Martin O’Neill questions Stephen Kenny’s remit and reminisces about time with Roy Keane

In the second part of a Ladbrokes exclusive, Martin O’Neill talks about the Republic of Ireland’s chances of qualifying for next year’s European Championship, Stephen Kenny, Roy Keane and his memories of Euro 2016.

Click on the link for part one in which he has the final word on Jack Grealish and Declan Rice, plus his thoughts on James McClean’s omission from the Republic of Ireland squad.

Beating Netherlands crucial if Ireland are to finish second

The France game is naturally a difficult one. I think that if Ireland can get anything out of that match, it would be terrific, of course. Ireland can still get second in this group – it’s possible… but they would need to beat the Netherlands in Dublin. That is a really important game. If they can get anything out of the French game, that would be a major boost. But for Ireland to try to grab second place in this group, then beating the Netherlands is absolutely essential.

I don’t know what Stephen Kenny’s job is, but I’ll say this…

I don’t know what Stephen Kenny’s job is, but I’ll say this: mine was to qualify for the Euros. When John Delaney took me on in 2013, my job was to qualify for Euro 2016. That was it. The only way for me to extend my contract into the World Cup campaign was by making the Euros.

This is what the Irish fans are looking for – qualification for these tournaments. The Republic of Ireland, like Northern Ireland, don’t qualify for too many competitions, even when they’ve got great players at their disposal. For one reason or another, they just haven’t been able to do it. Jack Charlton did a fantastic job with a seriously brilliant group of players.

When I first took the job on, of course I had all these visions of coming back to Dublin and finding big crowds celebrating in the streets because my team had given them something to cheer for. You know, we had some fabulous moments out in France. The opening game of the tournament for us, was in Paris, where 25,000 Irish fans and 25,000 Swedish fans shared the stadium. It was such a colourful, atmospheric occasion. For the crowd to be singing The Fields of Athenry, 15 minutes into the game, is something which will always stick with me.

That’s all Irish fans want – qualification. They want to participate at these competitions. But qualification is extremely difficult. You’re usually put in groups where teams are seeded above you, so it’s always going to be hard. But if you can get there, it really is fantastic. That tournament was one of the most memorable times of my managerial career. Beating Germany in the group stage and then beating Bosnia to get there, it was an unbelievable time.

But I don’t know whether that’s Stephen’s job. Stephen wants his team to play a possession-based style of football, and that’s absolutely fine. And if your remit is not to worry about competitions, then again, that’s fine. But I’m not so sure that’s what the Irish fans are looking for. You’ve a generation of supporters here who are desperate to pass these memories on to their sons and daughters. That’s so important. But, to qualify for these huge tournaments, you’ve got to start winning football matches.

Stephen Kenny talks about the rapport in his team as if it hasn’t been there before…we had it in spades!

I hear Stephen speaking about the fans now, having a great rapport with his team. But it’s quite dismissive, for me, and suggests there’s never been that rapport in place, but we had it in spades in that 2015-16 campaign alone. You would have only had to have been there, in France in 2016 for a couple of nights, to see it. Or the night we beat Germany, in Dublin, when the whole city just erupted. The stadium erupted when Shane Long scored that goal and the final whistle went. The night against Bosnia, when we qualified for the Euros, it was just extraordinary… absolutely extraordinary.

And I know we only drew against Sweden, but that opening game of Euro 2016, and watching our fans share that day with the Swedish supporters, it was fantastic. And the night when we beat Italy, it was just incredible – and the crowd played an integral part in all of that. So if you’re talking about rapport with the team and the fans – it’s definitely been there before.

Jack Charlton brought the team and its supporters closer to each other on numerous occasions. We touched on it in 2016, so I can only imagine and completely understand the total exuberance that came from Jack’s team, and what he achieved. That can never be repeated, because it was so, so big. He had an incredible group of players to call upon – as did we. Maybe not the most talented, but we had a really strong togetherness in that side, that only winning football matches and qualifying for these major competitions can give you.

We could have beaten France at Euro 2016 with more preparation

When we went 1-0 up in that game, back in 2016, against France, I couldn’t afford to even think for a minute that it was job done. I’d have loved to have looked up at the clock and seen 30 seconds left on it, but we took the lead so early.

There was something about that game which was ultimately really crushing to us. We’d come off the back of a brilliant result against Italy which meant we’d qualified for the last 16. But we only had two days to prepare for that game. Whereas France – and I know that they’re the home nation, and so maybe they’re going to be given as much of an advantage as possible – had six days to prepare for us. So I always felt that, even when we took the lead in the game, tiredness was always going to creep in. Psychologically, we were coming off the back of a huge result in beating Italy. But, eventually, tiredness sets in, and you just felt that the longer the game went on, France would have the physical capacity to take the game to us.

But we fought on, and we even had a chance to equalise towards the end of the game. It didn’t materialise, and I wish it would have done. Let’s say we’d have been given a similar amount of time as France to prepare for that game, I would have felt like we might have had the capabilities of winning the match.

I haven’t spoken to Roy Keane for a while…I wanted to see him back in a dug-out

I get asked a lot about the players I’ve worked with, the managers I’ve worked under and some of the people I’ve shared the dug-out with. It tends to be a generational thing, actually, in terms of who I’m asked most about. Those who remember Brian Clough would be asking me all about him, the most charismatic manager we’ve ever had in the British game. He’s in any conversation when it comes to the British greats… there’s no question in my mind on that. You know, we had a great team at Nottingham Forest, but would we have had the success we did without him? I very much doubt it.

As you move into the next generation, I’m asked about my time as a manager, particularly at Celtic, and what Henrik Larsson was like. He was a fantastic footballer, of course. And then, in recent times, obviously I’m asked a lot about Roy Keane. People always want to know what he’s really like. For the younger generation, he’s the one everyone wants to know about. The answer about Roy is that, quite simply, he was terrific. He was terrific for me, he was terrific for the Republic of Ireland, and he was a big part of proceedings.

He’d been a manager, himself, so there were times when he’d have to suppress. It’s just in Roy’s nature to always let you know what he’s feeling, and that was fine; it’s exactly what you want. But when the time came for me to pick my team, or make any decision, Roy would be absolutely fine with that, and if things didn’t work out, he’s not the type of person who would come back to me and tell me if he thought his ideas would have worked better.

Roy was a joy to work with. All of the things that you think you know about Roy, you’d probably be right in thinking them. To me, when you’re a manager… take Sir Alex Ferguson, for example. He’s working with a really talented group of players, day in, day out, for years at Manchester United. And while ultimately you’re the one who makes all the decisions, you still need someone to drive your team on. Roy did that. Not for a game or two, not for six months, or a year… he did that for over a decade. He was that driving force, every week, wanting to win, pushing everyone.

Obviously, Roy’s got great enthusiasm for the game. He had little bits of everything. Was he as good a goalscorer as Paul Scholes? Not necessarily. Could he dribble as well as Ryan Giggs? I’m not so sure about that. Could he deliver a ball like David Beckham? No, he couldn’t. But Roy had a bit of everything.

I played against Bryan Robson quite a lot in my career, and he was just a terrific footballer. He could get up and down the pitch, all day long, he could score goals, he was as brave as a lion… and Roy had all of those attributes. Roy, vocally, drove all of his players on. Bryan might have been less vocal, but both led by example.

You can’t have success, as a manager, without someone like Roy on the pitch for you, driving the team on, week in, week out.

I was hoping we’d see him back in the dug-out again. I thought he did an excellent job with Sunderland, especially considering it was his first job. There was once a possibility of him returning there, maybe a couple of years ago, but I’m not sure what happened there. Maybe if you asked him, he’d let you know, but I was hoping he’d take that job again. Having done so well there, having been a fan favourite, I thought that might have happened.

I haven’t spoken to Roy now for some time, and he may still be keen on another step into management. But he’s doing an excellent job with his punditry, and he’s got so much more that he’s doing at this moment in time…maybe he’s not that concerned about managing anymore. I just don’t know.