New Faces for RTE Panel? [Archive] - Page 2

NeilMcD

03/04/2009, 9:21 PM

weldoninhio

03/04/2009, 9:37 PM

I thought Trap was too defensive against Bulgaria, I would have liked him to have a ball player in midfield at home against Bulgaria. But I agreed with his subs against Italy. Sees its not all black and white. As in Trap bad Andy Reid and Dunphy good type of thing. I would have preferred if we killed the game off against Bulgaria but I blame the players for that too. Credit has to be given though for Trap changing it so early against Italy.

The final part is where our opinions differ the most. I think Trap went to Italy to get a 0-0 draw and nothing else. Once Italy scored, he saw his returning hero act in ruins and he paniced and make knee jerk decisions.

SkStu

03/04/2009, 9:43 PM

the 70 year old coach who has won honours galore around Europe panicked and made knee jerk decisions?

now, i remain unconvinced fully in Trap's selection and tactics - but that statement takes the biscotti. Credit where credit is due.

Stuttgart88

03/04/2009, 9:52 PM

Misery Personified is right. No credit whatsoever is due to Trap for making changes that worked no matter how many of us were critical of his starting XI or the Bulgarian performance. The panicky knee jerk decision to bring Keane deeper, to bring on Folan, to take off Keogh, to switch O'Shea and McShane and to bring on fresh legs for a jaded Doyle deserve no credit.

Qwerty

03/04/2009, 9:54 PM

I am afraid it's no different to what the Panel has been doing over the past 20 years. They haven't entertained me with their vicious and personal attacks on the last 5 Irish managers but the fact that people are still talking about them, means the show will go on.

Typical Panel discussion over the past 20 Years

O'Herlihy introduces the discussion with some over the top statement, Dunphy makes a few over the top personal attacks, Bill laughs, Giles pulls on the side of his jacket and agrees with Dunphy and says it's all about getting the ball down and passing, the gombeen in the middle (other than Souness) agrees with the other two, DUnphy then contradicts himself, Bill laughs, Giles pulls on the side of his jacket and repeats it's all about getting the ball down and passing, Dunphy agrees with Giles and makes another outrageous statement, Bill laughs, the gombeen in the middle agrees with Giles, one clip of 10 seconds (from hours of football) is shown to emphasise their point, Dunphy then makes a joke, Bill laughs, Giles pulls on the side of his jacket, says he doesn't want to repeat himself but that it's all about getting the ball down and passing, DUnphy agrees with Giles, Bill laughs, has a dig at Charlton and says it's time for a break.

The match then goes totally to what they predicted and Dunphy says it's because the opposition are the worst on the planet, Bill laughs etc etc

All we need is Giles, dump the rest, it's so funny how he's been trying to explain the simple game of football to Bill for 20 years and Bill still hasn't a clue. His patience is Buddha-like.

craig7042

03/04/2009, 11:46 PM

Dunphy's "analysis" was disgraceful on Wednesday night after the match. This article sums up my thoughts on it:

[/URL][URL]http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/traps-the-new-charlton-for-ohso-grumpy-dunphy-1696738.html (http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/traps-the-new-charlton-for-ohso-grumpy-dunphy-1696738.html)

He accused Caleb Folan of not being up to it at one point and then when the emails were read out agreed with the viewer that said his aerial presence led to the goal.
He criticized the Doyle substitution even though he was having a serious off day. Who does he expect to come off the bench, Torres, Messi or Ronaldinho?
An absolute c***.

I'm delighted to see your comments on dunphy. I've been on about this for a number of years on my blog. tks.

craig7042

03/04/2009, 11:48 PM

Dunphy and Giles have entertained and provoked talking points for years now, but after Wednesdays ill-informed, amateur bar stool musing after what amounted to one of the great away Irish performances, should RTE be looking for fresh intelligent younger faces with more savy and reasoned arguments.

I have always enjoyed RTEs no holds bar post match analysis and found it refreshing compared to the banal counter parts in SKY and the English terresterial channels, but there comes a point and I think Wednesday night performance by Dunphy was that point when thoughtful insightful intelligent analysis is overtaken by incoherent agenda driven drivel, I am not going to get into specifics but almost everything Dunphy said was wrong.. Whelan stayed silent bullied into submission I suspect and Giles acquiesence was as predictable as his matching grey suit and grey hair..
Having said all of that who should RTE replace these relics of a bygone era with..personally I don't think there is much talent out there but any suggestions as alternatives are welcome!

I'm overthemoon you set this thread up! I agree wholeheartedly - the agenda on RTE stinks. If they disappeared like sports tonight I'd be over the moon!

tetsujin1979

04/04/2009, 1:27 AM

So at home to a pretty average Bulgarian team its ok to stick with dull defensive team we have had since the start of the campaign but away to Italy is the right time to take a massive gamble??Leading 1-0 against our principal rivals isn't a bad time to play defensively. Just like losing 1-0 isn't a bad time to start playing attacking football. Making a change to try and score is hardly a gamble. If he did nothing and we lost 1-0, then he'd be criticised for not making any changes.

The final part is where our opinions differ the most. I think Trap went to Italy to get a 0-0 draw and nothing else. Once Italy scored, he saw his returning hero act in ruins and he paniced and make knee jerk decisions.So he went to get a 0-0 and got 1-1, he's hardly going to be disappointed!
How is throwing on a target man to give their defence something else to deal with a knee jerk decision?
How is pushing Robbie Keane deep to assist midfield a knee jerk decision?
How is moving a pacy winger to counteract an attacking full back a knee jerk decision?

irishfan86

04/04/2009, 5:18 AM

To be honest I like the separate spheres of pure entertainment (RTE Panel cracks me up every time), and the more analytical stuff we talk about on here.

We should get our own e-panel going on here.

I'll host, and eirebhoy, tets, and stutts can make up the panel.

Maybe we'll bring in Ciaran to play the Dunphy role.

brianw82

04/04/2009, 6:52 AM

Dunphy has become more outlandish lately. Starting to think the guy is bi-polar. Souness is certainly decent. Kenny Cunningham is also very knowledgable, articulate and has played a hell of a lot more international football than Dunphy.

Agreed. However, I think the only thing holding Kenny back from being promoted to the 'A' panel is that he doesn't really have any kind of 'forceful' personality, however adept he is at analysing the game.

seanfhear

04/04/2009, 9:42 AM

Dunphy is on the panel to play the "Fool" for entertainment value

He is an excellent fool

His genius is how much he gets paid for being the "fool" of the Irish media !

Lionel Ritchie

04/04/2009, 11:59 AM

They (Bill, Eamon, Johnny) are a national treasure and when they are gone we will hark fondly after them.

The stuff with comparing the other nights goal to the one against X (still not sure was it Holland or Germany ...but sure nor are they) and subseqent confusion not only over the opposition but the tournament in which it was scored was side splitting. I was waiting for a nurse to wonder across the set carrying those tiny styrofoam cups with the lads meds.

Graeme Souness is the only relatively recent addition that has come up to the bar (no pun). It's priceless when he makes a fair and reasonable point about, for example, the quality and depth of our player pool, gets savaged for it and through it all wears an exasperated expression that seems to say "I get it ...I'm not allowed criticise yeer players coz I'm Scottish and used play for Rangers ...fine -yeer screwed g'night".

:D

stiffler

04/04/2009, 12:54 PM

I seen kenny cunningham doing an interview outside jurys about an hour after the bulgarian game, not sure what channel it was for.

tetsujin1979

04/04/2009, 2:27 PM

Giles is the most ill-informed pundit I've ever seen. He knows much about the theory of the game but next to nothing on individuals, teams or anything specific related to anything. Awful pundit.

Dunphy isnt as bad but he is quite inaccurate. Still, he's entertaining for being controversial.
Giles isn't as bad as Dunphy in terms of information on individuals, teams, or "anything specific related to anything"???
Would "anything" include "the theory of the game"
What does that even mean?

tetsujin1979

04/04/2009, 2:28 PM

NeilMcD

04/04/2009, 2:48 PM

Jesus no. please stop this madness now.

DotTV

04/04/2009, 4:04 PM

Dunphy is on for the controversy and entertainment but he needs someone to keep him in check. That used to be Gilesy and Chippy but I think Gilesy doesn't confront him as much since their tiff over Saipan. Whelan is too passive so the panel needs someone like Chippy or Souness otherwise Dunphy runs the show.

SunnySweeney

05/04/2009, 2:25 PM

I am afraid it's no different to what the Panel has been doing over the past 20 years. They haven't entertained me with their vicious and personal attacks on the last 5 Irish managers but the fact that people are still talking about them, means the show will go on.

Typical Panel discussion over the past 20 Years

O'Herlihy introduces the discussion with some over the top statement, Dunphy makes a few over the top personal attacks, Bill laughs, Giles pulls on the side of his jacket and agrees with Dunphy and says it's all about getting the ball down and passing, the gombeen in the middle (other than Souness) agrees with the other two, DUnphy then contradicts himself, Bill laughs, Giles pulls on the side of his jacket and repeats it's all about getting the ball down and passing, Dunphy agrees with Giles and makes another outrageous statement, Bill laughs, the gombeen in the middle agrees with Giles, one clip of 10 seconds (from hours of football) is shown to emphasise their point, Dunphy then makes a joke, Bill laughs, Giles pulls on the side of his jacket, says he doesn't want to repeat himself but that it's all about getting the ball down and passing, DUnphy agrees with Giles, Bill laughs, has a dig at Charlton and says it's time for a break.

The match then goes totally to what they predicted and Dunphy says it's because the opposition are the worst on the planet, Bill laughs etc etc

Spot on OwlsFan - I was falling off my chair laughing as I read this - but maybe I need to get out a bit more!

eirebhoy

05/04/2009, 4:02 PM

Giles said Folan's flick for Keane's goal was the only thing he did of note in the game which is rubbish.

irishultra

05/04/2009, 4:15 PM

He's worse, I'm yet to meet a pundit as bad on information as Giles. Maybe he's ok for Irish games and acceptable for Premiership games but jesus christ my mother knows more about the game outside these islands than that man does.

I remember for the last world cup, Germany are my supported team and were in the opener against Costa Rica. I had followed them through the confederations cup, the warmup friendlies and individuals seasons in the bundesliga. I loved Klinsmanns new approach compared to what voller was having them play previously and their attacking, quick flowing setup had me really excited for what they could bring to the big stage.

Then in the opener what does Giles say? A bunch of 2+ year old cliches about Germany being a defensive team, being boring, they'll sit back, they won't win anything, "worst german team ever" apparently too. Incredibly frustrating to listen to his lack of rehearsed nonsense time after time. I don't mind a pundit with ridiculous views so long as they can justify them, Dunphy is outrageous but at least some of the time he knows his fact, he's not interpreting them very well but he still knows them. Giles knows squat, he's a lazy pundit who does no research and never has anything of interest to say. He just sits there repeating the same babble over and over. The guys drivel just ****es me off. :mad:

+1

Really annoyed me at the world cup with those comments.

sullanefc

05/04/2009, 6:37 PM

He's worse, I'm yet to meet a pundit as bad on information as Giles. Maybe he's ok for Irish games and acceptable for Premiership games but jesus christ my mother knows more about the game outside these islands than that man does.

I remember for the last world cup, Germany are my supported team and were in the opener against Costa Rica. I had followed them through the confederations cup, the warmup friendlies and individuals seasons in the bundesliga. I loved Klinsmanns new approach compared to what voller was having them play previously and their attacking, quick flowing setup had me really excited for what they could bring to the big stage.

Then in the opener what does Giles say? A bunch of 2+ year old cliches about Germany being a defensive team, being boring, they'll sit back, they won't win anything, "worst german team ever" apparently too. Incredibly frustrating to listen to his lack of rehearsed nonsense time after time. I don't mind a pundit with ridiculous views so long as they can justify them, Dunphy is outrageous but at least some of the time he knows his fact, he's not interpreting them very well but he still knows them. Giles knows squat, he's a lazy pundit who does no research and never has anything of interest to say. He just sits there repeating the same babble over and over. The guys drivel just ****es me off. :mad:

Spot on. I'd have Dunphy over Giles any day of the week.

Reality Bites

12/10/2009, 1:03 PM

Andy Reid is as Good as Bobby Charlton or maybe Zidane! Fact! well that was the impression Dunphy was trying to make on saturday night... the rest is predictable blah blah from Dunphy, but I found it galling that neither Bill, Johnny and Graeme had the balls to tell him he was talking rubbish!! Johnny was never able to stand up to him and one could sense that Souness knew he was talking crap but held back for whatever reason,, perhap Eamon was picking up the tab in La Stampa later that evening....
I for one am bored and insulted by RTE's continued employment of a Pundit who fails to give rational and objective post match commentry. This bony little mans agenda is obvious, play the maverick crusading pundit at war with a bigger name in football, Charlton from History and now Trapp...it a campaign of self interest that is so glaringly obvious, I cannot recall such vitriolic treatment being dished out to lesser experienced and proven individuals such as Staunton and Kerr whose mistakes were many and worthy of stong critcism.
I sometimes don't agree with some of Trappetoni's tactics and I think Andy Reid should be in the squad ahead of Liam Miller but on the whole I think he has done a brillant Job and at the start of the campaign I would have taken the play off spot and given you change back, the performance on saturday was gutsy and very enjoyable, flawed for our lack of possession in midfield but this is all relative when you consider the mastery of midfield control demostrated by the superb Pirlo a player of considerable more advance technique than the industrious Whelan and Andrews.. the revelations of Dunphy sizable pay packet just adds further insult to injury from an organisation like RTE whose patronage from the state is demostrated adequately is there inability to pay staff at acceptable levels....Lazy!!!

Duggie

12/10/2009, 1:10 PM

what about joe kinnear ?

seanfhear

12/10/2009, 1:31 PM

We certainly could do with some youth on the panel.

Mind you that would make Bill look Ancient.

Bill is still good even if he is ancient though:D

Stuttgart88

12/10/2009, 1:48 PM

One particularly galling thing is his lack of research. I'd expect the rugby panelists are all pretty well versed on the players in the B and underage squads, and even further down the order.

Even The Times in the UK gave a paragraph in the match report to dunphy, saying you'd swear we had just drawn 2-2 with Cape Verde or someone like that.

tetsujin1979

12/10/2009, 2:02 PM

Even The Times in the UK gave a paragraph in the match report to dunphy, saying you'd swear we had just drawn 2-2 with Cape Verde or someone like that.
It's online here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/international/article6870164.ece

Condemnation, too, for Eamon Dunphy, the former Ireland midfield player turned acerbic media pundit. A professional curmudgeon, he chose to find little of merit in Ireland�s display, instead concentrating on the minor deficiencies. It was as if Ireland had drawn 2-2 with the Cape Verde Islands. It was predictable twaddle

youngirish

12/10/2009, 2:12 PM

Lads less of the slagging of Dunphy. According to the man himself he was simply stating what any 'real' Irish football fan felt at that moment. Yes those 'real' fans from the 70s who long for a return to those wonderous days before all the jump on the bandwagon, leprechaun hat wearing Jack Charlton era fans hijacked the game in this country. Yes those 'real' fans who used to watch a team with the man himself in it that had the skill and talent to play 'real' football modelled on the Dutch in 74 and the Brazilians in 70 and not that hoofball so commonly employed today. Who cares if we were whipping boys who never achieved anything sure we had Dunphy the Irish Cryuff of his day partnering Giles in a team that dazzled many an opposition player with their skills. Apparently restoring Andy Reid to the team will have the added effect of ripping a hole in the space-time continuum (something to do with Andy's black holeish weight factor disrupting the delicate balance between gravity and time) and transporting us back to those great days.

youngirish

12/10/2009, 2:24 PM

While we're on the subject of new faces for the RTE panel I'd like to see Kelly Brook in there giving her views on the game.

Kingdom

12/10/2009, 2:26 PM

An obvious one perhaps, but aren't there enough big t*ts in RTE at the moment without her joining?

Murfinator

12/10/2009, 4:14 PM

I'll just throw in that hired experts in any profession should not be less informed on the subject than a large portion of their audience.

Giles repeats the same lines over and over, forgets basic information and has a very small knowledge pool. Same with Ronnie Whelan who seems to know nothing other than Liverpool in depth. Souness just complains about everything usually without a valid reason. Dunphy is ill-informed but entertaining.

Cunningham is the only pundit who I'd praise for their knowledge and the only one who I don't cringe every time they offer their "insight".

Which is really poor since whenever I watch Football, Hurling or Rugby they've all got panels who know far more about the subject than I do, there's no crap the people there are actual experts. Why do RTE feel it necessary to fill the soccer panel with morons over and over again?

As an extra I'll add that I like Pat Dolan on Setanta, he knows what he's talking about at the very least.

rebelmusic

12/10/2009, 4:32 PM

Did everyone miss on saturday night when bill said "But what about steven reid?" and then dunphy goes "But bill, he's english"

Im done with that panel, i'd prefer to watch analysis on sky these days, which is sad reall

tetsujin1979

12/10/2009, 4:49 PM

geysir

12/10/2009, 5:12 PM

Just discount his last line as an aberration.

I think the hurling pundits are geniuses but the thing is though, I know f�ck all about hurling.

OwlsFan

12/10/2009, 5:21 PM

As an extra I'll add that I like Pat Dolan on Setanta, he knows what he's talking about at the very least.

Dolan had a real rant against Trapp on The Hub. Apparently Trapp said that an Italian team wouldn't give away a goal in the last minute and he then listed all the Italian teams that have over the past 20 years. The kernel of the matter is that he objects to a Johnny foreigner being an Irish manager.

As for the RTE panel, people don't seem to realise that this is what the panel has been doing since 1988: crucifying whatever Irish manager is in charge with NO BALANCE and with a Laughing Idiot as the anchor who knows nothing about football. Remember this is the panel who took it upon themselves to interview Paul Jewell for the manager's job. He was subsequently sacked by Derby by the way, having got them relegeated and fighting for survival in the Championship :rolleyes::rolleyes:

seanfhear

12/10/2009, 5:26 PM

Dolan is trying to clone Dunphy

Look how much Dunphy has made from damning every manager.

If Dunphy was manager himself he would slag himself off in the media for a few pound.

ruben_sosa

12/10/2009, 5:37 PM

Bill O' has been shocking as a host, he just laughs off the ludicrious rantings of Lord Haw Haw, and asks too many rhetorical questions, real no-brainers. What a Langer!

youngirish

12/10/2009, 7:27 PM

I particularly like their new webcast section it's particularly cringeworthy. Worst punditry related sh*te I've seen since Andy Townsend's tactics van.

Thunderblaster

12/10/2009, 7:56 PM

If Ugly Grumpy feels so strongly about Andy Reid, why did he not apply for the job when Stan got the boot? And if he messed up, let the voice of the nation turn on that small miscreant.

bennocelt

12/10/2009, 8:00 PM

for the love of God no...never please please

ah come on I like Peter Collins:)

Murfinator

12/10/2009, 8:09 PM

When I say Dolan knows what he's talking about I mean in a knowledge sense. He knows who every player is, how they play, who they play for etc and isn't incredibly premier league centric like some pundits, he has a wide range of knowledge.

Giles and Dunphy are especially guilty of ignorance towards non-premier league players and wind up bluffing their way through analysis.

That said Dolan still has some ridiculous views but that doesn't really bother me. I'm fine with disagreeing with pundits, they're usually there to have strong opinions to broadcast. What I'm not fine with is pundits confusing players or not knowing anything about players or worse pretending to know about a player or team and coming up with complete horse crap.

Murfinator

12/10/2009, 8:13 PM

Dolan had a real rant against Trapp on The Hub. Apparently Trapp said that an Italian team wouldn't give away a goal in the last minute and he then listed all the Italian teams that have over the past 20 years. The kernel of the matter is that he objects to a Johnny foreigner being an Irish manager.

As for the RTE panel, people don't seem to realise that this is what the panel has been doing since 1988: crucifying whatever Irish manager is in charge with NO BALANCE and with a Laughing Idiot as the anchor who knows nothing about football. Remember this is the panel who took it upon themselves to interview Paul Jewell for the manager's job. He was subsequently sacked by Derby by the way, having got them relegeated and fighting for survival in the Championship :rolleyes::rolleyes:

To be fair it's easy to criticise in retrospect. Must of us would have been happy with Jewell being appointed at the time of this, considering the alternatives appeared to be the likes of Veneables......
He's a decent manager and struggling to turn around a side with rock bottom confidence doesn't really take away all he did at Wigan.

Emmet7

12/10/2009, 10:46 PM

The agenda to prevent Terry Venables getting the job and giving it to Paul Jewell instead demonstrated just how out of touch the current RTE panel is.

Ask any 'serious football person' to borrow a Dunphy phrase, who they would choose as manager between Venables and Jewell and it's a no brainer, Venables every time.

Jewell has managed what? Most of his career has been outside the top flight. A couple years with Wigan where they struggled to stay up, then leaving them and going to manage a Derby team who were destined for relegation, demonstrating his shockingly poor judgement.

On the other hand you have Venables, who from what I remember (and reading his wiki page) managed Barcelona to a couple of League titles in Spain as well as a European Cup final. He lead Tottenham Hotpsur to win the FA cup. He managed QPR to the FA cup final while they were still a second division team. After promotion, they finished 5th in the old First Division. He brought Crystal Palace from the 3rd division to 1st division in a few years. He managed England to the semi finals of Euro 1996, having hammered a very good Dutch team along the way and were unlucky to lose in the semis. Whatever about the personality of Venables, his football pedigree is there for all to see.

It's as if Giles and Dunphy want the worst for the Irish team and supporters, not the best.

Paul Jewell as Irish manager, it just beggers belief, and the sad thing is the two loudmouths almost got their way.

Thankfully, it Was Liam Brady who got us Trapattoni, one of the greatest managers in European Club history, who has played and managed his entire career at the top end of club and international football, an arena Dunphy has only glimpsed from a TV studio. While Dunphy was partying in Lillies and looking for 'good coke', Trapattoni was winning Scudetto and European Cups. He is still the only manager to have won the triple of European Cup, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup.

Is it too much to ask that the panelists actually have first hand experience of what they are talking about, rather than trying to make out that beating the Italians should be easy.

craig7042

12/10/2009, 11:09 PM

I'm just putting this out there....what about a petition to get Dunphy out. I've read a lot of comments/forums across different websites and there's certainly a lot of people out there that are sick of him. OK, so it mightn't get him off that panel,but at least they might realise that Dunphy is now a liability on the show,because I for one turned over the minute he mentioned "drunk gambler". Disgraceful. Maybe an e-mail petition,whereby once you get the mail you forward it to everyone you know and also to RTE. Just an idea.

This is absolutely the right approach and please check my blog for a concerted attempt to voice my opinion on this subject for two years. Saturday was a great night with fans that clearly and deeply care, but my opinion is the panel are agenda driven and dont care. The Liverpool song against Gillett and Hicks comes to mind...

Emmet7

12/10/2009, 11:27 PM

Had a read of your blog Craig, fair play it's pretty good.

Agree about the structured approach. Watching a Trap team is like watching a chess master in action. Hours of tedious, cautious play and then suddenly a brillant decision that no-one else spotted and which leaves everyone scratching their heads or a sudden break from the normal that catches the opponent unawares, such as the Lawrence freekick.

Marcello Lippi is a suburb manager. I am sure he had his team all prepared for setpieces, and Lawrence and Whelan made the Italian defenders, most of whom are top players playing in the Champions League, look like Sunday League players. It was beautiful to watch.

Another classic Trap game was the 1985 European Cup Final. Liverpool dominating the game, all over Juventus, the Italians soaking up the pressue and then one long ball latched onto by Platini who races through and is fouled and converts the penalty. Game over, the greatest English team of the century taken apart in seconds.

Give me a 1 - 0 win any day to a 3 - 2 loss / moral victory, the sort previous generations of Irish players are still dining out on.

Reality Bites

13/10/2009, 7:25 AM

Dunphy is a Skinny Little Rat according to Stephen Hunt... brillant! this one is really heating up now....

On another note Pat Dolan but on a moronic display on Setanta the other night.... still in disbelief that a league of Ireland manager (Kerr) got sacked from the Job... a Blinkered Fat Idealist and a Skinny Rat - this is simply a great side show!

Hibs4Ever

13/10/2009, 7:45 AM

Dunphy is a Skinny Little Rat according to Stephen Hunt... brillant! this one is really heating up now....

Apparently Tony Cascarino said similar about Dunphy in an interview yesterday too :D

dr_peepee

13/10/2009, 7:56 AM

Ask any 'serious football person' to borrow a Dunphy phrase, who they would choose as manager between Venables and Jewell and it's a no brainer, Venables every time..

Dude... Had Venable got that Job a couple of years ago it would have been the last time I would have graced an Ireland match while Delany was still on board... Venables is a cowboy and a mercenary at this stage in his career.

Stuttgart88

13/10/2009, 8:19 AM

Emmet7

13/10/2009, 10:30 AM

Dude... Had Venable got that Job a couple of years ago it would have been the last time I would have graced an Ireland match while Delany was still on board... Venables is a cowboy and a mercenary at this stage in his career.

He had dubvious off field activities. But would you rather have Jewell or Venables?

I am not saying Venables was the best manager for the job. But his record was miles ahead of Jewell's.

Would you pick a rubbish manager just because they were of perfect character?