By Robbie Butler
In late 2015, much travelled former England manager Sam Allardyce said "'I would probably have a different opinion to most young managers – and that is that football is about winning, always has been and always will be. 'The only way you keep your job is by winning. Playing football the right way and losing makes you lose your job." Allardyce would know. He has managed a record 8 clubs in the English Premier League. He is also an appropriate person to use in this piece as he began his managerial career in the League of Ireland with now defunct Limerick City.
The data below presents the record of Rep. of Ireland managers since 1969. Prior to this, the team was selected by committee and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The first figure presents data on all matches where the team has failed to win, by manager.
It does not control for the opposition, venue, competition, etc. but is rather an overview of all games under each manager. The X-axis lists the number of games in charge, while the Y-axis counts the number of games each fails to win. In theory, the "perfect manager" would win every game so the line would be horizontal and at the bottom of the chart. Hence, the steeper the line, the poorer the results.
Incumbent Stephen Kenny has clocked up more failures to win than any manager to date after 24 games. Only Mick Meagan had a worse record and was sacked after his 12th failure in a row to win. Kenny is also doing worse than Eoin Hand, who had a less than inspiring time in charge. That said, Mick McCarthy was just one win better than Kenny in his first stint in charge and went on to manage the team for the second longest period of time. Big Jack's success is easy to see. Charlton has the flattest (blue) line and survived for 95 games. Brian Kerr had a similar record to Charlton and was probably very unlucky to not have his contract extended.
In late 2015, much travelled former England manager Sam Allardyce said "'I would probably have a different opinion to most young managers – and that is that football is about winning, always has been and always will be. 'The only way you keep your job is by winning. Playing football the right way and losing makes you lose your job." Allardyce would know. He has managed a record 8 clubs in the English Premier League. He is also an appropriate person to use in this piece as he began his managerial career in the League of Ireland with now defunct Limerick City.
The data below presents the record of Rep. of Ireland managers since 1969. Prior to this, the team was selected by committee and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The first figure presents data on all matches where the team has failed to win, by manager.
It does not control for the opposition, venue, competition, etc. but is rather an overview of all games under each manager. The X-axis lists the number of games in charge, while the Y-axis counts the number of games each fails to win. In theory, the "perfect manager" would win every game so the line would be horizontal and at the bottom of the chart. Hence, the steeper the line, the poorer the results.
Incumbent Stephen Kenny has clocked up more failures to win than any manager to date after 24 games. Only Mick Meagan had a worse record and was sacked after his 12th failure in a row to win. Kenny is also doing worse than Eoin Hand, who had a less than inspiring time in charge. That said, Mick McCarthy was just one win better than Kenny in his first stint in charge and went on to manage the team for the second longest period of time. Big Jack's success is easy to see. Charlton has the flattest (blue) line and survived for 95 games. Brian Kerr had a similar record to Charlton and was probably very unlucky to not have his contract extended.
The next figure looks at the last 6 Rep of Ireland managers and only considers competitive games. I change the focus here to allow for draw so it only counts losses.
Again, Kenny's stats are worse than any of the 5 managers before him (and further back too). Kenny has lost 8 competitive games so far. This was the amount that led to the sacking of both Martin O'Neill and Giovanni Trapattoni. Kenny is a certainty to surpass this total before he leaves the job.
Again, Kenny's stats are worse than any of the 5 managers before him (and further back too). Kenny has lost 8 competitive games so far. This was the amount that led to the sacking of both Martin O'Neill and Giovanni Trapattoni. Kenny is a certainty to surpass this total before he leaves the job.
Kenny has also clocked up 8 competitive defeats in just 16 games. Steve Staunton lost just 3 competitive games and was sacked after his 11th in charge. O'Neill had lost four of his first 16 competitive games in charge and Trapattoni just two. Mick McCarthy lost a single competitive games (Switzerland away) in his second coming.
In fact, McCarthy lost nine competitive games in total during this first stint in charge between August 1996 and October 2002. Kenny could match that record next weekend in well under 2 years.
In fact, McCarthy lost nine competitive games in total during this first stint in charge between August 1996 and October 2002. Kenny could match that record next weekend in well under 2 years.
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