Howard Wilkinson has been named as successor to Peter Reid at Sunderland with Steve Cotterill taking over as his assistant.
If there was even the remotest chance of them not going down before, it just disappeared over the horizon now. Wilkinson.....my god.
Poll in the Indo online site says that 84% of people want Mick to go. I would hope that is more an indication of our performance against Russia than anything Keane related. Anyway, a plea to Mick.....now that you are more are less definitely staying on, for the love of Jayzis would you please, please drop Kilbane and Harte!
No problemo. http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,1860-1066846,00.html Suffice it to say, it's what none of us expected. Cheers, William
wilko?? and o'leary wasn't even considered o'leary is off-ing himself as we speak. wilkinson hasn't managed in 6 years, even then he wasn't that good. cotterill will take over after 6 months. cotteril has no pedigree whatsoever. i know he's highly thought of but he left stoke after 14 games so he's bound to leave blunderland as the first sniff of a better job offer - if he's up to to the job (which i don't think he is). for god's sake he used to manage sligo rovers!!!!
Re: wilko?? and o'leary wasn't even considered Jock Stein - Dunfermline Martin Oneill - Wycombe Wanderers etc..etc... all great managers start somewhere!!!
Re: Re: Re: wilko?? and o'leary wasn't even considered I think you are proving the point, i.e. to have managed a lesser club doesn't mean you are not a capable manager, on the other hand you could manage one massive club and make an arse of it ala JB.
Depends on the boys strength of character i'd say, and the players he surrounds himself with as much as his own raw talent. Barnes had no talent, no character and surrounded himself with whining prima donna's.....he was doomed from day one, or at least he should have been without the form of Henrik Larsson making him look competent!
I know, it was so perfect timing for him, after the Swiss game there's enough time for any man to come in and get used to things before we've another competitive match. He may go after the Swiss match anyway mind, if it's a bad result.
What exactly do you want from McCarthy? He's done as much as, and more, than anyone expected, and brought us to our highest world ranking since the system originally came in. We're respected internationally as a very decent side, and a dark horse (á la Turkey) for Euro 2004 - which isn't bad for a country with 4 million people. What's he done that's so bad that you're all on his back for something that doesn't appear to have much relevance to the results?
We have better players then a 'Very decent site' and the plucky under dogs bull, but either Mick doesn't pick them or when he does he puts them out of position. Also, dropping Dennis Irwin saying he had to prove himself shows his man management skills to be non existent and his judge of a player to be complete rubbish. He never EVER picks the strongest team available, always going with his mates over the better players and since when is the second round a success? In my book, with the lack of talent on show preforming well at the world cup, that's a failure. Loseing to Spain, espically at ten men, and subbing on David f'n Connolly was a failure, and he proclaims himself brilliant for it and keeps commenting on what an absolutley fantastic world cup we've had. Rubbish.
I seem to remember that Ireland was ranked 6th in the early 90s, but that may have been before the official rankings came in in '93. But Charlton's last game in charge - 2-0 playoff loss vs. Holland at Anfield - Ireland took the field with 4(!) full backs to counter the Dutch threat and they still strung 32 passes together before scoring their 2nd goal. As McCarthy reminded us yesterday, Ireland were also ranked 54th in the world. For the sake of perspective, Iceland are currently ranked 54th in the world, behind such footballing luminaries as China, Iraq, NZ, Trinidad & Tobago, Honduras and Saudi Arabia(!). Screaming for McCarthy to go is a little too redolent of the back page of The Scum, screaming, in bold headlines, that every English manager must go as soon as England concede a free kick. The one thing that has always distinguished Ireland from those braying tabloid masses is the lack of unrealistic expectations and knee jerk reactions. Sadly, this seems to have passed with our recent successes in WC '02. There is no way anyone can tell me that with a record of three competitive losses in 5(?) years - and one of those against Iran, when the tie was wrapped up - is a bad record. McCarthy didn't suddenly become a bad manager. I think McCarthy may have been conducting a very clever campaign over the last few days, showing/reminding the naysayers that his record is more about losing 4-2 in Moscow and sending that f************ing Wanker home from Saipan, without saying it explicitly. Having said that, would anyone blame him if he walked away out of sheer disgust?
He didn't suddenly become a bad manager because he was never a good one. Ever think our rise from 54th to 13th had something to do with the inheritence of our famous youth cup successes? McCarthys done nothing but played people out of positions, dropped talented players and took the credit for a success that never happend. There is no knee jerk reaction, I've held this opinion before the world cup, during the world cup, after the world cup, after the Russia match and still do now. Knee jerk and unrealistic ambitions don't come into it, I just want to see a manager who will play our best players and not hold us back with his lack of tactical ability and partiality in team selections. I mean, how much of an achievement is the second round? In a year, if Healy gets his desiered move, we can have a team that looks like this... Given, Finnan, Carr, Cunningham OR Doherty, O'Shea, Duff, Reid, Healy, Kinsella OR Holland, Keane, Morrison. That is, imo, an international side capable of taking on any in the world, not even with the plucky under dog bull, and beating them (Barring Brazil). That team is one of the best there is when together and fit, indivudually and as a team, technically and with work rate that team is world class either way you look at it. I know, however, that with McCarthy as manager we will never see that team, we will get to the group stages of Euro 2004 and miss out thanks to a play off failure in 2006, and he will consider this a massive success. Sure, what is a nation of some 4,000,000 got to expect anyway? We'll just ignore the clear talent knocking on our doorstep, sure, we're the pucky underdogs and with a bit of luck we'll get another second round penalty loss and come home heros.
Re: Re: wilko?? and o'leary wasn't even considered Sam Allardyce - Stab City... (Dave O'Leary - Leeds )
Bang on. I doubt anyone would argue he was experienced enough to be an international manager when he took the role (similarly Mark Hughes), but he rebuilt a side that was crumbling rapidly and with a combination of luck, one or two world-class players, and mostly bloody hard work put us in the WC and made us think we're a side to be really reckoned with once more. Is he perfect? No. Is he worthy of the sack? Jeez! Take that attitude and Joe Kinnear would have taken over in 1998 and would probably have also been fired by now... We'd probably be sharpening the knives for Johnny Aldridge following his first defeat as international manager...
Like it! Hmmm... I don't believe in coincidences and I suspect this "very clever campaign" was more to do with a certain guttersnipe drumming up a bit of cheap publicity ahead of the publication of a certain WC diary...
Sorry, but I can't let this one go, its one of the biggest misnomers around Irish football. This mythical population of 4 million, does it, or did it ever include the likes of Kevin Kilbane, Jason MacAteer, Matt Holland, Gary Breen etc etc? The population we should be referring to is the population we can draw from, and that is far in excess of 4 million. Our playing pool is not as small as some would make out. I think in terms of population we should be ranked alongside teams like Sweden or Belgium with populations around the 10million mark. (And before anyone suggests I'm questioning the above mentioned players Irishness, I'm not. I'm just suggesting that the demographic from which we draw our players is far greater than 4 million)
4 million people arguement ????? Along with that point Nigel , that pool of players benefits from the the premiership...a league whose standards are far higher then our own . With this in mind the 4 million arguement does not stand up......The league from which we pick our team has a whole lot more to do with why are so "successful" or could hope to be more successful on a world stage. Bottom line is Ireland benefits from our proximity to England ....one of the only benefits we get
London Barna 'Bottom line is Ireland benefits from our proximity to England ....one of the only benefits we get ' So Barna, why do you live in London?