Former Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill believes that he was treated far harsher than current incumbent Stephen Kenny and admits that he’s still bitter over the manner of his exit.
Pressure continues to mount on Kenny with the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualification hopes fading.
A 2-1 defeat at home to the Netherlands on Sunday leaves Ireland with just three points from five games and Kenny looks set to miss out on qualifying for a major tournament for a third time.
Ireland last qualified for a major championship when O’Neill led Ireland to Euro 2016, however he parted ways with the FAI two years later in the wake of missing out on the 2018 World Cup and a Nations League campaign without a win.
Much of O’Neill’s time as Ireland manager was marked by a frosty and occasional hostile relationship with the Irish media, which he feels played a part in his exit and, also, lobbied for the appointment of Kenny.
Speaking on TalkSport, O’Neill said: "I managed the side and I lost my job over some of the results at the end and I thought international football was about winning football games, it's about winning,"
"The Irish media have put Stephen in charge and therefore they are still going to peddle this idea that he has changed the course of football. That the Republic of Ireland play a different type of football.
"They put him in charge because they were very strongly in favour of him and the FAI succumbed and went with that, which was fine.
"The whole idea was he would change the course of football. We’re going to be a possession team, we are going to change it. That's very, very difficult to change when you are an international manager. You have players for two or three days.
"You're not going to change a lot of things in that time and it's all very well having possession when your two centre-halves pass the ball to each other on a number of occasions, and you get your stats up.
"The bottom line is you have to win football games. The Republic of Ireland want to qualify.
"I heard them saying this was a difficult group, which it was. France are a very good side. But we qualified from a group in 2016 that featured the world champions Germany. We actually beat Germany.
"So you have to go and win some football games."
O’Neill admitted that he’s still bitter over the way his time as Ireland manager ended and that the Irish media ignores his achievements during his time in charge.
"Of course, if you lose your job, you are going to be bitter at the end of it all," he said.
"I didn't get on with it (the Irish media). They didn't like me at the end of the day and I'm not wildly sure I was all that fussed on them.
"We qualified for the European Championships in 2016 and we had a fantastic time. We were playing to full houses at the Aviva Stadium.
"Stephen talks about full houses, but we had full houses for all the big matches. There was a great rapport, a fantastic rapport between the players and the crowd.
"I think Stephen is well backed (within the Irish media), but eventually you get to a point. You paint a colourful picture about something, but you have to win football games.
"It was like Euro 2016 never existed from their viewpoint."
Watch Republic of Ireland U-21 v San Marino U-21 in Euro 2025 Under-21 qualifying on Tuesday from 7pm on the RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app
