WITH all the questions about coaching tickets, one might have thought one on match tickets would be a welcome distraction.
But, as well as getting pestered by questions about whether he might land the Ireland job on a full-time basis, John O’Shea’s mates have been onto him about something else too.
If you wanted to go to see Ireland play Belgium on Saturday, you had to also buy tickets for tonight’s friendly against Switzerland.
It is not so much a two-for-the-price-of-one but the football equivalent of being required to eat your greens if you wanted your ice-cream.
The duo package is not a new concept.
Last year, if you wished to be at the Euro 2024 qualifier against France in the Aviva Stadium last March, you had also to agree to attend – well, at least buy a ticket for – the friendly against Latvia five days earlier.
The home qualifiers against Gibraltar – in June – and Holland, three months later, were grouped together.
The one against Greece, in October, was coupled with the November friendly against New Zealand, Stephen Kenny’s last game in charge.
The variation in attendances between paired matches ranged from 7,651 to 14,722, which, when you think about it, is a staggering number of people prepared to write off the cost of a ticket for one match in order to ensure they can attend another.
It would be lazy to depict those who did so as simply not bothering to attend a less attractive game and that is certainly true for some of those who stayed away.
But – particularly for those based outside of Dublin – there is a significant cost factor involved in the travel, as well as the difficulty in getting up to the capital for a midweek match requiring taking time off work and arriving back late and night.
And, unlike last year’s games, as both of the fixtures coupled up on this occasion are friendlies, there has been a backlash against the FAI’s policy.
Although he has enough to be getting on with, O’Shea is not oblivious to the disquiet.
He said: “My own mates from Waterford were giving out to me about it as well.
“Obviously the idea behind it in general is a good idea in terms of getting the support for both games.
“That’s the planning beforehand in terms of their approach to selling things.
“I’ll never have any doubt in terms of Irish fans turning up to support the team, whatever the case may be.
“Look, that’s something that people get in touch with, it’s something you look at further down that line, I’m sure that approach can be had for fans and departments to speak and find a solution to it.
“Ultimately, you do want a fully packed Aviva for every international game obviously.”
The ground was roughly three-quarters full on Saturday but there will be a smaller crowd tonight.
Individual tickets for the Switzerland match have been put on sale but, given this writer has had no takers for ones he offered at below cost-price, it is safe to say the demand is low.
STORM DAMAGE
However, the Association will probably decide that it is just a case of riding out this storm.
Because, with England coming to town in September, there might be a temptation to throw in the other Nations League fixtures – against Finland and Greece.
And the June friendly against Hungary with that and figure there will be enough people willing to part company with their money to ensure they get what will be the hottest ticket in town.
And O’Shea added: “The draw that has been had, those competitive games, with my friends and family in Waterford and around Manchester, of Irish heritage, the demand for tickets is very high.
“I don’t think there’ll be any issues when the competitive games come around.”
As if that fixture – the first meeting of the two countries in a qualifier in Dublin since 1990 – did not have enough significance already attached to it, it will also be the new Ireland manager’s first competitive game in charge.
In putting O’Shea in interim charge for the matches this month, it is not clear if the FAI considered the difficulties which might arise if things went well for him.
The 42-year-old made a solid start against Belgium and will hope to build on that draw with a win this evening.
How then would it look if this young Irish coach – who has no previous experience as a no 1 but has sought to learn his trade – is shunted aside to make room for an overseas candidate with an underwhelming CV?
FULL-TIME ROLE
Asked if he would take the job on a permanent basis if, for some reason, the FAI’s planned appointment did not proceed, O’Shea said: “Well, that’s ifs, buts and maybes.
“For the fact that I am the manager now, I think that would be a key focus.
“I’ll bat it back to you in terms of I’m the manager now for these two games, I’ve really enjoyed it, I’m fully focused to get a win against Switzerland/
“We know that will be a challenge as well but we are close, the chances we are creating, we’ve got to do that again.
“If we get a win against Switzerland, if we get that good result, we can talk about things afterwards. But I’m fully focused on Switzerland and whatever happens afterwards, we’ll have a discussion.”
We will take that as a yes, then, with O’Shea, earlier in the Press conference, pointing to some accumulated know-how when it came to fielding persistent questions, in a discussion about how the role of a head coach differed from that as an assistant.
He said: “The first one, is picking the team, and then speaking to the players.
“Maybe they were thinking they might be in the team etc. Just to have that conversation and the reasons why certain players were picked to start ahead of them.
“In general, that would be the main thing. Then, talking to your good selves every couple of days, getting used to same questions in different ways, different angles, having that approach.
“I’d amazing experience and education in that sense at Champions League Press conferences from an early age, dealing with that. So I’ve had good experience in that sense along the way.”
That was when he was sitting at the side of Alex Ferguson who suggested at the Cheltenham Festival that O’Shea should be handed the reins on a permanent basis.
O’Shea said: “It’s been brilliant to have that backing and that advice, like I’ve always had from him.
“The manager would always have contact with me anytime I went into, say, a different role at a club.
“What he said to me when I finished playing was ‘make sure you are involved in the coaching and management side of it because you have the temperament for it and the knowledge for it’.
“The big thing he said to me was to enjoy it, trust your instincts and you have to make big decisions – make them, stick to them and believe in them.”
And his instincts now might be telling him that tonight may not be his last time in the home dugout in the Aviva Stadium.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 v Latvia, friendly: 41,211
Monday, March 27, 2023 v France, Euro 2024 qualifier: 50,219
Monday, June 19, 2023 v Gibraltar, Euro 2024 qualifier: 42,156
Sunday, September 10, 2023 v Holland, Euro 2024 qualifier: 49,807
Friday, October 13, 2023 v Greece, Euro 2024 qualifier: 41,239
Tuesday, November 21, 2023 v New Zealand, friendly: 26,517
Saturday, March 23, 2024 v Belgium, friendly: 38,128
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 v Switzerland, friendly: ?????