It's the Stephen Kenny Thread

And had we taken one of our chances against Slovakia we could be European Champions now

You really are raging after that result on Sunday aren't you. 

And if the referee hadn't made a plainly wrong decision in both disallowing a perfectly good goal in the Aviva and not giving Connolly a clear penalty in Faro we'd have had 6 points against Portugal. 

Fine margins work both ways.

Kenny has started to come into his own in the job and the future for the first time in a long time looks bright. He has completely transformed Hendrick into the player we all knew he could be but showed so rarely. He had the courage to unearth a superstar in Bazunu, when any of our recent managers would almost certainly still be playing Randolph. He plucked Ogbene and McGrath out of left field to become valuable assets for us. He bedded Josh Cullen into the team where he will surely stay for years to come. He has got the best out of Callum Robinson, Matt Doherty, Shane Duffy, John Egan among others. 

Opportunity is starting to meet preparation for this Ireland side. The production line is starting to move again. We have a lot of exciting prospects coming through. Smallbone, Knight, Omobamidele, Elbouzedi, Collins and Kilkenny are the next group of technically accomplished exciting youngsters who will fancy making a first team spot their own, with more coming behind them - Ferguson, Finn Benoa, Ebosele and Zefi are all very exciting talents a couple of years off it who we will hopefully see much more of in the coming years. Add to that the likes of Connolly and Parrott who have not kicked on as hoped just yet but are certainly good enough to come again. 

Kenny has worked with the vast majority of these young lads, they all love him, they all want to play for him. The seniors have completely dispelled the myth they won't play for him, they also back him to the hilt. 

Results will be more important in the next campaign as qualification has to be the aim, but this transitional period was all about getting us used to the new style and bedding in the new-look squad. Michael O'Neill didn't win his first 15 games in charge of the North, but it was valuable work he was doing, and by the time he reaped the benefit, people here were wishing we had a manager like him. They didn't get there without suffering first. We look to have turned that corner and we will only get better and better.

Had we not put him in charge, it's tough to see many of the young lads getting such valuable experience and becoming established members of the squad. We always tended to stick with the old guard, the 'tried and tested' for big games. Now the likes of Bazunu and Cullen to name two are part of that tried and tested and will be confident on the international stage, with more to come. Onwards and upwards. Kenny is the man.

Change his name 

Change who appointed him

Change his style

Change his wages. 

Pretty straight forward