'I have no beef' - Stephen Kenny says he was not criticising FAI pair with weekend comments
Former Ireland manager Stephen Kenny referenced Marc Canham and Packie Bonner at the weekend
Stephen Kenny says his comments last weekend - urging senior FAI figures Marc Canham and Packie Bonner to get involved in key decisions regarding the League of Ireland - was not a criticism of the pair.
Kenny wanted next Sunday’s game away to Galway United to be postponed, with Pat’s flying out to Azerbaijan via Turkey in the early hours of Monday morning.
His time as Ireland manager was brought to an end by the FAI board last November, on the recommendation of Canham.
But Kenny insisted: “I wasn’t criticising, I have no beef with Marc Canham, I get on well with Marc.
“I was making the point that if football people, people who consider the game in that way, if they were asked 'what's our best way of getting through for an Irish team?'
“We make these statements, these strategy statements, 'oh, we want three teams or two teams in the group stages'.
“That's never happening unless you have a strategy, and the only strategy is that the team that wins the league has a chance and everyone else has no chance.
“We'll only ever have one [team] unless someone does something extraordinary.
“If they were viewing it, what's our best chance? This is a chance for Irish football, go and give them every chance, but then there is parish politics stuff and that wins.”
Kenny explained why he wanted the game to be moved, saying: “It's our fifth game in 15 days, the game next week in the heat.
“We are due to fly out on Monday on two separate flights but we are hoping to change that, they will be coming from Galway and half the team on an early flight on Monday.
“It's not conducive to optimum performance, you have to understand our squad.
“Tom Grivosti has been out for a whole year, I left him out at the weekend, Axel Sjoberg was out, ripped his hamstring, had an operation, was out for three months.
“Joe Redmond's getting by with an injection in his ankle, hasn't been able to train.
“So these are things that teams encompass, some lads we signed were in pre-season.
“Zak played 60 minutes.... so you have all those factors.
“People thought when I said Marc Canham and Packie Bonner, I wasn't criticising them, I was making the point that I felt they should be part... they are key football people in the country in terms of their positions.
“So they should be consulted, administrators administer, they want consistency and want to get through every week without a furore or some sort of controversy.”
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