For the purposes of debate..... We've seen at least 4/5 contributors to this board claiming the team would be better off without Mick. Can these people put forward a list of 4/5 candidates to replace him? Bear in mind he has to be seen as satisfactory by Roy, ie World Class, and be willing to take on the job of Ireland boss. I've said elsewhere that I don't think George Graham would take it as he turned down Scotland before Vogts took over and the SFA pay more than the FAI. And there is the little matter of Scotland being his home country. I await the beginning of the Dave O'Leary bandwagon with barely concealed mirth...
How about: Ronnie Whelan, John Aldridge, Chris Hughton(seems to be a decent coach at Spurs), Kenny Dalgish, .........Roddy Collins!!
as long as we're only debating it! i think we need a manager with a track record for developing talent and bringing the best out of his players, who is attack minded and tactically astute. nobody springs to mind immediately but how about - gus hiddink (could do a good job) martin o'neill (too much ambition right now) louis van gall (show me the money!) liam brady (walked into management too soon, doing a good job at arsenal) brian kerr (unproven at the highest level) ...but everybody knows it'll be dave!
Has Martin O Neill signed his contract at Celtic yet ...don't think so Joe Kinnear Camacho , is he still in the spanich job ? Gus Hiddink Glenn Roeder ...if West Ham loose any more games , his job could be jeopardy Bruce Arena Kenny Dagleish Mark Lawrenson Are any of these names feasable ?
I'd say there is a chance of Graham yet for the reasons in the (current anyway) last post in the McCarthy out thread. Most of the names there are good ideas, I'd not go for the likes of Kerr or Lawrenson though, but there are some good ideas. Bruce Arena, it'd sure annoy the Americans to lose him and he seems to love it there as much as they love him so I can't see it happening, wouldn't say no though but most of the names here are good ones.
I think Brian Kerr would be the right man for the job. He's done great things with the youth teams, and I understand he's very popular among all other members of the squad. Anyone continental would make me uneasy. As would David O'Leary. Martin O'Neill would be great... if we could get him.
The problem with Kerr is youth managers have a history of not being able for the senior squad, Peter Taylor being a recent example. Working with kids is a whole other ball game, 18/19 year olds looking for a start in life are a whole lot easier to manage then 28/29 year olds on high wages at high profile clubs and that's always been the fundemental problem, and Kerr himself strikers me as an incredibley nice and friendly guy who I could sit down and talk too for hours, which would be where the problem would lie, or at least that would be my worry.
Kerr has said a number of different times that he has no real interest in managing the senior side. He is happier with underage sides. BTW, am I the only one who thinks the list of possible successors mentioned so far in this thread are either unrealistic - Hiddink, O'Neill - ridiculous - Arena - or very poor suggestions - Graham, Lawrenson?
No, you're not. Lads, go on and please shut up about this. If we're talking hypothetical situations, then let's all name our teams for the opening game of the 2008 Euro Championships (complete with full subs bench). Or even better - in 1990, Dave O'Leary's penalty hit the crossbar, came back and whacked him on the head, concussing him and forcing him to retire several years earlier. Ireland went out when Packie Bonner sneezed while the Romanians were taking their next peno. The good times, for the most part, did not roll. Discuss.
This was the point I was trying to make in starting the thread. I really can't see anyone inspirational named above, save for the likes of O'Neill and Hiddink, neither of whom would take the job. I really think the best we would do would be a medium-profile ex-player like Aldridge (quit Tranmere), Whelan (flop in Cyprus and Greece) or O'Leary (who most Leeds fans claim was good in the transfer market but rubbish with tactics - not exactly the talents you need in international management). Once things started to go wrong with Kerr, Keane (assumuing he came back) and the 'medals brigade' would be asking him to show them his trophies...leading to another manager being undermined. I think the best we could do would be to get a manager proven at doing well on scant resources - Kinnear being the only one that really springs to mind. Would he command Keane's respect though?
I think Kinnear's heart condition would rule him out of any international job. ireland have a high enough stature to attract a high profile coach with a proven record in european club football - provided they pay the money. there are enough top italian and spanish coaches who would love to test themselves at the highest level. language might be a problem so we would also look at the dutch and german (odds on they speak english). koeman at ajax, sammer at dortmund but top of my list would be hiddink at feyenoord. the names suggested so far show that there is a serious lack of suitable heirs to mccarthy's throne on this side of europe. the fai would have to cast their net much further next time. (...o'dreary would still get the job!)