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The lads throw away their chance at a Marc Canham interview | Reaction to Ireland's loss to England and Greece
40 Plays2 months ago
Heimir Hallgrímsson’s reign starts in disaster! 😳 Has Matt Doherty finally been found out? 🤔 After two shocking performances, is it time to admit Ireland are now minnows in international football? 😬 Or is Hallgrímsson just Kenny 2.0? 👀🇮🇪
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Transcript
Weekend Recap: Anthems vs Football
00:01:06
killianginnity
On a weekend where anthems were bigger than football.
Hymer Helgramson's Early Days
00:01:11
killianginnity
We are the not up on the podcast and we're looking back at Hymer Helgramson's first two games as manager of the Ireland team. I'm not going to say in charge, Connor, how are we doing?
00:01:24
Conor Glennon
I've been better my man. I've been better. Um, I'm, I dunno, even notice describe it. I'm a bit worse for where after, you know, international breaks have never been my favorite. Um, you know, from an injury but perspective to players, mostly from a club level or I'll, I'll also add fantasy in there, but, uh, and it's another, another international break of what if and excuses, you know?
Frustrations with Irish Football (Q&A)
00:01:49
killianginnity
Well, if you think you had a bad weekend, poor Nate has been apoplectic in the WhatsApp chat up to this Nate.
00:01:57
Nate
It's just a disgrace, isn't it? like I suppose we can't be too surprised at the same thing, an organisation, the same players that don't perform on the pitch. It doesn't change when you when you change one man at the top. like who Who knew? Who knew? I certainly certainly did.
00:02:13
Nate
and yeah it's just like um I'm scared where Irish football is at currently. And I think we're staring the we standing straight into the barrel and there um i'm a bit I'm a bit scared where Irish football is at.
00:02:31
Nate
But yeah, so there needs to be a lot lot of thinking and done specifically at the FAI. But yeah, that's the that's two Greece games and in a matter of six months that have just been dire.
00:02:44
killianginnity
just Just to bring it off the ledge for a couple of minutes.
00:02:44
Nate
Absolute dire.
00:02:46
Conor Glennon
hahaha
00:02:48
killianginnity
um Let's kind of bring this back to zero. Let's look at this squad that Helcramson and the background staff called up.
Squad Selection and Player Impact
00:02:56
killianginnity
Connor, was there any kind of big misses, big shouts ahead of time that made you kind of go, oh, that's cool.
00:03:03
killianginnity
That's interesting. Or, oh my God, not this again.
00:03:08
Conor Glennon
I don't mean to to to try sound like I'm ringing off lines just to be, you know, interesting on the podcast. But it to me, it's got to a point where I don't really care whose names are coming up on that sheet because it's just feeling so familiar.
00:03:25
Conor Glennon
And I will say, though, with that in in mind, I was excited to see Casey McInteer. And it was great to see him get some time as well, although it's not in the best of it games to be involved in, it was great to see that. And obviously Smartix, it's great to see him in the team, he's he's arguably the best we have. What about you? and Anyone? I know i know you you love diving into the niches of niche, so it was it was your faves.
00:03:52
killianginnity
I think generally and they got it right overall um with the ones that they got wrong, they got very wrong. Like Callum O'Dowda, what's the point? um Robbie?
00:04:03
Conor Glennon
These are the kind of ones that you're just, that's what I mean familiar. It's just like, I'm not even annoyed anymore. Cause like the, it's, it's like the Jeff Hendrick being in the team for however long years back, you know?
00:04:12
killianginnity
Yeah, like when you when you look at, I think it's really defenses where they had the issues.
Attackers' Performance Debate
00:04:16
killianginnity
Like the attackers are the attack attackers you should be bringing Bar Callum-Robinson. I think Callum-Robinson, he's not bringing anything different to what the other players can offer, like Ogbene is a better version of Callum-Robinson. Parrott is getting goals in the area to visit, he has a bit of confidence, pull him there. Smolux can be your bridge between the forward line and midfield, perfect.
00:04:40
killianginnity
Eda and Ferguson, of course you gotta bring the two of them. ah Midfield, yeah, they got it right. Alan Brown has had a great start with Sunderland. Jason Knight is a workhorse. McInteer, as you say, great to see him.
00:04:52
killianginnity
Small bone, good passer. Malumbi is meant to be the bastards ah that That was all tipped for Helgrimson's team.
00:04:58
Conor Glennon
Hm.
Defensive Concerns and Strategy
00:05:01
killianginnity
So generally that's about right. Maybe I'd put in Sinclair Armstrong instead of ah Robinson because somebody with a bit of ah want and desire to prove themselves. um And he got it his new summer move. So again, want and desire.
00:05:14
Conor Glennon
Before you hit those defenders though, like what do you boys think of that team? like i mean look ah take Take away that we're you know Irish football fans and that is probably the best we have to offer, but like you can't tell me any nation coming up against those players isn't like, oh yeah, we'll but we can definitely beat them.
00:05:33
Nate
lads like Robbie Brady like plays for our team in 2024. If that doesn't sum it up I don't know what is. Matt Daugherty that was a crime on the pitch yesterday and I feel bad for them that they're still getting picked. Do you know what I mean? Because of course they're gonna answer the call up when it comes to them but Like someone put them out of their misery, they're not good enough. I'd honestly rather go to the League of Ireland and pick players that are young and and have some some some ability to to develop. And I just think like when you're when you selecting them and they're actually getting game time, it's like we we're literally going nowhere fast.
00:06:17
Conor Glennon
Run us through that full roster there of defenders before we fully nail them.
00:06:18
Nate
and
00:06:22
killianginnity
And so we had Seamus Coleman for the initial squad who got injured after the England game. So it was replaced by Festy Ebelezi, Matt Doherty, Dara O'Shea, Nathan Collins, Jacob Bryan, Obad Bamedelhi, Liam Scales, Callum O'Dowda was considered a defender and Robbie Brady again considered a defender.
00:06:45
Conor Glennon
Like there's two, three players in there that are very good. You know, Nathan Collins, Kraken player, Jacob Ryan, great player, Coleman, if he's fit, great player. Like defensively, we should be, that should be our best position group.
00:07:00
Conor Glennon
And the fact that that was our weakest and has been our weakest for years is just a disgrace.
00:07:06
killianginnity
Like this is what I mean in terms of like when they get them wrong, they get them very wrong. Like Matt Daugherty just not even in terms of um like match fitness. He didn't look match fit. He didn't look ready to be in a, in a competitive game.
00:07:22
killianginnity
and just seemed disinterested. So that's something you should be picking up on in training. No, I'm not going to reward that. Kalamo data just isn't a left back.
00:07:34
killianginnity
It may be a left wing back, but we're not playing that, so don't use it.
00:07:36
Conor Glennon
It's also just not good enough. You know, it's just not.
00:07:39
killianginnity
he he was at one stage, he had a very good two seasons when he was playing left wing, um but there's nothing right now to make you go, I need him in the squad.
00:07:41
Conor Glennon
Yes, I'd agree with that.
00:07:49
killianginnity
If he was there to be a backup ground, but I'd rather have Robbie Brady as a backup in that same kind of role where you're more of a wingback than you are a left back, but at least Robbie Brady has the experience of being around a competitive tournament squad.
00:08:02
killianginnity
ah Liam Scales is fine, Like, like he's not bad again. if you If he's going to be a backup, but like we don't need him as a backup. So you're kind of bringing him him to be your backup left back.
00:08:14
killianginnity
And he's not good enough there because like, send, send a defense. We are absolute class.
00:08:18
Conor Glennon
Yeah, like we are that like, ah but the but the fact that we're still like i know I know the thing that's probably been most talked about both.
00:08:19
killianginnity
Like you're solid there.
00:08:28
Conor Glennon
in the run-up to this and after the game was the amount of goals we're conceding from outside the box, you know, 14 goals outside the box since 2021. Like I know that's hard to, you know, register when you can't, when you don't have the comparisons to other teams, but that's still a lot of goals. And the fact that we've got that core three, like I'm not expecting them to play like, you know, peak Italy, but like they just have to figure it out. Like that is our best hope. And if, look, if we're not going to put goals in the back of the net, we can at least stop them going in.
00:08:58
killianginnity
Like if you have lots of good forwards, what do you do? You try and incorporate as many of them as possible. Like look, look at Portugal. Portugal managed to fit in all their wingers generally.
00:09:09
killianginnity
So like we should be doing the same with our centre backs. If you're not going to play a tree at the back, well then do you have a sitting midfielder and put the likes of an Nathan Collins in there? Like I'd rather, see I'd rather see something like that than
00:09:21
Conor Glennon
in a kind of deck and rice way.
00:09:23
killianginnity
Yeah. Like just have, have somebody that is decent on the ball, but is more defensively sound than a a midfielder generally is and like make
Young Talent Mismanagement (Q&A)
00:09:33
killianginnity
use of all these players.
00:09:33
killianginnity
Cause like you can play, uh, Obama Delhi and Jacob Ryan and, and Nathan Collins in midfield and still have Darryl O'Shea on the bench ready to go. Like that is ridiculously good.
00:09:43
Conor Glennon
i mean i see even even Even if we'd gone with that and it didn't work, I'd be like, at least we tried something.
00:09:49
killianginnity
Exactly. Like right back, I think with Festi we're fine.
00:09:53
Nate
But like,
00:09:53
killianginnity
he's He's not great, but he's enough. We need a new left back and why they're not going for Dennis Serkin?
00:09:58
Nate
why is it a festive plan? like what what like Why are we playing a centre back or right back?
00:10:02
Conor Glennon
I didn't agree with you, mate.
00:10:04
Nate
like It doesn't make sense. like You've got a young, talent like very talented right back coming through. It honestly feels like we can't even complain about not having a left back because we don't even use the right back that we have.
00:10:18
Nate
like It's genuinely like absurd. like You've got a really young back line build on it like literally build on it but no we're playing Robbie Brady left back with his centre back at right back and to set like it's beyond me and
00:10:34
Conor Glennon
Hymer was a defender himself. He should be able to work that problem at least first.
00:10:40
killianginnity
Yeah, but like when you look at the overall like players we have available to us There is Swaps you can make and have a slight. I don't know if it would be ah a stronger Technically squad like ah if you were to use FIFA analogy of I don't know if the overall rating could be any better but you definitely have better belief in them like if you could get the likes of a Dennis Serkin in
Mentality and Players' Performance
00:11:09
killianginnity
like you'd go. Okay, that's he's a very very good defender, but you might have the likes of a Dara Lenehan in there instead of like a Liam scales maybe and like championship versus SPL, I'd argue they're in and around the same, or even your man Caschen from Derby, like having a young lad in who's willing to kind of go for it. um I think one of the issues is, and I think this is kind of where Heimer was touching on with
00:11:38
killianginnity
in his full post-match press conference after the Greece game after he spoke about the jersey weighing heavy on players, which I think we should get onto almost immediately, and is there players are too comfortable knowing they're going to get the call up and they're going to get playing.
00:11:48
Conor Glennon
Hmm.
00:11:57
killianginnity
that they don't necessarily need to push themselves. Whereas if, instead of having Callum Robinson, who I think always has a bit of an ego and some, some players need that. But if you had a bloody Andrew Morin in instead of him, you'd kind of go, okay, Andrew Morin has something to prove and we're, and we're building for something, if you know what I mean.
00:12:13
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:12:19
Conor Glennon
But like Robinson, I think he doesn't deserve that ego, but I think he has that ego because he's been in the team for quite a while. And I think it's also the players he surrounds himself with in a friendship group wise are top tier athletes.
00:12:33
Conor Glennon
Like his best friend is Jack Grealish. They are, that was talking cheese right there. You know what I mean?
00:12:38
killianginnity
Yeah, that's some filler generation.
00:12:40
Conor Glennon
So like I understand why he brings an ego to the team, but I totally agree. like and you know I'm not trying to be some Che Guevara to the Irish team, but like we we need people who want to be there, who are fighting to be there. And I would rather players who are you can see are giving it everything they have, and it's not good enough than being not good enough and people not right.
00:13:03
Nate
The thing is, there was sparks. That's hard for me to say right now, because how bad then games went, but there was sparks. There is
Acknowledgment of Talented Players
00:13:12
Nate
100% hundred percent ah ah class player in Ogbenne.
00:13:15
Nate
like i
00:13:16
killianginnity
oh yeah
00:13:18
Nate
100%. You can see the spark. Smardock's like, honestly, he had a bit of, you can see when he got the ball that there was just that big creativity about him that he can get that ball into Ogbenne or whatever. whatever he looked really good to me when he got on the ball and they had the things that you have to sort of build on like yeah yeah oh hold on a second like
00:13:40
Conor Glennon
Alan Brown's chance was also pretty solid.
00:13:42
killianginnity
Oh yeah.
00:13:42
Conor Glennon
you know like i like And I think with those ones that you're saying, the thing that really bothered me about all of them, we'd four or five half chances. But what really ah just I can't get past is if Greece had one of them, they would have scored them.
00:13:58
Conor Glennon
And that's that's the difference.
00:14:00
killianginnity
like but let's Let's just go on to the games
Ireland vs England Critique
00:14:04
killianginnity
now. like So the England game, Nate, were you surprised at the result, ultimately?
00:14:10
Nate
No, I was surprised how open we were in the first 25 minutes, like holy hell can someone like explain to them that they're playing England.
00:14:13
Conor Glennon
yeah
00:14:21
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:14:21
Nate
and It felt very naive to be honest. and To be honest, I was a bit let down on like there wasn't that spark in that game in terms of like lads were playing England.
00:14:33
Conor Glennon
Yeah, it's spice.
00:14:34
Nate
Yeah.
00:14:35
Conor Glennon
There wasn't any, like I think that's the biggest thing. Like and like you said, the kid, were you surprised the result? No, but like Nate's saying, That could have, ah we could have been playing San Marino.
00:14:46
Nate
i like I want to see a bit of fight. I can't remember who came on towards the end, but he was leaving a few tackles on someone and I was like, yeah, it'd be good if your teammates joined you for the rest. I want to see them go up to them like and a face up to that. They're playing England. I didn't expect them to be England. no Nobody did, okay? But leave the pitch with a bit of pride and I don't think we did.
00:15:13
killianginnity
It's like that one thing when like a say like a Manchester Derby and you have all these players that don't necessarily get the local end of it, or like Manchester versus Liverpool, where it's like, if if you if you're in and around the city, you understand how much it means to them.
00:15:24
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:15:29
killianginnity
And if you're a new player, you might not, especially if you're coming from like South America or ah Eastern Europe or anything like that. I kind of give that bit of a feel, kind of going like, oh, you're playing football.
00:15:40
Nate
Yeah.
00:15:40
killianginnity
This should be ah like, this
00:15:42
Conor Glennon
It felt pally rather that it felt like this was just a game in what I'm not even going to call us Premier League, a game in like League One. It was like an FA Cup game where a League One team were playing a Premier League team is what it was.
00:15:57
Nate
For, um, you know, one one thing that hit me personally me was when the Hymer before the game came out and said, I don't need to tell these players how big this game is." Well, it was flash armour, you did.
00:16:11
Nate
Like, literally, you did. Like, I read that and I was like, I remember reading that the day before, I was like, God, these guys better come out with a bit of, a bit of something.
00:16:22
Conor Glennon
but but Yeah, when you say that, you got to come out doing two photos.
00:16:23
Nate
You can't be saying that. You literally said, I don't need to explain to these guys how big this match is. What it means, like, it's, yeah.
00:16:29
killianginnity
This, I wonder, are like, are are we as a nation missing out on not having as many WWE wwe fans anymore?
00:16:32
Nate
yeah
00:16:39
killianginnity
Because I think having that little bit of a heel thing where it's kind of like, yeah, I am stone cold Steve Austin, where I know if I do this one little thing, it's not going to make a, it's not going to change the game, but it's going to get the, fright the crowd going and having the crowd going on is going to make everybody feel happier at the end of the day, regardless of the result.
Players' Confidence and Fan Expectations
00:16:55
Conor Glennon
Well, that was one of the things that James McLean was good at, one of few. But that was one thing that he was good at, was getting the c crowd going, sticking two feet in and getting that yellow that kind of got the crowd bouncing, you know?
00:17:06
Nate
I know people have been moaning about the crowd and stuff, and that's one thing or another, but the crowd were up for it. The crowd were up for for that game.
00:17:13
killianginnity
Mmm.
00:17:15
Nate
What was produced was was what brought that um intensity down. So, like, and just imagine they went down there with a bit of oomph.
00:17:25
Nate
Like, what what that Irish crowd potion of mine could have done. Like, who knows? But we we didn't see it.
00:17:31
Conor Glennon
Do you think this confidence chat though is really the core the core of this killing?
00:17:36
killianginnity
I think it's definitely a factor. um I think like we've seen it and heard it mentioned before with players over the years where there's kind of an expectation of grandeur that Ireland fans can project on players that can kind of demoralize them ahead of time in the sense of that kind of like they're expecting us to go out and beat the world we're just not that and instantly to have a negative thought in their head instead of kind of going let's go out and enjoy it let's like let's see how well we can do let's be the plucky under log um i think there is a general uh lack of confidence um more so in the players with each other and i think by not having that
00:18:19
Conor Glennon
chemistry like yeah little does he know
00:18:20
killianginnity
yeah i think by not having the competitive nature where you're kind of uh looking over your shoulder in a kind of friendly competition of like oh he's going to take my spot and i don't know if i'll get called up again i think there's a lack of like if you look at darty and and his kind of attitude over the two games it was a bit kind of like oh well my teammates are a bit shit here sure why would i bother like they fucked
Under-21s vs Senior Team Dynamics
00:18:44
Conor Glennon
he's the most shit there yeah
00:18:44
Nate
He looked the fucking worst on the bench, jeez.
00:18:45
killianginnity
yeah like
00:18:46
killianginnity
Yeah, like they they fucked up and I have to clean up that mess and I'm not going to do it this time. There was a little, I found a little bit of that and I kind of wonder is there a, that kind of factor, which is why I want to see more of the young players coming true.
00:18:59
killianginnity
Like the under 21s had a much more competitive game against Latvia despite, did it finish as a 2-2 draw in the end?
00:19:07
Nate
Yeah.
00:19:07
killianginnity
um But like Sinclair Armstrong, fantastic player. And he's just, he's just one of them kind of guys that, he will bust along and you he he makes you excited to kind of go, okay, well, he's trying.
00:19:20
killianginnity
We might eke out. And that was one of the things we were always very good at was eking out some form of a result. Maybe it wasn't always a win, but it was always one of them kind of like, okay, we put it up to them.
00:19:30
Conor Glennon
2016 Ireland were a team that when they played the likes of France or Germany, you were like, we'll get something, but when we play Switzerland or someone like that, we won't.
00:19:30
killianginnity
um
00:19:34
killianginnity
oh
00:19:39
Conor Glennon
And I know that's its own problem in itself, but like, at least then, you know, we had belief going to these games, but like, it's it's just, it it was something out of the a script of the football gods that the two ex Irish players were the ones that put the ball in the back and they're like, you couldn't write that.
00:19:41
killianginnity
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:46
Nate
Would you?
00:19:57
Nate
But did do you know the part where you say about beating France and stuff? It's something that Irish football has lost and something that they had in the past.
Team Mentality and Cohesion (Q&A)
00:20:06
Nate
And it's something that you see in the rugby team now and other sports is the us versus them aspect. Us as a country versus them, there needs to be that bit of venom where it's us against the world type, where you don't get that with any of these players.
00:20:23
Nate
Like, there needs to be that, I think Jose Mourinho was the best for it, wasn't he? He got everyone's backsides up and was like, every time we go round, we're going to war.
00:20:31
Conor Glennon
Siege mentality. Yeah, it's also against the world. Yeah.
00:20:34
Nate
And the nature is, when we're dealing with players where we have good players, but a lot of them are battling relegation week in, week out, it really needs to be that environment where they come in and it's us versus them.
00:20:49
Conor Glennon
Where I do think it's harder for the football team to be fair to the FAI is, you know, you look at that Ireland team from a rugby perspective, you've got probably seven guys who play week in, week out at Leinster, five guys who play week in, week out at Munster, plus a few extras. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's, they already have a cohesion there from training it together pretty much every day of the season, you know?
00:21:12
killianginnity
And like again there's one of the things I do want to touch on with the Grease game and is the fact that like I saw somebody, I can't remember who it was, but they completely wrote off, it might even have been off the ball, completely wrote off Grease kind of going like, we should be beating these.
Opposition Strengths and Match Planning
00:21:30
killianginnity
And it's like, Noah, did you look at the Grease squad?
00:21:30
Conor Glennon
Why? Why on earth should we be beating them?
00:21:32
Nate
Oh, weve we we've no right to be done.
00:21:34
killianginnity
No, did you look at the Grease squad? They're all like European, and not even top level players, but they're all playing in Europe.
00:21:39
Conor Glennon
Top level players.
00:21:43
killianginnity
Like they're ranging from Pike and like say like the conference league up to Liverpool. Like new Newcastle has signed with their starting goalkeeper.
00:21:52
Conor Glennon
Mm.
00:21:52
killianginnity
Like yeah're we are actually gent genuinely in and around Greece's stature of player.
00:22:03
Conor Glennon
Are we, you know?
00:22:03
killianginnity
but we're not But we're not there.
00:22:04
Nate
no i don't think we are i don't i really don't think we are are we
00:22:06
killianginnity
look no We're in and around. We're in the same kind of sphere. But they're at the top of that division. And where that like like we're we're towards the the the middle bottom of it.
00:22:10
Conor Glennon
Yeah, I'll give you that, yeah.
00:22:16
killianginnity
They're kind of a team that we should we should be able to get a result against. But it will be a damn hard fought game. And we' not and mike two two times out of three, we might lose at our draw. and like They're a lot more competitive than they were given credit for.
00:22:27
Nate
that's what What happened to the Northern Macedonia friendlies and the Bosnian ones from back in the day? Like, can we have a view around, please?
00:22:34
Conor Glennon
give us a lich star yeah
00:22:35
Nate
Like, please.
00:22:37
Conor Glennon
yeah
00:22:37
Nate
Like, we're running easy.
00:22:37
killianginnity
it As Luxembourg showed us, we can't rely on them.
00:22:39
Nate
But one thing though, like, I don't know about you guys, but if they gave us millions, we couldn't steal by them. It feels like, fuck itself. It is so dire.
00:22:49
Conor Glennon
it's It's it's it but it's been like that for it's been like that since since that era of O2 left us. We've had good players like we had, you know, wezzo and we've had standout players like that. I'll even throw Glenn Whelan into the mix because he did wonders for years. But like, you know, once that Kino and Duff went, we've had players up top that are good. We've had players at the back that are good. We've had good goalies. But like, there's always been that just golf in the middle.
Midfield Deficiencies
00:23:17
Nate
can we get better with an event like that? like I don't know. like When but the deficiency is that big in that area, I don't know if that team can get better.
00:23:27
Conor Glennon
Well, they're the motor of the team.
00:23:28
Nate
like
00:23:29
Conor Glennon
like that Like if your midfield is off, there's only so much you can do. you know I don't care if we had literally the best defense in the world and the best strikers in the world. If we can't get that middle cook and we are done skiing.
00:23:40
killianginnity
Do you think that it is able to be fixed by looking at like Jaime has mentioned before about looking to the granny rulers? Do you think there's enough out there that if we can get them to agree to play for us that we could actually
00:23:53
Conor Glennon
is Is that the right thing to do? like ah
00:23:55
Nate
Maybe, but is it fixable? Is it fixable to play star? Are we trying to play a starter football that we literally can't play?
00:24:04
Conor Glennon
Well, we don't have a star right now.
00:24:04
Nate
like no No, but...
00:24:06
Conor Glennon
like like That was the one carryover from Kenny to Hymer. I know it's only two games for Hymer, and it's six weeks in the job, and you can't expect as much as as we're expecting. But like we are a rudderless ship.
00:24:18
killianginnity
We want indications.
00:24:18
Nate
but... But like how do
Strategic Changes for Irish Football (Q&A)
00:24:21
Nate
I say this? We're like we're trying to play football ball when we clearly can't play football. that And I mean that in the most basic terms. is like Do we have to go to like playing defensive football? Because we can't we can't create with that midfield.
00:24:37
killianginnity
you You mean...
00:24:37
Nate
isn it
00:24:37
Conor Glennon
I don't, yeah, are you saying go route one, like go big sample?
00:24:39
Nate
and i talking in I'm talking everything to the back and we hit them on the counter. like
00:24:43
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:24:43
Nate
like is is
00:24:44
killianginnity
After the days of when ugly?
00:24:46
Nate
Like, it is is that where we we have to play football? up Because I don't think our midfield is good enough to play. any like a you style I really don't.
00:24:54
Conor Glennon
I mean, there was an element of that to that 2016 team.
00:24:54
Nate
i mean
00:24:57
Conor Glennon
And the only reason I keep harping back to that is that's the last decent team we had, you know?
00:25:02
killianginnity
and wasn't even that decent.
00:25:03
Conor Glennon
That's what I mean. I'm clutching on straws here.
00:25:06
Nate
On the Granny Rose stuff, can we improve that midfield? Probably.
00:25:12
Conor Glennon
Oh, it's like, it's fixable.
00:25:12
Nate
and
00:25:13
killianginnity
and and and i don't and ah And I don't mean just just the midfield. like Sometimes you have to fix the left-back situation to be able to fix the midfield because you're getting drawn into these extra positions.
00:25:20
Nate
a
00:25:22
killianginnity
Or like if you had somebody that is willing to play right back and chase back.
00:25:24
Conor Glennon
We've got the, we've got the personnel from an offensive point of view to make it work. We've got people from, uh, we,
00:25:30
killianginnity
Right now, I don't think we do.
00:25:31
Nate
No, I I read out.
00:25:31
killianginnity
Not on the wings.
00:25:33
Conor Glennon
Well, we've but like I think if we vary up the system, but i think we vary up the system like we like you were saying, where we do that kind of deck and rice piece, we've got enough of people there that we can carry stragglers on the flanks.
00:25:34
killianginnity
what What left back do we have?
00:25:45
Conor Glennon
We've got a decent central core. And if we play through the middle.
00:25:46
killianginnity
i I genuinely think we can't fix that left back position right now. Because the best option I think we have is the young lad Teo, Adamola Mollie from Crystal Palace.
00:26:00
killianginnity
He's gone on loan to Coventry this year, but this is like his breakthrough championship year.
00:26:04
Conor Glennon
Mm.
00:26:04
killianginnity
So you can't expect him yet.
00:26:05
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:26:05
killianginnity
But he's a very good player for field on the under 21s. So we need a player for now. and ah Genuinely, the only person I can see is Dennis Serkin for Sunderland, and it's not a Sunderland thing. It's just he's a very damn good left-back and he can fill in centre if needed, but he's also a like an attacking threat.
00:26:19
Nate
Yeah.
00:26:24
killianginnity
He is everything that we want from every other player.
00:26:28
Conor Glennon
A wing back. Yeah.
00:26:29
killianginnity
like no It's not even just a wing-back. just from and he he He can play left-back, no not just wing-back. So it's not like a Robbie Brady where it's like, oh yeah, he can whip in a cross. He knocked that great at tackling though. ah Or putting out Darryl O'Shea on the left-hand side, or he he can put in a tackle, but it's his on his wrong side and it's completely useless going forward. Like he he, this is the only player I can see that does a little bit of everything. Even Enda Stevens, who was our kind of a our last proper left-back.
00:26:59
killianginnity
wasn't a good left back. He was a wingback. And then before him, we were playing Brady and McLean.
00:27:05
Conor Glennon
How long has Brady been in the team?
00:27:06
Nate
is
00:27:06
killianginnity
Grim.
00:27:07
Conor Glennon
Like it's actually frightening.
00:27:09
killianginnity
People forget how young he came true because like he broke true, not united, he came true united, but he broke through a hole on loan.
00:27:15
Conor Glennon
Mmm.
00:27:16
Nate
yeah
00:27:17
killianginnity
And he I
Developing Future Talents
00:27:18
killianginnity
think he was only 20 then. Like at 2016, he was young.
00:27:21
Nate
and At one point does the FAI go, we actually need to tailor make players for these positions. like say for example and i'm i'm hopping back to ruby power again but it's quite it's quite relevant in my opinion just so if you have gone we need more thai head props you know what they're doing they banned the clubs and i know they can do this because they own the clubs they banned the clubs from buying in players from other countries so we have to bring to our own props surely there's a there's a system here where if you go we need a left back
00:27:50
Conor Glennon
In that position, yeah.
00:27:59
Nate
we need a fiveyear plan to get a left back like the
00:28:02
Conor Glennon
To do that, we need a center of excellence. and And that we don't have.
00:28:05
killianginnity
Mm.
00:28:06
Conor Glennon
Or at least an academy system that can foster those players. And yes, if they go to the UK, that's fine. we'll We'll get them when they're at that senior men's age.
00:28:16
Conor Glennon
but or women's for that fact that in the in the women's team but I think we just the funding isn't there in the same way that where like you said in rugby the RFU own the club so they can control that side of it but then also the school system in Ireland is a factory for talent that doesn't exist in football.
00:28:25
Nate
we need a five-year plan to get a left back.
00:28:34
killianginnity
and Should we have a team in, in if the League of Ireland is to stay within the FAI thing, which I know is under consideration at at at this moment in time, and should we be looking to have a, rather than like Shama Crovers having B teams and stuff, should we have like ah a Lansdowne Road FC that is actually ran by the FAI?
00:28:36
Nate
boys.
00:29:00
killianginnity
as if it's a centre of excellence and having this team where you can take in players on loan but it also allows like under 21 players gives them an option instead of going to England or getting loan back from England if they're only going to be playing academy football that's here is the system that we want to play and we're going to do it as a club but and so
00:29:15
Nate
100%.
00:29:16
Conor Glennon
But will players end up going to that team just because they think it's the way into the Arden team?
00:29:16
Nate
Yeah.
00:29:20
Conor Glennon
So like are you getting the wrong ends there?
00:29:21
Nate
No.
00:29:22
Conor Glennon
Because i think I think the concept of that is brilliant. And it's something I think we talked about before. but
00:29:28
killianginnity
But, like, you I know what you're saying, like, do you get the wrong ends, or are they doing it for the wrong reasons? But do you end up with a team that's then cohesive anyway?
00:29:36
Nate
True. And also.
00:29:37
killianginnity
Like, the perfect is the enemy of the good.
00:29:39
Nate
Also, you'd have a team that's training full time in a. state-of-the-art centre.
00:29:47
killianginnity
Yeah.
00:29:47
Nate
That's what we need. like like um i'll be like the The League of Arts and Clubs do a great job with the resources that they have in the economy level, but it's not good enough.
00:29:58
killianginnity
Yeah.
00:29:58
Nate
um like I brought up this question in in work. sure Should the FAI be trying to bail out Dundach?
00:30:09
Conor Glennon
Ooh, as in to take it on like this Lansdowne FC.
00:30:10
Nate
Should Should they? like Because like that's what I mean.
00:30:13
killianginnity
If ah did you do it in lieu of that, then yeah, I think so. That'd be great.
00:30:21
Nate
Should that be the direction that they go? and then they he's exactly ah have But then they have like control over, not control, but they can dictate how they develop players somewhat.
00:30:23
killianginnity
Nicely positioned if you're trying to get Northern Irish players.
00:30:26
Conor Glennon
dear
00:30:36
Nate
We just don't have that right now.
00:30:37
Conor Glennon
One thing I will say though, man, is even if they do do take that a club on in that role, which would be great, there I think I speak for the three of us when I say this, that the caliber of executives in that building would mess it up.
00:30:38
Nate
we shouldn't be
00:30:54
Conor Glennon
We do not have the right people in the FAI to pull off that plan, even if we had the money and the opportunity.
00:31:00
killianginnity
No, like just just before we go on to kind of like the C-suite level of of the FAI, I do want to just kind of mention that like if we had a team like that available to the nation, and imagine how great that would be for players that are like it'd be a second opportunity for them if they're getting released by clubs over in England or anything like that.
00:31:23
killianginnity
So it's not just kind of gulf of kind of like
00:31:23
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:31:26
killianginnity
a ah ah league of Ireland team that can't necessarily afford to pay them because it'd be at least centralized funding and probably wouldn't be as competitive as the upper teams but at least it would be like we're we're doing this and you have a minimum release fee of if it's within Ireland zero and abroad 100k something like that where you have a kind of a really good Irish led structure um and it's kind of a glorified trialist team for the year and like Imagine how many players we wouldn't have lost.
00:31:57
killianginnity
if you know like
00:31:58
Nate
All those.
00:31:59
killianginnity
like um Even the likes of ah let let's say like a damn Crowley who dropped through the divisions and kind of worked his way back up. Or even say Jack Byrne. Jack Byrne when he got released by Applewell.
00:32:12
killianginnity
And he came back to Shamrock over to that kind of little period of Willie won't do what's he doing.
00:32:16
Conor Glennon
Mm.
00:32:16
killianginnity
Or Keith Buckley when he went to Australia and then Willie come back to Bose and all he ended up. Yeah. But like imagine having a pathway for an older player like that, even to go into a league of Ireland team.
00:32:27
killianginnity
Ran by the FAI and be able to develop along these players and help them and be that kind of like, uh, arm around the shoulder. Like I just think it makes complete sense.
00:32:35
Nate
I think it's a no-brainer like I think it's a genuine no-brainer because not only can the the thing that will be brought up and put against them is are they gonna try and flip players and stuff like that but I think just being able to get them in the building in Abbotstown say that's I know the docs quite far away from Abbotstown but if they could train in our facility seven like five days a week you're going to see a higher level player anyway you know
00:33:03
Conor Glennon
But it's also like I'm killing your point of the players that we could have kept the other side of the coin is imagine the amount of players that could have been. That we've never heard of you know that's the bigger one for me like we how many people have we possibly missed out on that gave up on the game because they got the League of Ireland.
00:33:12
killianginnity
yeah yeah
00:33:22
Conor Glennon
the money wasn't worth it to them for the the injuries that they were carrying. And they couldn't make it in the UK, so they just gave it up and and got of an office job. you know like that They're the ones that I'm like, we really lost out on.
00:33:35
killianginnity
Look at Shane Supple. when he When he came back from Ipswich to play GA, I know he eventually went back playing with Bose, but like imagine again having that kind of in-between team where like you no you're not committed to being like a full-time player. like it's It's one of these teams that you could play around with, kind of like, yeah, well, you're a backup goalkeeper, well... That's fine. and You're 26. You're going to have a normal job. we We'll work around that and deal with that. But we want you there because we're going to have 18 year olds coming and we want you to be there. The older brother kind of thing like it it just to be such forward thinking and when you think of the granny rules and the things imagine.
00:34:14
killianginnity
like being able to sell that to English based players or anything like that. It's kind of going, listen, we have a set up that you're just going to slot into because like, look at how these these guys are playing. Yes, they're always playing together, but it's football. You play with other people.
00:34:29
killianginnity
And kind of going, yeah, we are not just thinking of now. We are trying to develop into the future and ah that we want you to be part of that future.
00:34:40
killianginnity
So, yes, come play for us now. we We may not be that good, but in five years' time, this is our plan. This is where we're getting to. And this is how we're doing it. Like, yes.
00:34:49
Conor Glennon
Legally could the FAI do this because then you get into the is it match fixing?
00:34:53
Nate
Yeah.
00:34:53
Conor Glennon
Is it all of that kind of thing?
00:34:56
killianginnity
um I don't know if the FAI could but like ah definitely somebody on behalf of like it doesn't always have to be FAI itself.
00:35:06
Nate
and That's a good point to be fair.
00:35:06
killianginnity
um
00:35:07
Nate
like It does become muddy ground then. Just from a general perspective, like if the FAI is funding it, it becomes muddy ground. but just just because there there is that i conflict of interest.
00:35:23
Conor Glennon
If the people who are making the rules own a team, it you know, or governing the sport at least, you know, say for example, if that team got into, say there was chants that were unfavorable and then it's up with the f FAI for review, it's their team.
00:35:41
killianginnity
Well, is it, is it always the FBI that does that? Like there has to be a competitive on with them.
00:35:46
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:35:47
killianginnity
Like that there, there you you can put in checks and balances. Um, like you could all also do it it in a way that like the team has to be a not for profit.
00:35:59
Conor Glennon
You could roadblock it enough that it's feasible.
00:35:59
killianginnity
Like.
00:36:02
killianginnity
Yeah, absolutely. um And could even even if you wanted to make it less kind of competitive, you can make it like that. It's only an under 21.
00:36:10
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:36:11
killianginnity
This is genuinely just a pathway team. There's loads of things you can do. like None of it's going to happen, because I don't think on the C-suite level that we have that kind of ingenuity.
00:36:22
killianginnity
But this is the C-suite level that we have, Connor.
00:36:26
Conor Glennon
I mean, you know, it's it's not even the personnel that are there now. This is an issue that has plagued us for... As long as I can remember, as long as I've been a football fan, that the people in the building are i just archaic in their thinking. And look, it's easy to look in from outside and say it's an easy job and ah I'm aware it's very much not. But it just seems that time and time and time again, we're picking the wrong people for this role that are so short-sighted in their approach to Irish football. Like the best chance that we had in recent years was when Nell Quinn came in.
00:37:06
Conor Glennon
I'm not saying he was the guy. I'm not saying he was the best to do ever do it. But that was our only shred of a hope. And I think he got into the inside, had that interest in being that kind of revolutionary one, so that it's just not possible within that framework.
FAI Structural Issues and Overhaul
00:37:22
Conor Glennon
And I don't know how you re reset and recalibrate an entire C-suite team. not It's not like we've just got one bad egg at the top. That's what we thought we had with John Delaney. We got rid of him. All of the problems are still there.
00:37:35
killianginnity
Nate, is this that it's the wrong people that are getting into the right positions? Or is it that the positions are so political you can't be inventive when you're in them?
00:37:47
Nate
um i think both can exist but i do think we're The big thing that stands out to me is we're hiring people that can't self-reflect on how bad their decisions are.
00:37:58
Nate
like Genuinely, how many decisions do we have to go one after the other or after the other until these guys go, we're just making a bad decisions after bad decisions? The most exciting thing is it keeps happening.
00:38:13
Nate
At that point, it's like you might as well just burn the whole building down in terms of
00:38:17
Conor Glennon
even if Even when it keeps happening though, that okay, that happens in businesses where poor decisions are made on an ongoing basis. But when there's no ownership of those bad decisions, that's what really calls me.
00:38:29
Nate
exactly who who's the one calling the shots in there who's the one that when it doesn't go right it falls on because i don't know
00:38:33
Conor Glennon
I doubt they even though.
00:38:39
Conor Glennon
Because it seems like it's a blame game. It's literally that Spider-Man meme of everyone pointing at everyone going, no, it's your fault, your fault, your fault. I can't remember which one of you it was that spotted there was a certain promotion within the ranks of the FAI.
00:38:58
killianginnity
Yeah, as a daily user of LinkedIn, and I'm sure sure there's not many listeners that can say that, I came across that Mark Canham, director of football of FAI, or should I say former director of football of the FAI, because just around the time of the England game, he actually got a new position or at least a new title for cheap chief of footballing operations.
00:39:23
killianginnity
Now, before we came on, we were discussing what does this mean? Is this a promotion? Is this a rebrand? Or is this an acknowledgement that whoever is going to come in for the permanent CEO position actually knows nothing about football and they're now going to be a little bit more kind of designating things out.
00:39:39
killianginnity
So you'll have a kind of like what Man United did, but like on ah on a little level.
00:39:45
Conor Glennon
on a shoestring basis, yeah.
00:39:46
killianginnity
Yeah, this is the Teamu version.
00:39:47
Nate
that does man kind of know much about football because I haven't seen it and my issue is with this is number one and they haven't come out and said that this is happening and we found out through lovely LinkedIn and
00:40:02
Conor Glennon
Well, as the saying is a Friday afternoon story, like this is the definition of that where the press have clocked off until the weekend. No statement goes out to not make it obvious. He probably for his own ego put it out on LinkedIn and that's a whole different gravy, but they really required on this one. The lack of so speech around it says a lot more.
00:40:28
killianginnity
but lucky for the Not Upon It listeners, Not Upon It never sleeps, and we spotted all the news.
00:40:32
Conor Glennon
ah
00:40:33
Nate
But like, number one, who's promoted him? It might not even be a promotion, it might just be, what word is where he is, and just rebrand of of the role.
00:40:43
Conor Glennon
Rebrand.
00:40:44
killianginnity
Well, that's still a bored decision to do.
00:40:46
Nate
Yeah, it's still a move up, isn't it? Like, it's it's
00:40:49
Conor Glennon
Well, anytime you see anything in front of your title, you're at a different level of authority and there's likelihood that ah he's gone from, what, director of football up to chief football officer. he There will be someone underneath him.
00:41:02
Nate
yeah and my question is who's made the decision that number one there should be someone under him and number two there should be someone above him because that doesn't mean taking shots that doesn't mean genuinely curious because all i've seen in the last god knows how long is failure number one number two you know I don't want to use the word lies but there was a lot of shadiness around saying stuff about the manager this and that there was number number three you know ownership over the manager um like I don't know about you lads but it just doesn't film your confidence
00:41:40
Conor Glennon
To me, if the time comes in the short term that Hymer has decided, it's decided that he isn't the man. If Mark Canham survives that, I don't know what to say. Hymer is apparently Canham's man. He was his number one pick, which none of us believe. But if this is his last chance saloon, if he's the guy that picked the guy and he doesn't last his full contract, he's got to go with him.
00:42:08
killianginnity
Like, this is one of the things that kind of bugged me with the FAI. And I think ultimately, disbanding the FAI is going to achieve nothing. It's going to gonna set you backwards. it's ah
00:42:18
Nate
i obey I debate that.
00:42:18
killianginnity
like
00:42:20
Conor Glennon
but we need We need a governing body, we just need different people in pulling the strings.
00:42:24
killianginnity
Yeah, yeah and and and yeah.
00:42:24
Nate
but Is the FAI salvageable?
00:42:25
killianginnity
And you can't burn, yeah, ultimately.
00:42:29
Conor Glennon
As an organization, yes.
00:42:29
killianginnity
Because it has to be.
00:42:31
Conor Glennon
But it with is there the people in there at the moment that can do that? I don't think so. And I don't know where you even begin to to to regroup with that and how you how on earth do you get rid of an entire C-suite of people?
00:42:36
killianginnity
Just because you don't.
00:42:45
Conor Glennon
And then where the hell do you find the people to come in that are going to be cohesive that you're not for the next five, 10 years in the exact same position falling over yourselves?
00:42:54
killianginnity
just because you don't like Fianna Fala, Fianna Gail doesn't mean you should go to and like do a coup against the government to get a new one in. Like ultimately you just move things on and you you hope that the next one's gonna be like one one of my issues with them at the minute and everything I say is from a position of wanting them to be the best that they can be and the best that we could want them to be. It's like Man United leaks what their structure is.
00:43:23
killianginnity
Like, there was like speculation speculation on social media, we all know that generally these things come out in some form of a leak or an indication so that fans know what's going on. That's a private entity.
00:43:34
killianginnity
The FBI isn't.
00:43:34
Nate
Yeah.
00:43:35
killianginnity
And there's now this new position that none of us heard about it or know where it fits into the the overall pyramid or whatever, which I find very, very frustrating.
00:43:46
Nate
is
00:43:46
killianginnity
And on Highmere, like ultimately he's here
Helgramson's Tenure Expectations
00:43:50
killianginnity
six weeks. We're going to have him for at least two more years. So batten in the hatches, get out your Icelandic flags and just believe.
00:43:58
Conor Glennon
But if Hymer was our number one pick according to Mr. Canham, and it was decided back in March that he was our guy, you're telling me that he wouldn't have started at least working on this? Because look, I'm not trying to body Hymer. I think he is a good guy six weeks in. If we're really saying he only started six weeks ago, what is to be expected? But to me, it's a bit like an Ashworth situation. You're telling me he wasn't working on the United plans while he was still at Newcastle, like come off it, you know.
00:44:30
Nate
But like haven't we had Kazzy and Roy King come out and say that they were like in discussions with them very recently? like
00:44:40
killianginnity
But when you've had Highmere talking to the press in Jamaica, at the time that Canem is claiming that he was in negotiations with them, and Jaimeer was telling the Jamaican press that he's preparing for the next tournament.
00:44:56
killianginnity
It's just unbelievable. And and what's happening now with the, what seems as as as we kind of alluded to earlier, which is that like he's the manager, but he's not in control of the team yet.
00:45:06
killianginnity
And which Sean O'Shea kind of leading the line and doing i press conferences and yeah.
00:45:11
Conor Glennon
and picking the team which they have acknowledged John O'Shea picked that team.
00:45:15
killianginnity
And like, I think what that more so kind of proves is that this was a lot more last minute and hence what Connor was saying about if he did only really start in the last six weeks um and I think this
00:45:29
Conor Glennon
i still think I still think six weeks is long enough to do a better job than he did. And I think not doing the pre-match press conference, they can say that was scheduled all they want. Optics of that are awful.
00:45:42
killianginnity
Optics are awful but I think this was an attempt by the FAI as we've seen many times before they're not very good at getting the optics right on these kind of things but I think the intention or at at least hope the intention was right and kind of go and listen we're going to shield you from a very tough first two games by allowing the kind of interim team until you really get your feet under the table because like
00:46:03
Nate
But I thought
00:46:05
Conor Glennon
We wasted so many games though that he could have found his feet on.
00:46:09
Nate
there was goodwill there before that press conference fiasco. like I think there would have been a different reaction to say at least the english England game if that press conference had gone like that.
00:46:23
Nate
They gave the media what they want.
00:46:26
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:46:26
Nate
He gave them the headlines.
00:46:28
killianginnity
Well, the other thing about the goodwill end of it is like we have to also acknowledge that like we are in like football ah generations going cycles and we're part of the cycle now that we are going to be not minnows but definitely lower
00:46:29
Nate
They literally handed it to them.
Ireland's Current Football Status
00:46:46
Conor Glennon
We are, we are minnows.
00:46:47
killianginnity
And we have we have to acknowledge that. So like, whatever the press wants to do about getting their teeth into the team and complaining about them, there's only so much you can complain about when we're like, if Northern Ireland start whinging about losing to England, you kind of go, come on, that's, we're below that level.
00:47:06
Nate
But Killian, you know just as well as I did that someone in that room should have gotten, we are literally handing them the bone with that press conference.
00:47:15
Conor Glennon
they've They've set them up to be a puppet.
00:47:15
Nate
Like literally,
00:47:15
killianginnity
Oh, absolutely.
00:47:18
Nate
like who, whose decision in that organization is it to go, this looks really bad. We probably shouldn't do it.
00:47:27
killianginnity
Oh no, actually, the if I talk over to FAI tomorrow, the first thing I always do is a new media training, new media team, because that is ultimately, I think, the crux of all of their issues is if they had an actual media team and a media coach and somebody telling them how to actually, if they had like an Alistair Campbell spin doctor in house, Mark Cannon never would have put a timeline on appointing a manager, which would have,
00:47:27
Nate
Like.
00:47:53
killianginnity
bought a lot more goodwill way, way in advance.
00:47:56
Nate
He also probably want to put anything in post.
00:47:57
killianginnity
Like, exactly.
00:48:00
Nate
That's besides the point.
00:48:02
killianginnity
ah But like, exactly, like, I think this is where ultimately, like, I think some of the the decisions have been wrong, but not wrongly placed in their intentions.
00:48:15
killianginnity
And the ah the way they go about them is just optically put people against them. And this is just yet another attempt at that.
00:48:25
killianginnity
And with Heimer, I don't care what anybody says. I don't care what Em and Dunphy says. Get used to him. He's going to be here for the next little while. but Otherwise, we're paying yet another golden handshake off with somebody.
00:48:37
killianginnity
And I would rather waste.
00:48:39
Conor Glennon
Oh, let's face it, he's here till his contract ends. We're not getting rid
00:48:41
killianginnity
Yeah, no.
00:48:42
Nate
See, I don't have an issue, homer okay? Like, in terms of, to me, he wasn't going to be Greece. The performance is another thing. He wasn't going to be England. I can get over that. I can live with that. But my problem is, we are now lucky, and i mean it is a C-suite issue of if if the listeners can't tell with me. is we are We are looking to the same people that got us into this mess one way or another to get us out of it.
00:49:13
Nate
I can't buy into that. I don't know about you guys. I just can't see it.
00:49:17
Conor Glennon
Do you think no that the FAI are setting him up to be a puppet?
00:49:24
Nate
I don't know.
00:49:26
killianginnity
Is he the fall guy?
00:49:27
Nate
I don't know what you achieved by making up the pulpit unless they believe John O'Shea isn't going to be the biggest masterclass ever in our short bar when he was a four-time manager.
00:49:35
Conor Glennon
And if they did, why didn't they just pick him? Because they could have got him for half the prize.
00:49:38
Nate
i
00:49:41
Nate
I don't think there's any upside for him to be the puppet. and Whether the FAI made that decision, I wouldn't put it past them. But personally, no, I just think very bad decisions on their part heading into week one. And they've now they've now set a they've now set ah ah media line that's just going to keep getting pushed because they gave it to the media. No one else but them.
00:50:12
Conor Glennon
You know what actually baffles me, and in one way I'm delighted for them, but when you put it like this, in this international window, San Marino got a win, and we didn't.
00:50:21
Nate
Shado, Shado
00:50:23
Conor Glennon
San Marino haven't won a football game in 15 years.
00:50:24
killianginnity
I know. 20 years.
00:50:27
Conor Glennon
20.
00:50:27
Nate
San Marino man.
00:50:28
killianginnity
Yeah.
00:50:29
Conor Glennon
Oh, like you love to see it. And I think the person I was happiest for was their, was their admin on social. He had the greatest day of his entire life. Um, but like we take the jokes out of it, like Samarino are winning games and we're not, I take out the England game, but the Greece game, we should, we'd no right to win, but how we, how are we there?
00:50:41
killianginnity
well
00:50:48
killianginnity
Well, do you want a more depressing fact?
00:50:49
Conor Glennon
You know?
00:50:49
killianginnity
Do you want a more depressing fact? Now I'm going to completely hang this on Aion O'Reardon who has all tweeted. Apparently no team has lost more world ranking places in the last 20 years in Ireland.
00:51:01
Conor Glennon
I'd well believe it. like what The last I heard were 58th or something. We have to be lower than that now.
00:51:07
killianginnity
No, I'd say we're in and around that.
00:51:09
Conor Glennon
like I think what was our but our best was like 15 or somewhere around there.
00:51:14
killianginnity
Oh, no, we were top five or top six um in the 90s after one of the World Cups.
00:51:18
Conor Glennon
Jesus Christ.
00:51:21
killianginnity
Like we I'm very much kind of like like with podcast rankings, considering we are top 20 in Ireland. Usually ah I always take them with a pinch of salt.
00:51:29
Nate
The end.
00:51:33
killianginnity
Like there's only so much you can read out of it. Like, look what Wales did before the 2016 euros. so um Yeah. Sixth we got to in August, 1993.
00:51:41
Conor Glennon
That's way above our station,
Fostering Local Football Talent
00:51:43
Conor Glennon
to be fair. Like, let's just... your cosplay displayed.
00:51:44
killianginnity
We have been, we've been worse than we are now.
00:51:45
Nate
I still read sounds.
00:51:47
killianginnity
Like in 2014, we did reach 70.
00:51:50
Conor Glennon
Jesus Christ.
00:51:51
killianginnity
And we still got to Euro 2016. So like, we we we can't, hear can know we we can always dig.
00:51:56
Conor Glennon
How bad was everyone else? Like...
00:52:00
killianginnity
um But like, I think we can fall into a habit of over, like catastrophic sizing, like all these kinds of things.
00:52:10
killianginnity
It's not the cataclysmic end of the world here. um
00:52:14
Conor Glennon
starting to feel like it's common though like it's it that's a great line but like he's not wrong
00:52:15
Nate
did Did you see it about Tony Coscarino? I actually think he hit an end ahead of this one. He goes, for the first 45 minutes of the England game, and he was trying to decide if Ireland were more like Andorra, San Marino or the Faroe Islands.
00:52:34
killianginnity
Faroe Adams, Brian Kerr, love it.
00:52:40
Nate
Like, it's there's that's what hurts most is truth in that. Like, very true.
00:52:45
Conor Glennon
That stings.
00:52:46
Nate
Yeah. Oh, nice.
00:52:49
killianginnity
I don't think there's any quick fix for any of this, though. like I think ultimately, it all goes back to fun. like And if we have this Apple tax windfall, like, would you give them like a one off kind of thing? Would you give them like, is there any benefit to giving ah Ireland a new training center?
00:53:06
Conor Glennon
I don't think, I don't think it can, it can't just be one. It needs, if we're going to go down, if we're going to put money into football in Ireland, we need areas across the country where we have one home base, like in Abbott's town, kind of home of football. Let's have a second one of them, but then outside of Dublin, we need to be faster in talent in all corners of this country.
00:53:06
Nate
Can you trust me with the money?
00:53:30
Nate
Killy, let me ask you this.
00:53:31
killianginnity
Yeah.
00:53:32
Nate
If you're the one handing out the money, can you in good faith give the fa f FAI money? Could you?
00:53:39
killianginnity
um
00:53:41
Nate
like Do you think that money's gonna be used in the right way?
00:53:44
Conor Glennon
Bear in mind not too long ago they suspended the funding for the FAO.
00:53:48
killianginnity
Well, ultimately right now, no, because I don't i don't think there's enough transparency on who's in charge. ah Because we have an interim CEO, so there's always going to be a question mark over whether you can or not.
00:54:01
killianginnity
But if you were to kind of follow that model, you'd never give money to anybody, because there's always going to be a question mark of what they're going to do with it. Like, look at the GAA. that's and That's a black hole that just seems that money comes out at the other end, but nobody knows what happens in the middle.
00:54:14
killianginnity
And oh, there's enough, though. Don't worry about it. and
00:54:17
Nate
Yeah, but at least there's enough there, like, Deaf A.R.
00:54:17
killianginnity
like
00:54:19
Nate
and Deaf luck. Do you know what I mean?
00:54:22
killianginnity
Yeah, like would you think it'd be better off clearing the debts of the FAI or giving them money to build something?
00:54:23
Nate
like
00:54:26
Nate
Like...
00:54:31
Conor Glennon
Poor, ideally both obviously, but like I think if we were to give the FAI money right now, there would have to be strict legal kind of agreements as to where that money is going and a timeline for it that if they don't meet, there is hell to pay.
00:54:31
Nate
the
00:54:48
Conor Glennon
That's the only way this works.
00:54:51
killianginnity
Yeah, that's not realistic though either.
00:54:54
Conor Glennon
That's what I mean, you know?
00:54:55
killianginnity
So like, we're stuck between ah a rock and a hard place and... I think this is where we need to be a little bit more inventive and a little bit more kind of far reaching and far looking.
00:55:10
killianginnity
And maybe we'll have interviews in in the not not too just distant future about kind of like how youth structures can work to the benefit of clubs and nations to try and get a better understanding of how these kinds of things can ultimately take effect
00:55:28
Conor Glennon
happen Happen. Yeah.
00:55:30
killianginnity
And how long the timeline needs to be. Like us in Ireland, we're great at being given a timeline that's ridiculously and far away, not keeping up on it.
00:55:41
killianginnity
That we allow it to slip and also hold nobody to account, but we also want things done yesterday.
00:55:45
Conor Glennon
if we if we If we had a plan, which we don't, it would take at least 10 years, but we don't have a plan. So it's going to take far longer than that.
00:55:53
Nate
We're kidding.
00:55:53
killianginnity
but like the last time we had a plan was rude doctor and ultimately we're now seeing benefits of it because we have more technical players you can say whatever i want to use one about the quality of them or the of the team overall yeah well
00:56:02
Nate
Yeah, I just wish he made us a laugh, Michael.
00:56:05
Conor Glennon
For context, Root Doctor started what?
Long-term Impact of Past Leadership
00:56:08
Conor Glennon
2012, 2013, left 2021?
00:56:10
killianginnity
in and around them yeah and they were now um only now seeing and reaping the rewards of what he was doing and he was criticized at the time for kind of going all you're focusing on focusing on the wrong area so like
00:56:22
Conor Glennon
He had a plan that took eight years to for his plan to come fruition and look where we are. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not ragging on him. He brought through the best players we could have done in that circumstance, but we're still where we're still are where we are, you know?
00:56:34
killianginnity
Like ultimately you you have, yeah, but ultimately from him, you have the likes of ever for Evan Ferguson because it's the building blocks that he put in into the Irish system and Evan came through the Irish system.
00:56:44
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
00:56:45
killianginnity
Like, so for ah whatever anybody wants to criticize about these kind of long-term plans and like, oh, what's the point of doing it now when and we're not going to see it until 2050?
00:56:55
killianginnity
Well, then if you don't plan to see it in 2050, you'll never plan to see it at all.
00:56:59
Conor Glennon
I'd buy into a 2050 plan, but i just there's no one I'd believe in that organization to pull off that plan.
00:57:00
Nate
Okay.
00:57:04
Nate
Okay.
00:57:07
killianginnity
Join us and next week as it's not upon the 2050 Ireland plan.
00:57:10
Nate
hey
00:57:10
killianginnity
and i one
00:57:11
Nate
Gillian, I have a question for you Gillian, because you seem to be more of the positive side than at least me personally.
00:57:17
Conor Glennon
And
00:57:18
Nate
and And I've seen things and after the game where there has been a little, I'd say a small portion of the fans that are still positive um and stuff like that.
00:57:32
Nate
Where sit? Can you sit there and go like, let's just give this time? or or like do you believe we're we're heading for a hide for an awesome like do you know what i mean like
00:57:43
killianginnity
Um, you can be so I'd be kind of sort of in the middle. I think I'd be a lot more kind of, um, I'd give them a lot more benefit the doubt. Like when you, even when you look at the women's game now, like the amount of changes and stuff, like you have new hires in and the management.
00:57:58
killianginnity
and Hannah Dingley now coming in as like the the head of women women's football operations and stuff. It's like these things, yes, like there's been a lot of flux over the last little while for Irish football in general, including re-brands and everything.
00:58:05
Conor Glennon
Big move, that.
00:58:15
killianginnity
Like we don't have a CEO, and the CEO that was there was only there for like two years. Like there's only, we are still in the fallout of to John Delaney. and Nearly a decade on, but we're still in the fallout of John Delaney.
00:58:27
killianginnity
And when you have somebody as dictatorily and as far reaching within the company, that's going to take a long time to go through. I don't mind not having success now. I don't mind losing a load of games right now. What I do mind is losing games badly and having a player like Matt Doherty, who we have seen in the past, is a very technically good player, but not trying. And that's where I have my problem. Like I see Ireland now as as I saw Sunderland in league one, not to always make it about Sunderland, but like
00:59:07
killianginnity
If you watch something until I die, like I think we're in our Stuart Donald ownership phase where we have people, not the right people at the top, but maybe they're going to put the right people in next. We have players that don't necessarily aren't the best technically and maybe not the best ah emotionally for the team, but maybe the next ones are going to be. And once you start getting the right building box in place and getting the right person at the head with a bit of a vision, like a Christian Speakman,
00:59:34
killianginnity
trust the process and ah keep believing and you can get the benefits of it so like I'm not I think I am genuinely somewhere in between I can criticize a bad game but ultimately I'm not going to criticize when the work and the billing box are being there for something bigger in the future welcome to football lads
00:59:36
Conor Glennon
A writer, Tedda.
00:59:38
Nate
But like, it does,
00:59:52
Nate
but like it do like even when you said that, it does feel like a lot of maybe, maybe, maybe, do you know what I mean?
00:59:58
Conor Glennon
It's a lot of hope.
01:00:00
Nate
Like it it is, I, no, but like, I know, but like,
01:00:00
Conor Glennon
yeah
01:00:03
killianginnity
A1, is it?
01:00:07
killianginnity
just like Connor, think think think with with you at Newcastle.
01:00:08
Nate
um
01:00:11
killianginnity
like A couple of years ago, Mike Ashley. Mike Ashley was your John Delaney.
01:00:14
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
01:00:14
killianginnity
you're going to You're going through a little period of flux and it will get better. Nate, you're doing it now with Jim Radcliffe. Think of it in terms of that. you And actually, they were this is they're a really good example because you got rid of Edward Woodward.
01:00:22
Nate
Yeah, bully.
01:00:27
killianginnity
John Delaney is gone. You still have glazers in, so the FAI still isn't right.
01:00:30
Conor Glennon
But you even you even look at the look at Newcastle though, sorry to cut across you, but like you you are right with that.
01:00:34
killianginnity
Yeah.
01:00:35
Conor Glennon
But I think the difference is when the Saudis came in, they had a plan and they executed said plan. You know what I mean? In a very quick, arguably too quick fashion that we're struggling with right now.
Ownership Models and Transparency
01:00:49
Conor Glennon
But I just feel like I keep saying, ah yeah.
01:00:51
killianginnity
Two things on that though, they said he's had all the money and they can buy players. Ireland doesn't have that option. And two, not, not every ownership model is going to go in and go, Oh, like we're seeing that at Dundalk. He has an owner can come in and and i go, Oh, this isn't what I was expecting. I had a plan on my head. It's now gone. So there's only so much you can kind of hold them, ah hold it against them. You can still hold them to account, but there's only so much you can hold it against them.
01:01:18
Conor Glennon
I do want to clarify, like I'm not looking for Heimer's head in a stick. It's far too early for that.
01:01:22
Nate
ah naer four can i say this is my invitation to my channel let's have a sit down let's have a chat i want to understand what your goals are number one oh we can discuss your new role happy days but come on vda let's sit down have a chat and
01:01:23
Conor Glennon
You know, and like, I do want to get that out there.
01:01:43
Nate
and see where our shortpas head but um I I'm calling out Mark Cannon.
01:01:46
Conor Glennon
Let us in on the plan.
01:01:50
Nate
Let's have a chat, fella.
01:01:52
Conor Glennon
Let's hope we can make that happen.
01:01:52
killianginnity
Yeah. And like that that that would be incredible. And like I'm telling you, check out something because Christian Speakman does at at the end of every transfer window, he does a ah ah video to the supporters explaining how the transfer window went, what what they expected, how how would they think it's going to affect them going forward.
01:02:11
killianginnity
And what it does for the fans is just incredible. so they They kind of understand and kind of buy into it because at least they're being communicated to.
01:02:20
Nate
But i'd I'd love to have a sit-down with him.
01:02:22
killianginnity
We're not getting that.
01:02:22
Conor Glennon
as much as much as As much as we rag him, I'm being dead serious when I say this, it'll be a completely respectful conversation.
01:02:23
Nate
I'd love to have a sit-down. Like, change our minds.
01:02:28
Conor Glennon
I just want to hear his side of it. I want to hear what is, how was the last two years been?
01:02:31
Nate
Yeah.
01:02:35
Conor Glennon
What is the next five look like?
01:02:38
Nate
Like, change our minds.
01:02:38
killianginnity
Plus, I'll be there to referee it.
01:02:40
Nate
Change our minds, like, in terms of, like, i inject a bit of belief into it because Like we, need we need communication. I think that that's a big thing now is like, well,
01:02:49
Conor Glennon
yeah Like, if if if the manager's saying the players need confidence, so do the fans. And to give to get their confidence, we need transparency. And this is where, like, come out from the... Look, it doesn't even have to be bloody us. But, like, when was... Have you ever seen a long-form interview with Mark Ann?
01:03:09
killianginnity
When's the last time you saw a long-term long-form and interview with anybody from the top level of FAI?
01:03:10
Nate
what he,
01:03:14
Conor Glennon
That's what I'm saying.
01:03:14
Nate
He done that one with the FAI. I don't know if it was long for him, but it was like longer where it seemed like he was being forced to be in that room to have that chat. Do you remember that one?
01:03:24
killianginnity
um The longest interview I've seen from somebody of proper of the higher end of the structure of the FAI was an Arachtas committee.
01:03:32
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
01:03:32
Nate
Yeah, give us, give us.
01:03:33
Conor Glennon
Or High Omers Media a Day.
01:03:33
Nate
her give
01:03:35
Conor Glennon
That was it.
01:03:36
Nate
Jenny, give us 30 minutes of your time and let us have a chat and you can change our minds because I'd love not more. Like, Jenny does.
01:03:42
Conor Glennon
Yeah.
01:03:43
Nate
I'm being honest. I've got my golden one here and I still believe what I said, but it changed my mind.
01:03:49
Conor Glennon
And I'm open to my mind being changed.
01:03:49
Nate
but
01:03:50
killianginnity
you want to leave.
01:03:51
Conor Glennon
You know, I like, I look, we're all Irish football fans. We're mad about it. It like football is our life, but I'm really finding it hard to believe in the FAI system.
01:04:01
Conor Glennon
So please give us, give us even 20 minutes of your time. And that's my plea done. I'm sure to getting on my knees at this point.
01:04:11
killianginnity
And on that bombshell, we'll leave it there. Hopefully we'll have a very special guest very, very soon.
01:04:16
Nate
my account I'm coming soon
01:04:19
killianginnity
Nate, Connor, thank you very much.
01:04:21
Nate
bye
01:04:21
Conor Glennon
but Bye-bye.
01:04:21
killianginnity
I'm going to catch you next week.