Right so i hate that its come to this but its time for the FAI to do something right for once and sack this comedian, i mean it cant get any worse........RIGHT???? So many glaring errors with team selection, i mean what he did to Joey O Brien last night was unforgivable,dealing with the media, working on the team tactics, picking the captain, and just plain lunacy, i dont blame Steve i blame the FAI but if Steve doesnt leave now i will totally forget all the good times he had as a player, if this is a four year plan then surely we wouldnt be gettin worse??? i wasnt in agreement with sacking of McCarthy or Kerr but the expectation was too high then, but now we are in the lowest and darkest days of Irish football.....so who could lead us out of this abject dispair??? Personally I think Eamon Dunphy was right to mention Paul Jewell, he would get fire and passion back into the team, there is plenty of young talent there we just need a man who understands the game, Dave O Leary would also be a good choice out of management for a while and has said hed love to manage Ireland, I think hed be my prime candidate, Then Chris Coleman possibly, again experienced, Jose Mourinho might be a bit beyond our reach haha! i asked the english posters caling for McLarens head if theyd like to do a straight swap....iv yet to hear from them but i wouldnt be optimistic!! Would Roy Keane even take it on a part time basis??? why not?? relationship with FAI will stop that tho, any more ideas?? john Delany if your interested get in contact but uv made it clear you dont care about irish soccer
Well, in my opinion, the only realistic options that Im familiar with are Paul Jewell and David O'Leary. There's no doubt that Jewels a good manager. To take Wigan to the premier league and keep them there is a massive achievement. I know many people don't but I think O'Leary is a good manager as well. He took Leeds to the chamions league semis but made the mistake of buying far too many average players for over the odds prices, hence Leeds being a league 2 team. Regardless of what most villa fans will say, he didnt do a bad job with them either. And he's Irish!
I think I should be the new manger of Ireland. If the FAI don't want to hire me though, I think I'd give my backing to both Jewell and O'Leary. I would love to see Keano get the job and put some motiviation back into the squad, and make them play with pride but alas, his less than kind words about the orginization won't land him the position.
He’s probably a very unrealistic prospect for the job, but someone of the Jürgen Klinsmann- sort might be what your team needs. He turned the German FA completely upside down when he coached our side and broke up old structures in youth coaching as well. Motivating lethargic players is also one of his strong points.
Here's the bookie list!! David O'Leary 5 - 4 Peter Reid 28 - 1 Ruud Gullit 40 - 1 Graeme Souness 9 - 2 George Graham 28 - 1 Kevin Moran 40 - 1 Liam Brady 10 - 1 Martin O'Neill 28 - 1 Glenn Roeder 50 - 1 John Aldridge 12 - 1 Chris Hughton 28 - 1 J Mourinho 50 - 1 Paul Jewell 14 - 1 Roy Keane 28 - 1 I Dowie 50 - 1 Roy Hodgson 18 - 1 Ray Houghton 28 - 1 Don Givens 66 - 1 Gerard Houllier 18 - 1 Kevin Keegan 28 - 1 Steve MacLaren 66 - 1 Steve Bruce 20 - 1 John Toshack 33 - 1 Stephen Kenny 66 - 1 O Rehhagel 20 - 1 Martin Allen 33 - 1 Ron Atkinson 66 - 1 Steve Coppell 20 - 1 Johnny Giles 33 - 1 John Sheridan 66 - 1 Martin Jol 22 - 1 Ronald Koeman 40 - 1 Brian Kerr 80 - 1 Louis van Gaal 25 - 1 Didier Deschamps 40 - 1 Eamon Dunphy 200 - 1 Glenn Hoddle 25 - 1 Mick McCarthy 40 - 1 Jack Charlton 500 - 1 Lawrie Sanchez 25 - 1
Wasn't sure which thread to post this on but I found it on another site and found it quite funny........ History of the FAI 1965 - Ireland was in a play-off against Spain to qualify for the 1966 World Cup. The FAI agreed to play the game in Paris, where there would be more Spanish fans, if the FAI could have the Spanish share of the gate money. The Spanish agreed, and won the game. 1970s - The FAI regularly organised friendlies in Poland, where officials enjoyed the 'night life' (yes, that means pr**titutes), and once did not even stay in the same city as the match. The players travelled to one such game in the luggage carriage of a train, while the officials relaxed on seats. 1980 - After Johnny Giles quit, Eoin Hand beat Paddy Mulligan to the Ireland manager's job by one swing vote. Afterwards, one FAI board member said that he had voted for Hand because he thought Mulligan was the person who had thrown a bun at him on an away trip. 1986 - Jack Charlton became Ireland manager by accident, after the FAI messed up a vote intended to give the job to Bob Paisley. At first Charlton got only three votes out of eighteen, compared to nine for Paisley. The FAI then couldn't contact Charlton to tell him that he had got the job. 1986 - When a friend congratulated Charlton on his new job, he replied 'What job?' On being told he was Ireland manager, he replied 'Oh, I'd forgotten about that.' When Charlton sent his first squad list to the FAI, he found that an FAI official was adding players that he liked onto the list. 1994 - The FAI bought £296,000 of World Cup tickets, and gave most to a tout with the confidence-inspiring nickname of 'George the Greek', who unsurprisingly did a runner. The FAI ended up with a 'trading shortfall' of over £200,000, for which they obtained just 314 extra tickets for one Ireland match. 1996 - Two referees won a court case against the FAI after being downgraded for failing a new test. The judge called the FAI 'an autocracy which was incapable of abiding by its own rules'. The FAI quickly reacted by writing to 142 other referees, banning them all from refereeing for not taking the same test - the exact opposite of the court judgment. 1999 - The FAI announced a plan to spend £65m on a new stadium, but forgot to include the £16m cost of the site, then spent years debating which of two non-existent stadiums they would use. During the optimistic FAI bid to host Euro 2008, the UEFA panel was photographed examining an empty field. 2002 - The FAI prepared for the World Cup by forgetting to bring proper footballs to an island that had no proper football pitch, causing a minor civil war back home. On returning, the FAI ordered an independent investigation into itself, and pretty much ignored the results. 2002 - The FAI tried to sell TV rights for Ireland games to the subscription channel Sky. When the Government told them that EU law protects important cultural events for terrestrial TV viewers to watch free, the FAI countered that Irish football is not culturally important. 2005 - The FAI fired Brian Kerr, the only Irish manager to have won European and World trophies, and vowed to replace him with a World-class manager. This turned out to be Stephen Staunton, the part-time unofficial coach of the defenders at a poor English third division team. 2007 - The FAI has just fined two League of Ireland clubs EUR500 each because their fans were throwing paper. This comes after they introduced a revised promotion system for last season, which infuriated a Dundalk fan so much that he occupied their offices and doused himself with petrol.
Check the last few paragraphs for info about Coppell taking on the Ireland position. He was born in Liverpool, but his grandmother was Irish. He already manages Doyle, Hunt and Long and it has been said that he is the best English manager in the BPL. Personnaly I would rather he stayed at Reading, but you never know what can happen in this game.
The FAI is a well oiled machine that is for sure. Coppell is a good manager but the FAI will likely choose someone that fits their historical pattern.
My thoughts: I think one thing that has to be kept in mind while considering candidates for the job is how different international football management is from club management. The difference goes far beyond the fact that in international football, you have to work with a certain set of players without the ability to buy new ones. In international football, you have to form a cohesive unit from only a handful of training sessions. Injury and scouting situations are different. However, I think the most notable difference between the two is the differential importance of tactics and formation in competitive international football. Remember, in a qualifying campaign you are dealing with 8-odd competitive matches a year, against varying footballing systems. One unexpected defeat - as we saw in Cyprus last year - can destroy an entire campaign before it even gets off the ground. An international manager has to know how to deploy his players in a system that will effectively counter opponents teams and opposing systems which might be very different to what British/Irish players and management are used to. In the course of a campaign, you can come up against British/Irish teams, Scandiavians, Eastern Europeans, Southern Europeans... All different systems which will require a different setup to counter. Moreover there's the difference between home and away. Sometime "Give it a lash" or "have a right go" just doesn't cut it away from home. As the recent successes of sides like Northern Ireland have shown, sometimes you have to go 4-5-1 and scrape a draw against superior sides. I think this is why it's the tacticians, like Guus Hiddink, who make the best international managers. Australia in the World Cup were such a well organized/well drilled side. This is all down to the manager IMO. Ireland in this campaign were, tactically, a shambles. No result showed this more than the 1-1 draw against Cyprus at home when players/management were... in short... out of ideas. Tactical awareness in international management - as demonstrated by international management experience is for me the number one requirement for the job. But EXPERIENCE is the key word here. From a tactical or organizational point of view, Brian Kerr was quite a good coach, but he just didn't have the personality to command player's respect. I think (or at least I would hope) that someone who has been around the block a few times won't have this sort of problem. So, let's have a look at some of the contenders for the position of Irish manager: David O'Leary: I don't like David O'Leary. Neither as a man or a coach. Still, before his spending madness he did very good things with Leeds United. Clearly the top Irish candidate for the job and the fact that he is out of work makes him favourite. I'm still not convinced. If he's hired, I'll give him a chance... but I think it could prove counterproductive. Phillipe Troussier: I have to admit not knowing much about him. Has done good things with average sides in Africa, so there's no doubt that he has the experience. But somehow I can't see him really putting his heart into the job. I almost get the impression that he would treat being Irish manager as a passtime... commuting from his base in Morocco. Would he attend matches week-in week-out to keep an eye on our players? Would he go to opposition matches? I'm not so sure. Ditto Houllier. I don't rate him as a manager. Atkinson/Souness/Venebles etc: I'll cringe if any of these lads get the job. If anything, I feel they have proven that they are not up to international management. None represent the type of personality or tactical awareness necessary to succeed. Martin Jol: Perhaps not even a realistic candidate, but the way his Spurs career has unfolded I don't trust his ability to manage at international level. I think he is a very good club manager. But he has made some strange decisions at Spurs coach and I don't trust his tactical awareness. In any case, I don't think he would take the job if offered. Leo Beenhakker: Now here is a good international manager. Doing great things with Poland. Fantastic experience. At 65, he has seen it all. Did super things with an extremely average Trinidad squad in the World Cup. Again - they were a superbly well-organized team. But he already has a job. Could we poach him? I'm not so sure. Stevie Coppell: Has said in an interview with Pat Dolan that although the job interests him greatly, now is not the time. But I think Coppell in years to come will make a great coach. Not of England - he's too wily a man to take what is IMO the worst job in football. He can motivate and is a real thinker. Has ticks in all the right boxes IMO. But as I said, he will not be taking the job. Roy Hodgson: My personal favourite. At 60, he's seen it all. Buckets of international experience - just the right kind we need. He's turned a very average Finnish team into a well drilled, well organized (how many times has that word come up) side. His contract with Finland is up at the end of this campaign, and I'm sure the FAI could afford his wages. English speaking. Knows the Premiership well. And I think he would command the players' respect. He gets my vote. But we'll just have to wait and see. After Staunton, I think the FAI are likely to err on the side of experience. But the decision can't be rushed. Who knows what managers might become available between now and, say, February or March? Like I said, we'll just have to wait and see.
Just occured to me I didn't mention Paul Jewell - one of the best Premiership managers out of the job right now. Again, I'm not sure if he's what we're looking for right now. He's a very good motivator, but I question his experience and tactical awareness.
I thought Paul was set to join the canaries. He would be good but like you said we have time. The FAI doesn't need to rush.
Souness for the ROI? Came across this today. http://sport.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1729102007 Thoughts?
Re: Souness for the ROI? Do you really get scared by this rumour? Well, me too... I still hope there's a chance to get Martin O'Neill (let him lose a few more games with Aston Villa.
Martin O'Neill would be the best choice in my eyes! However, it's hard to say if there's any chance to sign him...
There's no chance unless you offer him the ability to continue his club career while coaching Ireland, a pact I can't imagine the Irish FA are considering at this point. The problem is he knows the English job is sitting there, waiting for him if they don't qualify for Euro 2008. Despite the pressures that come with that England job, hard to imagine O'Neill turning down a chance at it for the Irish one considering the current state of the National Team. I think Ireland have to be pragmatic about this and look for someone on the rise rather then just a big name. Jewell is obviously a good shout, but you question whether he'd use it as a stepping stone to a midtable English squad the way Walter Smith used Scotland to get in the door at Rangers. Jol would come with similar concerns, although he would be an excellent choice. For all the grinding of teeth about him at Spurs this year, its important to remember that he was screaming for CB reinforcement given the fragility of Ledley King and a proper LM (something Spurs haven't had in ages). Unfortunately, Comelli decided to splash the cash on a completely superfulous 4th striker in Darren Bent, which in turn has seemed to signal to Berbatov that he's off after this year and has led him to simply go through the motions for much of the year. Lawrie Sanchez certainly doesn't seem to be having much luck with Fulham, perhaps he could be lured? We all know how he turned around a Northern Ireland team which had been counted along the San Marino's of Europe before his reign. Just stay away from the retreads: Soueness, Reid, O'Leary, Toschack, and Hoddle.