Liam Brady: Stephen Kenny deserves credit

Stephen Kenny “deserves credit” for bringing through several young players during his time in charge of the Republic of Ireland but his successor needs to be “cute” to improve results according to Liam Brady.

During his three-and-a-half-year reign as manager, Kenny gave 26 players their competitive debut but Ireland fell well short in their bit bid to reach a major tournament.

Brady had previously been critical of the standard of the Irish squad but speaking after collecting the International Achievement Award at the Soccer Writers Ireland’s annual banquet, where Stephen Bradley and Karen Duggan were named the Men’s and Women’s Personality of the Year respectively, the Ireland and Arsenal legend shared his thoughts on the challenge facing the next boss.

“It’s a very young squad which reflected Stephen Kenny’s way of working and bringing players through,” began Brady.

“It will help his successor that there are players with plenty of games at international level under their belts and there is a squad of players to work with. For that, Kenny deserves credit.

“I got a reaction earlier this year when I said I felt this was one of the worst Ireland squads I’d seen. I meant it was one of the least talented in terms of where the players were playing compared to my time with Ireland when we had players at bigger clubs.

“We’ve a few more players playing in the Premier League this season which is also a help to the new manager who has got a fighting chance, I feel.

“He needs to be cute and find a way to get results, especially against the teams we are expected to beat. That’s where we’ve fallen down in recent campaigns.

“It’s disappointing to be missing out on the Euros next summer especially when so many teams are involved these