Martin O'Neill says it was the Irish media who got Stephen Kenny the job as Ireland manager. O'Neill added that it was always going to be difficult for Kenny to change the style of football Ireland play.
"I managed the side and I lost my job over some of the results at the end," O'Neill told Talksport, "and I thought international football was about winning football games, it's about winning.
"The Irish media have put Stephen in charge and therefore they are still going to peddle this idea that he has changed the course of football. That the Republic of Ireland play a different type of football.
"They put him in charge because they were very strongly in favour of him and the FAI succumbed and went with that, which was fine.
10 September 2023; Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny, centre, leaves the pitch with his players after the UEFA EURO 2024 Championship qualifying group B match between Republic of Ireland and Netherlands at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
"The whole idea was he would change the course of football. We’re going to be a possession team, we are going to change it. That's very, very difficult to change when you are an international manager. You have players for two or three days.
"You're not going to change a lot of things in that time and it's all very well having possession when your two centre-halves pass the ball to each other on a number of occasions, and you get your stats up.
"The bottom line is you have to win football games. The Republic of Ireland want to qualify.
"I heard them saying this was a difficult group, which it was. France are a very good side. But we qualified from a group in 2016 that featured the world champions Germany. We actually beat Germany.
"So you have to go and win some football games."
28 February 2014; Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill and Stephen Kenny, Dundalk FC manager, in attendance at the 2014 SSE Airtricity League Launch. Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE
O'Neill managed Ireland between 2013 and 2018. The 71-year-old admitted that he is still bitter about how his time as manager ended.
"Of course, if you lose your job, you are going to be bitter at the end of it all," he said.
"I didn't get on with [the Irish media]. They didn't like me at the end of the day and I'm not wildly sure I was all that fussed on them.
"We qualified for the European Championships in 2016 and we had a fantastic time. We were playing to full houses at the Aviva Stadium.
"Stephen talks about full houses, but we had full houses for all the big matches. There was a great rapport, a fantastic rapport between the players and the crowd.
"I think Stephen is well backed [by the Irish media], but eventually you get to a point. You paint a colourful picture about something, but you have to win football games.
"It was like Euro 2016 never existed from their viewpoint."
See Also: After The End Of The Culture War, It Could Be Indifference That Finishes Off Stephen Kenny
