Stephen Kenny said that he has no complaints in relation to his press commitments, however, the Ireland manager feels that certain media duties can have a detrimental effect on players.
And following the furore regarding Naomi Osaka's withdrawal from the French Open, Kenny said that he can empathise with the tennis star and other sportspeople in similar situations.
Osaka decided to opt out of mandatory press conferences at this year’s event at Roland Garros and has subsequently withdrawn from the tournament, while revealing that she has struggled with her mental health over recent years.
And while Kenny believes that his media requirements are part of his role as an international manager, he admitted that it is a lot easier to talk after good results rather than poor ones.
Kenny is obliged to partake in a post-match interviews just minutes after the final whistle, and the Ireland boss has yet to conduct a winning post-match interview as his side have yet to win throughout the 11 games he has been in charge.
.@Corktod reports as an Ireland squad featuring a number of new faces finalises preparations for Thursday's friendly international in Andorra #RTESoccer pic.twitter.com/FwdWz9b4c9
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"I think we’ve always just considered that as part of the job," said Kenny when asked whether he had any issues with the current format of post-match interviews.
"Of course, after a difficult defeat... if it’s a great result nobody minds speaking.
"I’ve been a manager for a number of years, it’s always been associated as part of the job, and for players likewise.
"We shouldn’t complain as we are privileged to be in a position to do it, so it’s not something I would complain about.
"But I understand it can have a detrimental effect on players or sportspeople, whether tennis players or any other sport. I can empathise with that. That’s a reality."
As Ireland manager, Kenny has already experienced some tough nights on the pitch, having watched his team lose a Euro 2020 play-off game on penalties in Slovakia, while his side also suffered a shock home defeat in the current World Cup qualifying campaign to Luxembourg.
And Kenny feels there is no reason to change the current footballing format, as he believes conducting interviews in other sports, most notably boxing, can prove much more challenging.
"I have no plans to change the format. That’s part of international management from my point of view.
"I’m always in awe of boxers getting out of the ring and speaking straight away after 12 or 15 rounds. I find it incredible.
"They especially, in my view, have some of the toughest interviews after some of the toughest fights, so to lose a fight, I can imagine, and have to speak about that and speak about your opponent...
"So they probably deserve the most credit out of all the sportspeople."
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game against Andorra, a side who sit in between New Caledonia and Singapore in 158th place on the FIFA rankings, Kenny is expecting to finally conduct a winning post-match interview.
The manager has had to field the same question, asked many different ways, and while he would not entertain the concept of a must-win encounter, he did admit that it was one that he wants to win.
"We want to win, of course we want to win. It's been well-documented that we haven't. We're waiting to win.
"There are several games that we should have won and we didn't, and we're disappointed with that. We've got to go tomorrow and try to get a victory."
One of the main features of the manager’s fledgling tenure has been his willingness to give youth a chance, having brought many players through from the Under-21 side throughout his 11 matches in charge.
And with two friendly games to play over the next six days ahead of the resumption of the vital World Cup qualifiers in September, Kenny admitted that he would continue to offer opportunities to the next generation and possibly see some players secure their international debuts.
"Yes, we will persist with giving players their opportunity because I believe we will get huge gains from that, so it's a good opportunity for a lot of players tomorrow, and that's the objective.
"Ideally that would be the case [to play uncapped players]. Whether we'll see everyone, possibly not, but it's an opportunity for a number of players, and we want to put in a good performance as well tomorrow."
The Ireland training camp in Spain this week has been the first real chance for the manager to work with the squad on his ideas and philosophies without the lingering shadow of a competitive fixture.
"It’s been good. It’s not as if we’ve been here for ten days or two weeks, we have been here since Friday. But that’s unique because you don’t normally get that opportunity and we’re thankful for it.
"It is a good opportunity and we’ve been able to imprint a few ideas of how we want to play ahead of the games and hopefully we can take that into tomorrow and into Tuesday."
Follow Andorra v Ireland (Thursday, 5pm) via our live blog on RTE.ie and the RTÉ News app or watch on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
