Should we give up football?

I keep saying it.  But this football isn't for us lads.  The only way for The EIRE to be competitive is to play to our characteristics as a nation.  Mucksavagery is in our DNA and so I propose an agricultural stye of football.  Put Duffy up front and launch long balls at him for 90 mins.  We need to bring in a load of dirty payers as well who will just kick lumps out of the opposition and snarl at them in the tunnel before the game.  We need to re-establish the long throw in as a key tactic and Packie Bonneresque hoofs up the park.

Paddy has been trying to be Paulo for too long.  It's time to go back to being Paddy.

Sounds like a plan!

The deprogramming is required because football is a cult in this country - the Nick-a-Goal cult. Worse than Scientology, our own cult promotes a philosophy based around tight defence, total aversion to risk and taking the one chance you might get to score.

In Italy they used to say that the perfect game of football would end in a nil all draw. In this country the perfect game of football is a 1-0 victory - the winning goal being a header from a centre-half from a corner kick.

Any other attempts to play the game are denounced. The criticism by pundits and former players of Stephen Kenny always seemed over the top. He wasn't a revolutionary nor even a great risk taker. But it makes sense in terms of doctrine. The man wanted to do some things differently - pass the ball a round a bit, or in other words: commit heresy.

It can be no accident that John O'Shea has taken charge of these last two games dressed as a priest. And he was assisted by Brian Kerr - a man who once denounced Roberto Martinez's Belgium for beating Tunisia by 5 goals to 2. Why have a game with so many goals when an orthodox 1-0 win would have done!

The Nick-a-Goal cult is back in total control. Soon the 1-1 draws will return.

This is a little extreme. 

There's definitely a slight generational divide between some of our fans who have great memories of the Charlton era and who spent most of their teens/20's in the 80's and 90's, and those born after 1990 who are more familiar with the post 2007/2008 shift in football because of the influence of Spain/Barcelona. 

I'd be the latter. Early 30's. I do a bit of coaching. I would mainly work on the technical side of things. Results shouldn't really matter until around U14/U15 level.