We finally got some long expected news yesterday, with the FAI announcing that Stephen Kenny had signed a contract extension that would see him continue as Republic of Ireland manager until the end of the Euro 2024 campaign.
It was something that had been mooted for quite some time, with both sides tying up a number of formalities before an official announcement was made.
Kenny will now face into friendlies against Belgium and Lithuania later this month, before embarking on the UEFA Nations League campaign in June. With performance greatly improved over the latter half of 2021, hopes will be high that Ireland can perform well in that competition.
Brian Kerr responds to new Stephen Kenny contract
Speaking on Virgin Media last night, Brian Kerr said he was happy to see Stephen Kenny sign his new deal, although we should not easily forget how poorly the team performed early in his reign and that there is still plenty of work to do.
"I'm happy for Stephen. The FAI haven't always been very good at renewing contracts, or they've renewed contracts before they should have."
Brian Kerr & Damien Delaney react to the Stephen Kenny's contract extension.#COYBIG pic.twitter.com/HNfaZ9HUNi— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 9, 2022
They seemed to make their minds up in the FAI that his contract was going to be extended, I don't know why it has taken this length of time.
There were obviously some issues in the negotiations where people were holding their grounds on certain positions. We don't get any information in relation to that.
I'm happy for Stephen, because sometimes the FAI haven't been too good at renewing people's contracts, or they renew contracts before the should have.
I think in this situation what stood to him was the little run of results at the end of the group. Look it, he's won four matches and none of them against highly rated teams in world football: Azerbaijan, Andorra, Luxembourg, and Qatar...
My view was that we went very tamely out of three competitions since Stephen got the job.
In the Nations League we failed to win a match against Finland, Bulgaria, and Wales. Ultimately that comes back on you be it in coefficient or play-off places.
Then we lost the play-off match, which was only a semi-final, against Slovakia. In the World Cup we went out right from that start.
It almost sounded like, from what Stephen said after, that this was all an experimental process until we get to the next Nations League and Euros. I would have never see that that was the position that an Ireland manager was in, that it was an experimental process in three different major competitions.
The Nations League campaign should give us a good idea as to where the side currently stack up. Ireland will face Scotland, Ukraine, and Armenia in the event, three sides of a similar standard that they should be aiming to beat.
Stephen Kenny has already said that his team will be aiming to earn promotion in this competition.
Comments such as a that will raise the expectations around the team, with the FAI having already sold over 18,000 season tickets for 2022. Both Brian Kerr and Damien Delaney believe that the pressure will be on Kenny right from the outset of this competition as a result.
Kerr: My opinion at the time was that I didn't see what the rush was to make that decision one way or the other, his contract was running until July. The FAI have taken that decision and decided to go with that and have extended the contract.
My position now is that I'm happy to see the football we're playing, I'm happy to see the development of the team. I don't think it should be over-exaggerated that the style of football has changed very much.
I think it has changed from when Martin O'Neill was in charge and how Mick [McCarthy] got results, he looked at what we had and tried to play in a certain way. There has been a suggestion that this is all new, that we're trying to play football.
What I want to see is results from the start of the next competition in the Nations League...
Delaney: I'm delighted for him and he gets the chance to continue what he is doing. Make no mistake, and he will know this, he is under pressure straight away.
The results will be demanded to a certain point, but the performances in the game will have to keep improving. He had a torrid start, an okay middle, then salvaged at the end with some good results. He was cutting it fine.
I'm delighted for him that he does get another crack at it, but he's under pressure straight away. Supposedly the groundwork is done and now we need to keep progressing and showing the green shoots that we have shown previously.
It is certainly a big boost to see Stephen Kenny sign that extension, with the next aim now to get the team performing to their recent high level on a consistent basis.
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