Richard Dunne has joined a growing list of former Republic of Ireland internationals calling for Martin O’Neill to be axed.
Both Keith Andrews and John Giles told Off The Ball yesterday that the time was right for change.
The defeat to Wales left the Boys in Green in danger of relegation in the Nations League. O’Neill has gone 5 competitive games without a win - the worst run since 2007.
He also has joined Steve Staunton with the lowest win ratio any manager in the last 30 years.
In Friday’s Herald the former defender says a new voice is needed now. He believes the players have had it with O’Neill and that if he remains in situ things will only get worse:
“It’s not an easy job, when you look at the players available to the Ireland manager now. It’s not easy. But I feel that the players have just had it and they need something fresh. New Ideas, something different, a new way of doing things.
“If Martin is doing tactical work with the players in training, I honestly don’t know if they are just not carrying out those instructions or if they are unsure of how to do it or if they do it in a way where they are terrified to making a mistake, that’s how it looks from the outside, sometimes things like this just come to an end.”
Andrews was critical of O’Neill on Thursday’s Keith Andrews show on OffTheBall.com and believes the former Sunderland boss has run out of luck and the time is right to dispense with his services:
"You have to stop moaning about what you have and try to create a team spirit, because the more they keep hearing that what's it going to do for their confidence. You saw them at the end, they were on the floor, their morale is rock-bottom, it's been one of the worst years in recent memory for Irish football.
"A lot of it is down to Martin. There has been a lot of an old-guard shift and players retiring that have made a difference at key areas and key times in games but you have to play the hand you are dealt. You can't buy players and I do agree certain players are missing, but we should still be doing better over the last calendar year."
John Giles also feels that for Irish football to flourish then O’Neill must be replaced, while the Ireland legend took time to ponder if replacing the manager might be a futile exercise if the players are not good enough he did eventually land on twist:
“I think it needs to be reinvigorated but I'm not so sure that it would be the best thing to do to change the management team at this particular time," said John, also adding that if the FAI wanted to make a change, it should have happened immediately after the last qualifiers rather than now in the midst of a Nations League campaign and ahead of Euro 2020 qualifiers.
"I'm not sure it would be correct at this particular stage to make a change or not. I wouldn't be sure . I'd probably go on the side of making a change."
