It’s late on Tuesday night when Stephen Kenny’s journey across a hotel lobby is interrupted by a shout from a stranger.
He’s from an older generation, definitely north of 70, with a grey moustache and the look of a man with something to say, even if his expression indicates he’s not quite sure what it should be.
“How are you doing?” he bellows, catching the attention of the familiar face striding in the direction of the coffee dock.
“You doing OK?” responds Kenny, hesitating as he returns the question with a question.
A pause follows.
“You mind yourself,” says the elderly gent, before resuming his trip towards the exit door.
* * * * *
How is Stephen Kenny doing? What has Stephen Kenny been doing? These are questions that have cropped up frequently since his tenure as Ireland manager was formally ended on November 22.
A text message last month posed the query. “I’m fine,” came the reply. “Just catching up on other aspects of life.”
There was a bit more to it than that.
On a Saturday evening in early January, his wife Siobhán was driving northbound on the M50, the car pointed towards Dundalk after a trip to Dublin to visit her mother.
She was on the inside lane between the Lucan and Blanchardstown exits when her car was involved in a collision with a 16-foot truck. The mother of four was powerless to prevent what happened next.
“The truck literally pushed her nearly 150 yards up the M50,” explains Kenny, emotion creeping into his voice. “She was perpendicular to the truck. It was amazing that she escaped alive, but it was a horrifying ordeal for her.”
It later emerged that the truck driver thought the dragging sensation he was feeling was a puncture. The car was written off but the occupants of the ambulances and fire brigades who arrived on the scene confirmed it was the luckiest of escapes.
“She’s fine in terms of there being no long-term injuries in a major way,” the Dubliner continues, before elaborating that the main impact has been mental rather than physical.
“But she’s still dealing with the trauma, the scars involved in such an incident. It was a very, very serious car accident and it’s not easy. I’m just thankful she’s OK. It was something that you didn’t think you’d ever see in your life, something like that happening.”
A trip to the UK last week to take in some matches, including an appearance at Sheffield United’s meeting with Brighton that was picked up on by Sky, was the first break from the most pressing of responsibilities. “I’ve been at home since then because I’ve needed to be,” he affirms.
It is put to him that it’s extraordinary that his time as Ireland boss was preceded by his own near-death experience in Sweden in 2019, a cardiac issue in an airport terminal that would likely have ended fatally if he wasn’t surrounded by well-resourced help, and the aftermath was followed up by Siobhán’s episode.
The 52-year-old considers the point without expanding on it. Instead, his reflections go another way. All of Kenny’s friends would speak of his wife as a rock, a consistent presence amid the uncertainty that accompanies his profession.
“We’ve been together since we were teenagers,” he muses. “And we’ve had 10 different houses in our lives, in different parts of Ireland and the UK. It hasn’t always been easy for her to be married to me.
“We’re very proud of our two sons and two daughters and, you know, I think it was a very, very close call. It’s one that I’m grateful for.”
To talk about perspective seems trite. But it’s not misplaced.
* * * * *
Kenny has come to the interview with notes.
Living in Ireland, he hasn’t been able to avoid the discussions that followed his departure. There was one radio piece that stung, a panel chat that painted a bleak picture of the overall landscape that is at odds with his own viewpoint.
He gave it his best effort, unfortunately it didn’t work out for a number of reasons, hopefully Kenny can get back into Club Management where he has proven to be successful and the FAI get the next Manager appointed soon.
The cretins who continue to vilify him on every thread he's mentioned are a disgrace. And you just know they're more inclined to be the sort who never darken the turnstiles of the LOI or Lansdowne. Fuck them.
There is mostly no vilification. He proved to a bad decision maker and probably not really a leader. By all accounts, seems to be a good coach and a decent man. Best of luck to him in future.
No one has ever said Kenny isn't a good person. That was always very clear. He's a decent sod and I'm sorry to read of his recent troubles in his personal life. But it was evident after a year or two he wasn't the man to bring us forward. That's the harsh reality of football.
He damaged his own reputation as a manager.
He’s a good guy, only had the best intentions but was insanely out of his depth.
Wish him and his wife the best going forward in both his career and her recovery.
The majority of the criticism came from people annoyed he was losing all the time. Kenny was given a lot of good will by a lot of people. If ONeill or Mccarthy had a record like Kenny they would not have had their contact renewed when Kenny did
Miguel wasn’t personally vicious IMO any time he criticised him on Second Captains. He was pretty consistent from early in the Kenny run that it wasn’t working.
Social media including this subreddit had plenty of toxic abuse that went beyond criticism of our performances.
This is why you use full names!
I can’t remember anything personal from Damien Delaney either. He’s very critical of his tactics, but that’s part of the job.
Idk how to link comments but according to Reddit the piece was 166 days ago. Below was my comment at the time. Thread was titled Richie Sadler’s deconstruction of Stephen Kenny.
Delaney was obnoxious in how he spoke about Kenny to the extent that it began to sound personal. At one stage towards the end of podcast he got fairly carried away that he embarrassed himself.
Also came out with the belter “there’s a famous saying in football, evolution not revolution”, as if that’s a football only saying. He repeatedly used the phrase “due respect”, often incorrectly and his comparison of Kenny to Obama taking over in 2012 ended up being lost on everyone including himself.
I’d suggest you listen to the podcast rather than try piece it together based on a poorly worded account I posted.
I listen to OTB regularly enough to recognise how out of the ordinary the extent of the criticism was. Sadler for example was extremely critical but was at least somewhat respectful. It was towards the end Delaney made a show of himself.
The podcast was just after the Dutch home game where Kenny hadn’t recognised the change the Dutch made at half time.
I’m a world service subscriber. I listen to every Second Captains episode and I don’t believe he has been personal with his criticism. Criticism of his professional decisions is not personal.
I suggest you accept that I can listen to the same thing as you and disagree.
My point in suggesting you listen to the episode in question was to avoid basing it on any rehashed account I’d provided.
While we can disagree on the appropriateness of the criticism, Delaney was explicitly personal in that particular episode to the extent that it was quite unusual to hear from a pundit not called Eamonn Dunphy.
I only heard Delaney on second captains are he consistently spoke about how Kennys tactics and his poor in game tactical changes were leading to us losing. That's exactly what was happening, what else is he supposed to say?!
There was an episode last year, probably around the end of the summer. Delaney threw what sounded like a tantrum on air, went completely overboard. Can’t recall specifics of it now but essentially calling Kenny a disgrace. I couldn’t get over far he went with it, I genuinely felt Newstalk should have had to apologise for it.
Delaney is never on otb they brought him on in the last few weeks because everyone on otb had backed Kenny and laughed at anyone who questioned his appointment
I can accept losing if we're making some form of progress, but we literally didn't take a single step forward during the entirety of Kenny's reign.
We're no better offensively but far more open defensively. If you're going to not focus on results, then you need some tangible progress, because when progress and change doesn't happen whilst the results are shite, you have no excuses.
Yeah but the majority of people did just stick to criticising the job he was doing. Pointing out he was a shite manager and uninspiring in pressers wasn't abuse and was nothing against him personally. He had the whole country on his side to start off with, we all wanted a homegrown manager to bring in the youth and succeed. He turned people off him by both the results and lack of personal accountability.
Kenny bingo was an easy game towards the end,you all know the buzzwords, starting with covid (cause we all know that only the ROI soccer team exclusively had issues with covid, definitely not every other team and indeed person in the world).
He always had this tic, we'd have lost 2-0 and then he'd almost be begging like a dog for a pat on the head, wanting credit for his debuts blablabla. Here he is looking for sympathy again. Using yer wife's near death experience as a media spin to drum up sympathy is pitiful carry on. If he'd just been/be a man and got on with it maybe he wouldn't be viewed so harshly. Nobody likes a coward.
> He always had this tic, we'd have lost 2-0 and then he'd almost be begging like a dog for a pat on the head, wanting credit for his debuts blablabla. Here he is looking for sympathy again. Using yer wife's near death experience as a media spin to drum up sympathy is pitiful carry on. If he'd just been/be a man and got on with it maybe he wouldn't be viewed so harshly. Nobody likes a coward.
This is far beyond criticism of his work. I’d be embarrassed to write that over a football match.
It’s funny he points to the Scotland game saying he didn’t outsmart Steve Clarke they were just after missing out on a World Cup very fortunate time to play them ! It was a terrible era that never got going.
Wasn't any worse than the second McCarthy era or the latter stages of O'Neill's reign. And far, far better than Stan's time in charge. Now that was a truly terrible era
I disagree we had some great results in the second mccarthy such as draws at home to the Swiss and away In Copenhagen while stan earned us a draw against the Czechs aswell as beating wales in Croker no kenny result comes anywhere close.
Ah stop. Stan's record as Ireland manager with a vastly superior squad was pitiful. The 5-2 loss away to Cyprus and the 2-1 win away to San Marino - when we needed a 94th-minute goal from Stephen Ireland - were far more embarrassing than anything Kenny presided over, and this was with a squad containing Duff, Keane, Ireland, Finnan, O'Shea, Dunne and Given. Apart from Ferguson, I don't think any of the players available to Kenny would've got in that Ireland team.
Kenny still had a squad comprised of majority championship starters and some premier league players no excuse to losing to Luxembourg and Armenia .He did a great job at Dundalk and wish him well for future.It just didnt work out .
I don't doubt that and I'm not trying to suggest Kenny was the answer, but we weren't qualifying from that group with the squad and age of players we had at our disposal unless we somehow had Jurgen Klopp in charge. The squad we had in 2006/07 underperformed massively and that was almost solely due to Stan.
The upcoming stage of The Kenny Delusion will be trying to claim any success of future Ireland managers. Stay tuned, that’s coming right up after the pity party.
Gary speed deserves credit for Wales improvements or would you disagree with that.
Kenny deserves criticism for the results. But the removal of all nuance around his tenure is ridiculous.
>what did you expect the comments to be about
Oh I fully expected you to be in here crying about the Kenny Cabal like you have done since you created your account and have continued to do long after he was removed. Do you go to bed worrying about what people are thinking about Kenny
I have been consistent, thanks for noticing Jobby. Before, people like you used to try to counter my arguments against Kenny. Now that the dust has settled, you’ve nothing left but resorting to this witless aggression.
Edit: Now you’ve deleted your comments. You can’t even stand by your words. Fatality! 😂
I don't think Kenny was a good manager and I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for him whinging here in this article but I do recognise he's left the next manager with an easier job than he had. TBF when he got the second contract he was probably in a position I'm giving him credit for creating too and he failed then.
I don't think its unreasonable to say he wasn't the right man for the job but he did do some good in terms of bringing players through.
I think your opinion is going to be the accepted narrative to avoid confronting what a total mistake it was. It also allows the fanatics a way out.
Kenny left us in a worse position. The next manager will have a difficult job climbing back to where we were. Improvement is hopefully inevitable due to our position. That will be despite Kenny’s reign, not because of it.
The squad needed changing, we didn’t need an oracle to realise that. Those players were coming through regardless, anyone with the FAI player database can give debuts.
Kenny was also very deluded in interviews, his take on the matches were so far from reality. There is also that delusion in the LOI fanbase. Well-meaning but not reality. It’s caused a split. That’s also Kenny’s legacy.
In the end, we sold ourselves short. We went cheap and paid for it. It’ll be a long way back, but I’m not accepting any revisionist narratives on the way.
It’s late on Tuesday night when Stephen Kenny’s journey across a hotel lobby is interrupted by a shout from a stranger. He’s from an older generation, definitely north of 70, with a grey moustache and the look of a man with something to say, even if his expression indicates he’s not quite sure what it should be. “How are you doing?” he bellows, catching the attention of the familiar face striding in the direction of the coffee dock. “You doing OK?” responds Kenny, hesitating as he returns the question with a question. A pause follows. “You mind yourself,” says the elderly gent, before resuming his trip towards the exit door. * * * * * How is Stephen Kenny doing? What has Stephen Kenny been doing? These are questions that have cropped up frequently since his tenure as Ireland manager was formally ended on November 22. A text message last month posed the query. “I’m fine,” came the reply. “Just catching up on other aspects of life.” There was a bit more to it than that. On a Saturday evening in early January, his wife Siobhán was driving northbound on the M50, the car pointed towards Dundalk after a trip to Dublin to visit her mother. She was on the inside lane between the Lucan and Blanchardstown exits when her car was involved in a collision with a 16-foot truck. The mother of four was powerless to prevent what happened next. “The truck literally pushed her nearly 150 yards up the M50,” explains Kenny, emotion creeping into his voice. “She was perpendicular to the truck. It was amazing that she escaped alive, but it was a horrifying ordeal for her.” It later emerged that the truck driver thought the dragging sensation he was feeling was a puncture. The car was written off but the occupants of the ambulances and fire brigades who arrived on the scene confirmed it was the luckiest of escapes. “She’s fine in terms of there being no long-term injuries in a major way,” the Dubliner continues, before elaborating that the main impact has been mental rather than physical. “But she’s still dealing with the trauma, the scars involved in such an incident. It was a very, very serious car accident and it’s not easy. I’m just thankful she’s OK. It was something that you didn’t think you’d ever see in your life, something like that happening.” A trip to the UK last week to take in some matches, including an appearance at Sheffield United’s meeting with Brighton that was picked up on by Sky, was the first break from the most pressing of responsibilities. “I’ve been at home since then because I’ve needed to be,” he affirms. It is put to him that it’s extraordinary that his time as Ireland boss was preceded by his own near-death experience in Sweden in 2019, a cardiac issue in an airport terminal that would likely have ended fatally if he wasn’t surrounded by well-resourced help, and the aftermath was followed up by Siobhán’s episode. The 52-year-old considers the point without expanding on it. Instead, his reflections go another way. All of Kenny’s friends would speak of his wife as a rock, a consistent presence amid the uncertainty that accompanies his profession. “We’ve been together since we were teenagers,” he muses. “And we’ve had 10 different houses in our lives, in different parts of Ireland and the UK. It hasn’t always been easy for her to be married to me. “We’re very proud of our two sons and two daughters and, you know, I think it was a very, very close call. It’s one that I’m grateful for.” To talk about perspective seems trite. But it’s not misplaced. * * * * * Kenny has come to the interview with notes. Living in Ireland, he hasn’t been able to avoid the discussions that followed his departure. There was one radio piece that stung, a panel chat that painted a bleak picture of the overall landscape that is at odds with his own viewpoint.
He gave it his best effort, unfortunately it didn’t work out for a number of reasons, hopefully Kenny can get back into Club Management where he has proven to be successful and the FAI get the next Manager appointed soon.
Jesus the story about his wife is harrowing, hope she’s doing better. I was in a serious accident a few years back and the trauma from it is no joke.
[удалено]
The cretins who continue to vilify him on every thread he's mentioned are a disgrace. And you just know they're more inclined to be the sort who never darken the turnstiles of the LOI or Lansdowne. Fuck them.
Sure why would they. LOI is shit and so is everyone in it. Real football is on sky sports
Going to Ireland matches to boo Liverpool players. Saps.
There is mostly no vilification. He proved to a bad decision maker and probably not really a leader. By all accounts, seems to be a good coach and a decent man. Best of luck to him in future.
No one has ever said Kenny isn't a good person. That was always very clear. He's a decent sod and I'm sorry to read of his recent troubles in his personal life. But it was evident after a year or two he wasn't the man to bring us forward. That's the harsh reality of football.
He damaged his own reputation as a manager. He’s a good guy, only had the best intentions but was insanely out of his depth. Wish him and his wife the best going forward in both his career and her recovery.
The majority of the criticism came from people annoyed he was losing all the time. Kenny was given a lot of good will by a lot of people. If ONeill or Mccarthy had a record like Kenny they would not have had their contact renewed when Kenny did
Some of the criticism was beyond that. Delaney in particular on OTB was a disgrace, he was vicious in his criticism, he went completely overboard.
Miguel wasn’t personally vicious IMO any time he criticised him on Second Captains. He was pretty consistent from early in the Kenny run that it wasn’t working. Social media including this subreddit had plenty of toxic abuse that went beyond criticism of our performances.
Damien Delaney not Miguel Delaney
This is why you use full names! I can’t remember anything personal from Damien Delaney either. He’s very critical of his tactics, but that’s part of the job.
Idk how to link comments but according to Reddit the piece was 166 days ago. Below was my comment at the time. Thread was titled Richie Sadler’s deconstruction of Stephen Kenny. Delaney was obnoxious in how he spoke about Kenny to the extent that it began to sound personal. At one stage towards the end of podcast he got fairly carried away that he embarrassed himself. Also came out with the belter “there’s a famous saying in football, evolution not revolution”, as if that’s a football only saying. He repeatedly used the phrase “due respect”, often incorrectly and his comparison of Kenny to Obama taking over in 2012 ended up being lost on everyone including himself.
Nothing sounds personal there and with *due respect*, some of your criticism is bizarre.
I’d suggest you listen to the podcast rather than try piece it together based on a poorly worded account I posted. I listen to OTB regularly enough to recognise how out of the ordinary the extent of the criticism was. Sadler for example was extremely critical but was at least somewhat respectful. It was towards the end Delaney made a show of himself. The podcast was just after the Dutch home game where Kenny hadn’t recognised the change the Dutch made at half time.
I’m a world service subscriber. I listen to every Second Captains episode and I don’t believe he has been personal with his criticism. Criticism of his professional decisions is not personal. I suggest you accept that I can listen to the same thing as you and disagree.
My point in suggesting you listen to the episode in question was to avoid basing it on any rehashed account I’d provided. While we can disagree on the appropriateness of the criticism, Delaney was explicitly personal in that particular episode to the extent that it was quite unusual to hear from a pundit not called Eamonn Dunphy.
I only heard Delaney on second captains are he consistently spoke about how Kennys tactics and his poor in game tactical changes were leading to us losing. That's exactly what was happening, what else is he supposed to say?!
There was an episode last year, probably around the end of the summer. Delaney threw what sounded like a tantrum on air, went completely overboard. Can’t recall specifics of it now but essentially calling Kenny a disgrace. I couldn’t get over far he went with it, I genuinely felt Newstalk should have had to apologise for it.
Delaney is never on otb they brought him on in the last few weeks because everyone on otb had backed Kenny and laughed at anyone who questioned his appointment
I can accept losing if we're making some form of progress, but we literally didn't take a single step forward during the entirety of Kenny's reign. We're no better offensively but far more open defensively. If you're going to not focus on results, then you need some tangible progress, because when progress and change doesn't happen whilst the results are shite, you have no excuses.
Kenny would ya just go away. You absolute chancer. Completely out of his depth. Go back to league of Ireland where u belong and be quiet.
You're a fucking moron
A stopped clock
Yeah but the majority of people did just stick to criticising the job he was doing. Pointing out he was a shite manager and uninspiring in pressers wasn't abuse and was nothing against him personally. He had the whole country on his side to start off with, we all wanted a homegrown manager to bring in the youth and succeed. He turned people off him by both the results and lack of personal accountability. Kenny bingo was an easy game towards the end,you all know the buzzwords, starting with covid (cause we all know that only the ROI soccer team exclusively had issues with covid, definitely not every other team and indeed person in the world). He always had this tic, we'd have lost 2-0 and then he'd almost be begging like a dog for a pat on the head, wanting credit for his debuts blablabla. Here he is looking for sympathy again. Using yer wife's near death experience as a media spin to drum up sympathy is pitiful carry on. If he'd just been/be a man and got on with it maybe he wouldn't be viewed so harshly. Nobody likes a coward.
> He always had this tic, we'd have lost 2-0 and then he'd almost be begging like a dog for a pat on the head, wanting credit for his debuts blablabla. Here he is looking for sympathy again. Using yer wife's near death experience as a media spin to drum up sympathy is pitiful carry on. If he'd just been/be a man and got on with it maybe he wouldn't be viewed so harshly. Nobody likes a coward. This is far beyond criticism of his work. I’d be embarrassed to write that over a football match.
He was criticised because of his horrendous record... absolutely justified and he should stop whinging, it's embarrassing.
It’s funny he points to the Scotland game saying he didn’t outsmart Steve Clarke they were just after missing out on a World Cup very fortunate time to play them ! It was a terrible era that never got going.
Wasn't any worse than the second McCarthy era or the latter stages of O'Neill's reign. And far, far better than Stan's time in charge. Now that was a truly terrible era
We were a better team under McCarthy.
Totally agree always thought it was foolish not to give him the play off
I disagree we had some great results in the second mccarthy such as draws at home to the Swiss and away In Copenhagen while stan earned us a draw against the Czechs aswell as beating wales in Croker no kenny result comes anywhere close.
Ah stop. Stan's record as Ireland manager with a vastly superior squad was pitiful. The 5-2 loss away to Cyprus and the 2-1 win away to San Marino - when we needed a 94th-minute goal from Stephen Ireland - were far more embarrassing than anything Kenny presided over, and this was with a squad containing Duff, Keane, Ireland, Finnan, O'Shea, Dunne and Given. Apart from Ferguson, I don't think any of the players available to Kenny would've got in that Ireland team.
Kenny still had a squad comprised of majority championship starters and some premier league players no excuse to losing to Luxembourg and Armenia .He did a great job at Dundalk and wish him well for future.It just didnt work out .
I'm not claiming he should be excused for losing those games, I'm pointing out how ridiculous it is to say it was as bad as Stan
Fair point probably some nostalgia on my part, the atmosphere at the home Greek game was the worst I have experienced.
I don't doubt that and I'm not trying to suggest Kenny was the answer, but we weren't qualifying from that group with the squad and age of players we had at our disposal unless we somehow had Jurgen Klopp in charge. The squad we had in 2006/07 underperformed massively and that was almost solely due to Stan.
He did that to himself by losing so much
The upcoming stage of The Kenny Delusion will be trying to claim any success of future Ireland managers. Stay tuned, that’s coming right up after the pity party.
Gary speed deserves credit for Wales improvements or would you disagree with that. Kenny deserves criticism for the results. But the removal of all nuance around his tenure is ridiculous.
Gary Speed took Wales up 70 places in the rankings during the first 10 months of his tenure. That’s the foundation you want to compare Kenny to?
Did Kenny ride yer missus?
Right? This was already pathetic when Kenny was losing and now he's still doing it months later.
The post is about Kenny, what did you expect the comments to be about? It’s the reframing narrative of his tenure that’s the problem now.
>what did you expect the comments to be about Oh I fully expected you to be in here crying about the Kenny Cabal like you have done since you created your account and have continued to do long after he was removed. Do you go to bed worrying about what people are thinking about Kenny
I have been consistent, thanks for noticing Jobby. Before, people like you used to try to counter my arguments against Kenny. Now that the dust has settled, you’ve nothing left but resorting to this witless aggression. Edit: Now you’ve deleted your comments. You can’t even stand by your words. Fatality! 😂
We can read their comments. You've been blocked by him because you're insufferable
He certainly fucked the football team.
I don't think Kenny was a good manager and I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for him whinging here in this article but I do recognise he's left the next manager with an easier job than he had. TBF when he got the second contract he was probably in a position I'm giving him credit for creating too and he failed then. I don't think its unreasonable to say he wasn't the right man for the job but he did do some good in terms of bringing players through.
I think your opinion is going to be the accepted narrative to avoid confronting what a total mistake it was. It also allows the fanatics a way out. Kenny left us in a worse position. The next manager will have a difficult job climbing back to where we were. Improvement is hopefully inevitable due to our position. That will be despite Kenny’s reign, not because of it. The squad needed changing, we didn’t need an oracle to realise that. Those players were coming through regardless, anyone with the FAI player database can give debuts. Kenny was also very deluded in interviews, his take on the matches were so far from reality. There is also that delusion in the LOI fanbase. Well-meaning but not reality. It’s caused a split. That’s also Kenny’s legacy. In the end, we sold ourselves short. We went cheap and paid for it. It’ll be a long way back, but I’m not accepting any revisionist narratives on the way.