and usually the stronger more developed are kind of taken as a granted for whole group and little “johnny” is left to catch up at his own rate. This is when weaker players get left behind and tend to drop out of sports altogether in turn leaving groups short on numbers in some cases with smaller clubs.
Well said Andy. Couldn’t have said it better myself. We need a visionary running the FAI. Delaney is out on the piss at posh functions acting like a big-shot while football in this country is stuck in the dark ages.
We need to copy the model in Belgium. They are a small nation producing some of the best players on the planet on a consistent basis. Why not go out and get someone from their football association who can come in and replace Delaney as head of the FAI and shake things up and drag football in this country up with the times? At least they’d be earning that astronomical salary that Delaney is on instead of stealing a living from the association as is currently happening.
Just look at the level our rugby players are at from IRFU putting the right structures in place over the past 15 years. I would think our rugby team was at a similarly low ebb about 20yrs ago but with a smaller playing pool and less options. This is achievable if the right people lead the way.
I think everyone has blinkers on, bottom line is while all kids in every village and town in Ireland have Hurley’ in there hand from the age that the can hold one and at weekends have blitz, training, matches etc, kids in England are doing the same playing soccer, so while the hurlers are lining the Gaa’s pockets, the football players in England and the rest of Europe etc are trying to make a career for themselves and line there own. So I guess Martin and Roy can only pee with the C••k they got.
@Brian O Connell: tis all for the parish!! We don’t want no foreign sports here.
I think we should bring back Steve Staunton with more experience he might be good for the job or players like Paul McGrath, Damien duff or Robbie Keanu as manager.
@Gnb: you’re joking right?