Kevin Kilbane: Next Ireland manager should build team around Evan Ferguson and control the story

There are certain standards Irish football must never relinquish. Forget Greece. They deserved to beat Ireland twice this year. Better team and a superior manager in Gus Poyet.

The only side to take points off France, they deserve to reach the Euros via a play-off in March.

Honestly, Greece should be beating Ireland. They have an established professional league and a stronger history. But Irish players used to perform above themselves in a green shirt. We were a nightmare to play against, especially at Lansdowne Road.

The odd defeat to Luxembourg and Armenia is going to happen. As is an occasional slip at home to Azerbaijan and New Zealand. But the current squad are turning these results into annual occurrences.

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It’s the performances that rankle. The Kiwis passed Ireland off the park on Tuesday night. In soccer, not rugby.

We judge Irish sides by what we see in games before turning to the manager and players for explanations. The players took responsibility for some dark days but Stephen Kenny kept trying to explain the lack of progress by promising a brighter future.

Enough. I took issue with his late-night speech after beating Gibraltar in June. The one where he explained why he should be the manager. He had every right to defend himself but the way it was done made me cringe.

The next manager needs to tread carefully before signing a FAI contract. Firstly, understand how the media covers the biggest job in Irish sport. Read, listen and watch enough criticism and you’ll start to believe it is true.

The international manager’s media handler becomes their right-hand man or woman. They need to protect the gaffer from ridicule. That should be priority number one. Kenny talked himself into problems, even turning on his predecessors – Martin, Mick and Stan – before rowing back as soon as his own results were raised in comparison.

Sometimes a manager needs to stop self-promoting. Sometimes they need to be told as much.

The senior Irish manager, be it Vera Pauw or Kenny, becomes the FAI’s chief spokesperson. They become the face of Irish football. See how Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have turned press conferences into performance art.

It should be the director of football or chief executive who fields non-match related issues but that rarely happens, so it’s been left to Pauw and Kenny this past year, as others duck for cover.

Kenny’s poor communication skills were exposed without expert guidance from an experienced head, someone who has been around these ultra-pressurised situations. It made no sense for him to constantly try to rewrite history as it unfolded. He either accepted no counsel or was being badly advised.

Either way, he spent the last three years making excuses. That’s what it sounded like. He was still talking about Covid last week. Who thinks that’s a wise narrative to resurrect?

Everyone wanted Kenny to succeed. Results kept telling us he was not up to the job. It is clear that a few European nights with Dundalk and League of Ireland success is not enough preparation for this role.

Trying to introduce a possession-based, high-pressing game away to Holland without creative midfielders felt naive. Don’t lump it forward either. What drove me to tears was Ireland playing from the back, as promised by Kenny, only for Jayson Molumby or Josh Cullen to instinctively pick a lateral pass or go backwards. Fear gripped them, I feel, and not just against the Dutch, French and Greeks. Ireland struggle in possession against everyone.

They failed to play to their strengths. Get quick balls into Evan Ferguson or Adam Idah with a runner like Mikey Johnston in behind. Do it with purpose and pace. Do it at training until the lads have blisters. Watch Brighton, Liverpool and Man City.

The manager was caught out in-game by Ronald Koeman and Poyet making tactical switches but Ireland have lacked leaders on the pitch. Séamus Coleman is a rare breed.

The next “head coach” has to build the team around Ferguson. He’s been isolated in Kenny teams, mainly because the midfield lacked the vision of a Dutch or even New Zealand player to get the head up and play balls into the teenager’s feet.

Ferguson needs a few steely figures around him if he is to play major tournament football. There is no guarantee. Erling Haaland has 27 goals in 29 caps for Norway, across three qualification campaigns. At 23, he’s done everything but feature at the Euros or World Cup.

The Ireland camp has developed an excellent set-up for training and sports science. That’s a positive legacy of the Kenny years. I played with his assistant coaches Keith Andrews and John O’Shea, both are clear thinkers on the game.

But the plan under Kenny was flawed and his media messaging became a distraction.

Instead of a needless statement about 41,000 coming to the Aviva on Tuesday, the FAI needed to remind him the New Zealand tickets were paired with Greece.

Press conferences are the mechanism for managers to speak directly to the public. Journalists are conduits.

Want to avoid questions about the CEO controversy and your imminent departure? Release the team early in the week. Explain why Mark Sykes is starting. Talk about Matt Doherty’s leadership qualities. “I’m starting Caoimhín Kelleher and Andrew Omobamidele because they are stuck on Premier League benches and we believe they can drive Irish football for the next 10 years.”

When the media is finished writing and broadcasting all that information they’d have little time to mention much else.

Create a conversation. Kenny was left dangling in the wind, repeating the same lines that had been disproven. To keep suggesting he was the first Ireland manager to adopt a modern style was nonsense.

The Ireland manager is the voice of Irish football, they are front of house, the first responder in a crisis. In Amsterdam, Kenny was asked about chief executive Jonathan Hill receiving payments in lieu of holidays. The response? I hear he’s paid it back.

Why on earth was Kenny free-styling about his boss? This stuff matters. Sponsors are paying attention. People listen to the Ireland manger. They must. He or she does over 20 pressers a year.

Gareth Southgate has the gig down pat. He gives the media what they need, not what they want, with detailed planning going into how he’ll approach a wave of topics. He is rarely caught off guard. Kenny seemed shocked by half the questions put to him.

Stability is needed. Without any competitive football, for the men, until September 2024, more financial pain is guaranteed. The fans need a good reason to come to friendlies in March and June but growing concerns around Hill and the board has to be affecting the FAI’s ability to recruit the next Ireland manager. Everyone is watching now.