One of Robbie Keane’s first tasks as an assistant to Mick McCarthy will be to try to help the manager win back Declan Rice to the Irish fold.
“I’m not as green as I am cabbage looking,” McCarthy quipped when complimented on the idea yesterday.
McCarthy has already spoken to Rice’s father Sean, with whom Martin O’Neill had cultivated a good relationship, and the new manager is now hoping that by directly involving Ireland’s record goal-scorer and former captain, the highly regarded 19-year-old West Ham player might yet be persuaded to choose the Republic over his native England.
“I will go back and ask him now, and I will take Robbie with me, see if that has any bearing on it,” McCarthy said yesterday.
“He’s a good young player and someone we should be looking to build a team around. He has played through all the youth games, they have all had him, he has come through the system.”
McCarthy knows he needs all the talent he can muster if he is to deliver success at the first (and only) attempt. Comparing the challenge now to the one he faced in 1996, he observed: “We had all the squad from Jack still in it and it wasn’t easy turning that around, bringing young players in, as I was having to tell players that they had finished, really. That wasn’t easy but the fact that I had two terms (meant) I was given the chance to turn it around.
“Now, with 10 games it’s not like there is this big transition period where I can say ‘you can go’ and I will bring in all the young players that Ruud Dokter is telling me about, that Stephen Kenny and we can bring in. That’s going to be tough.
“It needs to be a team of Irish players that I think have a fair bit of experience in qualifying campaigns, that start in March. But if there are some good young players around that are pulling trees up, who knows? Declan Rice, if that’s the case, playing for West Ham and he’s a top player, then why not?
Mick McCarthy reveals Robbie Keane instigated his appointment of coach and he initially thought his former striker was being cheeky. He then thought further about it..... #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/J5wzxUPTTZ
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) November 25, 2018
“I’ve got a list on my phone and had a look at all players who qualify and I’ll be going to watch them again whether they are playing in a 23s or a friendly game. Ruud Dokter will know the younger players. A journalist just told me Stephen Kenny knows five Championship players playing in the League of Ireland, which is great. I’ll be doing my miles, we’ll have a look.”
While Robbie Keane and McCarthy’s former club assistant Terry Connor are already on board as part of the new backroom team, the manager has still to choose a goal-keeping coach.
On speculation that it could be Shay Given, he said: “Shay is working full-time isn’t he (at Derby County). I haven’t sounded anybody out. For people who are working full-time anywhere else, there’s always a difficulty in the international break because they might be sent to scout somebody who is playing abroad or in an international team.
“I’ve had lots of thoughts from different people. Shay being one but he’s in a full-time environment.”
With no game until March, McCarthy plans to see as many Irish players as he can in action for their clubs between now and the spring and, as he plots a way forward, he will also take the opportunity to consult with some of the senior players, including skipper Seamus Coleman.
And while these are obviously the earliest of days in the new era, it seems we can already anticipate one major change on the pitch from Martin O’Neill’s time in charge: the end of the departed manager’s recent experimentation with three at the back.
“It (3-5-2) is not my preferred formation,” McCarthy said. “I’ll see what we’ve got. But it’s not my way. I saw Wolves play 3-4-3 in the Championship and they murdered it. They’ve been doing the exact same in the Premier League. But it’s not mine. I prefer a back four.”
McCarthy also conceded that 4-4-2 was past its sell-by date, and with FAI chief John Delaney predicting that McCarthy would favour 4-3-3, that would align the senior teams formation with that favoured by the Irish underage teams.