We take a look at the longest running feud in Irish football. That between Eamon Dunphy and whoever happens to occupy the Irish manager's position at the time. Here we rank Eamon's relationship with Irish managers in order of the most spiteful
1. Jack Charlton (1986-95)
Still his biggest feud of all. Dunphy had a rancorous relationship with Charlton. Ironically, Dunphy praised the new man at the outset saying that pride had been restored to Irish football. However, Charlton interrupted a question from Dunphy at his first press conference calling him a "troublemaker." All hell broke loose after the 0-0 draw with Egypt. Dunphy (or as Charlton brands him in the video below "the little guy who writes for a newspaper in Dublin" and a "bitter little man") made sure to fly straight to Italy to question the manager.
2. Noel King (2013 - 13)
Even after two games, this row has to go in at no.2. In two separate evenings of analysis, King was called "tactically illiterate... a bully, immature, out of his depth and a little bit unpleasant." King, for his part, dubbed the entire panel a "comedy show."
3. Eoin Hand (1980-85)
Dunphy coined the term 'decentskinmanship' to describe Hand's management style. Essentially, it meant that Hand was an honest, affable loser - naive, amateurish and out of his depth. Dunphy wrote a series a scathing articles for the Sunday Times in the mid 1980s castigating Hand and slamming Liam Brady among others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BrqcS5z29A
4. Steve Staunton (2006-07)
Dunphy did express sympathy for Staunton at the end of this disaster. However, his record early call for Staunton's sacking places this feud high on the list. After a 4-0 defeat at home to Holand, Dunphy said enough was enough and called for Staunton to go. This was after his third game. On this occasion Dunphy should probably have been listened to.
5. Mick McCarthy (1996-02)
Dunphy was not an admirer of McCarthy as a player and was not quick to praise him as manager. He criticised him heavily during McCarthy's early struggles and gave him little credit when things took a turn for the better. He was a vigorous critic of him during the Saipan affair. That Mick McCarthy got Cathal Dervan to ghost his autobiography wouldn't have helped matters. Dunphy denies ever calling McCarthy a "boil on the arse of humanity" though.
6. Giovanni Trapattoni (2008-13)
Dunphy was one of the Italian's most trenchant, passionate and, at times, unreasonable, critics. All that was required for a player to become a star in Dunphy's eyes was for Trap to drop him. But while Dunphy was a stern critic, this relationship lacked the personal viciousness that marked some of his feuds with Irish managers.
7. Don Givens (2002-02 and 2007-07)
Not long enough there as senior manager to merit selection (though we thought that might have happened with King). Dunphy had nothing memorable to say about our 0-0 friendly draw in Greece in 2002 and our 2-2 draw in Euro 2008 dead rubber in Cardiff in 2007. However, he was scathing about the job Givens did as U21 boss, branding it a disaster and demanding that Givens be "shown the door." Givens retaliated, calling Dunphy a "clown."
8. Brian Kerr (2003-05)
Dunphy was a frank critic of Kerr and insisted that there was "a serious and obvious decline" in the teams performance over his reign. He called on the FAI to remove him as a manager after the 2006 qualifying campaign. Dunphy also praised new FAI President John Delaney to the hilt. Delaney and Kerr were known to be enemies. However, in this instance, Liam Brady arguably painted himself as a sterner critic of Kerr throughout the three years.
9. John Giles (1974-80)
The greatest Irish manager of all time. He should be there yet. It must be pointed out that Dunphy wasn't writing for Irish newspapers during these years.
