The Damage that Stan us doing to us

[joema]

IMO Stan is doing a great deal of damage to us and I can only see things getting worse.

He is cauing damage in the following areas:

1) Alienating a lot of eircom league fans and the general public who were in many cases already disullusioned with the National team by pretending to give the el players a fair crack of the whip when he has no intention of doing so and attempting to recruit the likes of Kevin Nolan and Aaron Lennon and making it publicaly known that if you can qualify for Ireland even if you are not 1% Irish he will give you a chance

2) Hampering Paddy McCarthy's progress by refusing to include him in the squad for the Holland game when we were extremley short on center halfs- he will play for us eventually, there is little doubt about that so why not include him in the squad for a friendly game. He is Leicester club captain ffs and we are not blessed with centre halfs to say the least

3) Including Terry Dixon in the squads and saying that he would have played against Holland only he was injured. IMO this is a big mistake, he is simply not ready and has not even played reserve yet If he plays senior for us it may cause him to loose focus as he may feel he has it made already.

Also surely Stokes is a better bet if he wants to bring a hot prospect through - at least he has played a lot of reserve football and Im sure has learned a lot at Arsenal.

If not Stokes than why doesnt he include Shane Long (I realsie he is now serving an International suspension). He has massive potential and has done it at Championship level already unlike Dixon

If Long or Stokes were being coveted by the English set up Im sure Stan would include them - it all leaves a bad taste in the mouth IMO

3) Also Stan is causing damage by leaving Andy Reid out of the squads - he has great natural ability and great creativity - something our midfield badly lacks - even if he is not fully fit yet surely he can do a job for us for 20 mins ffs

4)He accepts poor displays and refuses to give some players a well deserved kick up the árse - O'Shea for eg has clearly slipped into the comfort zone and badly needs a kick up the árse but Stan decides to praise him instead - makes no sense to me

[theworm2345]

Its inexcusable to have a "manager" who has absolutely 0 experience to be our manager. He was a player on Walsall until the day he became our manager. I have no problem with him, I thought he was a great player for Ireland. Regardless, the FAI dont want to seem like they are to blame, so he will be with the team (barring losses to Wales, San Marino, or Cyprus) until the end of Euro 2008 Qualifying. At least thats my guess.
P.S. Wait a tick, joema, dont I know you from FootballClips? Or is that joena.
EDIT: Yeah its joena

[mypost]

The players are capable of getting us to Euro 2008. The boss isn't. He appears to have no knowledge whatsoever of run of the mill things like effective tactics, and game plans. Does he even have any qualifications to coach a side? :confused:

We don't have a national team boss, we have an FAI-installed puppet instead. All talk of 4-year plans won't wash with an Irish public that demand instant progress, and success. When was the last time we lost 3 matches in a row?

Ship up Staunton, or ship out.

[drinkfeckarse]

All fair points Joema but we need to give him a few games to see if the team responds to him before we start calling for his head. And I say that as one of Stans critics so far.

We don't have the players that can automatically be expected to qualify. I think a lot of us forget that and demand the managers head for failure to qualify for a tournament.

I'm personally a bit more realistic and don't expect us to breeze through any qualifying phase. I can accept us not qualifying from time to time, what I can't accept is the players showing a lack of passion.

That's what happened with Kerr and it's why he had to go and so far it looks as if we're heading down the same road again.

[thelimerick]

Ship out, at the earliest opportunity...
Lets face it, even if Staunton improved he is still approaching this job without any experience. This improvement would still fall short of whats needed at this level, EXPERIENCE. Experience dealing with players, established players, young players coming through, fringe players etc. Experience building a team out of a group of players, creating that spirit and unity. Experience on the sidelines, what to do, when to do it, who to bring on, who to bring off, whats effective, whats not.
Staunton was an extremely bad appointment. I genuinely feel for the guy, he is out of his depth, he really wants to make this work for him, for the team, for Ireland. He is simply not up to it though, had he worked for this position, gained experience week in week out, maybe. But as it is its not fair to everyone. Its unfair to Staunton to keep him in over his head and ruin him before he even starts. Its unfair to the players to have to watch their leader and know that he's not up to it, to see the mistakes he is making, for some to their own cost. Its not fair to the supporters especially if the FAI stubornly stand by him at all costs just as vigorously as Staunton tried to convince us how brilliant our players were V Germany.
Look at the situation, one match into his competitive career and already people are calling for him to go. We're not that spitefull a support, its obvious for one and all to see that Staunton unfortunately, is not good enough, and it could cost us qualification for a major tournament once again.

[Dublin12]

Ship out, at the earliest opportunity...
Lets face it, even if Staunton improved he is still approaching this job without any experience. This improvement would still fall short of whats needed at this level, EXPERIENCE. Experience dealing with players, established players, young players coming through, fringe players etc. Experience building a team out of a group of players, creating that spirit and unity. Experience on the sidelines, what to do, when to do it, who to bring on, who to bring off, whats effective, whats not.
Staunton was an extremely bad appointment. I genuinely feel for the guy, he is out of his depth, he really wants to make this work for him, for the team, for Ireland. He is simply not up to it though, had he worked for this position, gained experience week in week out, maybe. But as it is its not fair to everyone. Its unfair to Staunton to keep him in over his head and ruin him before he even starts. Its unfair to the players to have to watch their leader and know that he's not up to it, to see the mistakes he is making, for some to their own cost. Its not fair to the supporters especially if the FAI stubornly stand by him at all costs just as vigorously as Staunton tried to convince us how brilliant our players were V Germany.
Look at the situation, one match into his competitive career and already people are calling for him to go. We're not that spitefull a support, its obvious for one and all to see that Staunton unfortunately, is not good enough, and it could cost us qualification for a major tournament once again.

I agree,but thats the level of manager that were gonna get unless the FAI decide to pay a proper wage to attract a big name,plus the most important thing thats been said above by drinkfeckarse..WE DON'T HAVE THE PLAYERS ANYMORE,bottom line.

[drummerboy]

If a team like Norn Ireland, with the players at their disposal can beat Spain, surely, with the players at OUR disposal, we should be expected to win our next 3 games. I know the Czech Republic will be touch, but if the players are set up right and show the passion shown last night by NI, we can win. However, the appointment of Stan, and they the demise of Bobby Robson's health, are disastrous for Irish football.

[Stuttgart88]

Our near term hopes are tied in with Bobby Robson's health, no question.

I'm fighting the inclination to tear things up & start again, but we've simply got to accept that we can't afford a good manager. If the Drumavilles of this world cared enough they could stump together EUR 1m a year for an experienced manager's salary, with the FAI guaranteeing a further EUR 1m-2m upon qualification. Too many people get something for nothing these days, but rewarding results is fair.

Just out of interest, let's say we win in Cyprus, who'd people like to be in charge for the Czech game?

Mick
Staunton
Aldridge
Kerr
Bobby Robson

We asked the same question among ourselves on Saturday- who'd we like to be managing us for a one off in Stuttgart - omitting Robson & Aldridge, and not one of us said Staunton!

[drummerboy]

Aldridge or Bobby Robson

[shakermaker1982]

I want to give Stan a chance - I really do. But to be me this appointment of Staunton has been down to two factors for the FAI:

1: He's as cheap as the beer in Prague.

2: He won't cause any problems or upset the suits in any way.

If we don't beat Cyprus he has to go. We really are up the creek without 3 points in that one and are better off starting again.

[thelimerick]

I agree,but thats the level of manager that were gonna get unless the FAI decide to pay a proper wage to attract a big name,plus the most important thing thats been said above by drinkfeckarse..WE DON'T HAVE THE PLAYERS ANYMORE,bottom line.
There's no doubt that player-wise we're in transition and so there is a gap.
However, we have a huge amount of talent in England, We can name an Ireland team with all eleven playing Premiership football. I believe that by blending the top players with the emerging talent we can qualify. By removing the players that are only in the squad because they are familiar names to us now, we will remove the weakest aspects of the team, those that cost us games.
Really, at this stage is ther any point in having Kilbane in the squad let alone the first team? What has Kavanagh to offer, gain possesion only to hoof it away to the opposition? Morrision? Harte? These players cost us possesion, goals and games.
Since the transfer deadline we have good young players moving to get first team football. This will help Ireland. They are young they can improve and with regular football they will improve quickly. They should have purpose re Ireland but they don't. Why? Because players like Kilbane, Kavanagh and Morrisson are regulars in the squad regardless of their performances. Kilbane for the last seven years FFS, what has he proved in that time? In interviews now he still talks about learning, he's 29, if he doesn't know now how to defend or pass then he will never know. The replacements are there, they're just not getting their chance. Mc Geedy should have started on the right leaving Reid back into the centre instead of Kilbane. As it was we had a passenger for the best part of that match and players we're played out of position to accomadate him. Not good enough. Same for Carr, Finnan who is much much better moved to accomadate the lazyness of Carr. By doing this we are making our better players less effective to accomadate those who are poor, it's rubbish.
These are Stauntons decisions here and they are costing us.

[Istabraq]

It seemed that bringing Bobby Robson cemented his position as the FAI fav for the job (along with the fact that Stan has strings attached to every joint in his body, but thats another days work). Unfortunately for all concerned, especially Bob of course, this hasnt worked out at all, and there are reports in the paper today that he will never return to his post, such is his condition. It is now being touted that they will bring somebody else in to hold his hand, with Kenny Daglish being mentioned.
This is an absolutely disgraceful state which the FAI have plunged our team in to. The fact that Stan wasnt deemed capable of taking over on his own (obviously by himself aswell, as he approached Boobby) speaks volumes of why he should never have been given the job.
Joe Kinnear or even Aldo are much more qualified to do the job, and would instill much more passion.

[paul_oshea]

i hope bobby robson is well enough come october and takes charge for the two games, i reckon we will definately win. Something tells me though even if he is, that staunton wont want him down there, in case he does too good a job......and therefore he wont actually be on the touchline.

[youngirish]

Give him a chance. We put in a decent performance in Germany IMO and that marked a significant improvement over the previous 2 games. I'd be lying if I said he doesn't worry me but if we improve half as much from now until the next game then things will be looking good. If one thing is certain I'm at least happy Kerr is gone as he definitely hadn't a clue.

Worryingly on Saturday however I couldn't see were the goals were going to come from, goals that we will undoubtedly need to have any chance of qualification. In fairness though it was a fairly defensive, uncreative midfield he selected so kick O'Shea and Kilbane out and replace them with McGeady and A Reid against Cyprus (with A Reid and S Reid in the centre) and I reckon we can do a job on them.

However, if he plays Kilbane and O'Shea against Cyprus where we need to win then there will be no doubt in my mind that he doesn't know what he's doing and all qualification hopes are gone and I would be happy to see him go.

[green army]

does anyone know why we didnt have a friendly last night. IMO stan should be getting in as many games as possible. also did the players go back to england after the game or did stan keep them around and go through the germany match.

[colster]

I think we should give Staunton some more time. Things haven't looked good in the last 3 games. The question has to be asked have the performances improved over those during Kerr's tenure. If we were to change then I think we should look for someone with a lot of experience. I look at the example of Scotland with Walter Smith and the job he has done. If and when we have to we need to get someone with a lot of experience and who the team will instantly respect.

I have the suspicion that the delay in appointing Kerr's successor was because the FAI originally wanted Robson as manager (Staunton as assistant) but had reservations about his health.

There are a lot of managers with lots of experience out of a job at the moment.

[colster]

does anyone know why we didnt have a friendly last night. IMO stan should be getting in as many games as possible. also did the players go back to england after the game or did stan keep them around and go through the germany match.

Totally agree. I think we should have had 3-4 more games in the Spring/Summer. I think a tour would have been good too.

[NeilMcD]

Alan Curbishley is free if it all goes tits up against Cyprus.

[Billsthoughts]

he isnt even the best manager in his own family!

[NeilMcD]

he isnt even the best manager in his own family!

Who is not the best manager in his own family

[Billsthoughts]

curbishley neil,alan curbishley.....

[NeilMcD]

Ok so who is a better manager in his family and outline why you dont think he is a good manager. I happen to think he is a good manager and his record at Charlton is pretty good.

[joema]

All fair points Joema but we need to give him a few games to see if the team responds to him before we start calling for his head. And I say that as one of Stans critics so far.

We don't have the players that can automatically be expected to qualify. I think a lot of us forget that and demand the managers head for failure to qualify for a tournament.

I'm personally a bit more realistic and don't expect us to breeze through any qualifying phase. I can accept us not qualifying from time to time, what I can't accept is the players showing a lack of passion.

That's what happened with Kerr and it's why he had to go and so far it looks as if we're heading down the same road again.

I think Stan was the wrong man for the job but I am still prepared to give him a the full campaign - Im not calling for his head...yet

We do have the players to automatically qualify - I believe we are definitly good enough to finish second. I dont expect us to breeze through this campaign either and would accept not qualifing if we give 100% and fall short to a better team.

[Billsthoughts]

who are you to ask me that? its not for me to say whos better or whos best. my generation dont rate him and we wont be fooled again by no happy jack english manager comin over here with his brand new squeeze box thinking he is some kinda pin ball wizard.

[NeilMcD]

What are you talking about. I suggested Alan Curbishly as a possible replacement for Staunton if it all goes tits up. You then said that Curbishley is not even the best manager in his family. So I am now asking you who is a better manager in Alan Curbishleys family and other than where he comes from what is wrong with Alan Curbishley as manager. If your only problem with Curbishley is that he is not from ireland that is fair enough as it is a valid view point that the national manager should be from the country he manages.

[Billsthoughts]

who are you to ask me that? its not for me to say whos better or whos best. my generation dont rate him and we wont be fooled again by no happy jack english manager comin over here with his brand new squeeze box thinking he is some kinda pin ball wizard.

his bro managed the who......
now why dont you just f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-ade away.........

[NeilMcD]

Well I did not know that his brother managed the Who. Thanks for that piece of trivia, may come in handy at a pub quiz.

[mypost]

While Staunton tell us all about his 4-year "plans", if we don't collect 3 wins out of the next 4, our rankings will slide alarmingly.

His handling of the media is quite appalling, tbh. Interview on Saturday:

Q: Do you think it was a penalty? (what he was sent off for)
S: What do you think? :confused: :rolleyes:

It's up to Staunton to answer the question, not the journo to answer it for him. San Marino may have lost 13-0 to Germany, but unlike Ireland, at least they have a qualified coach. It's the players that let him down.

[elroy]

For gods sake guys give the man a break. He's had one competitive game which we didnt expect to get anything out of and was by no means a disaster. The guy deserves at least a campaign before judgement.
If he doesnt get three points in cyprus and follow that with a win at home to the czechs, then start analysing things.
But after two meaningless friendlies and a 1-0 away defeat to one of the top three best teams in the world, come on get a grip, reserve judgement for a while and get behind the team.
Plus i think its unfair for anyone to say the team didnt play with any passion on sat night.

[eirebhoy]

I agree,but thats the level of manager that were gonna get unless the FAI decide to pay a proper wage to attract a big name,plus the most important thing thats been said above by drinkfeckarse..WE DON'T HAVE THE PLAYERS ANYMORE,bottom line.
I personally think we certainly have the players.
Duff is one of the top 10 left wingers in the world.
Given is one of the top 10 keepers in the world.
Finnan is a quality right back who never has a bad game in his preferred position.
Dunne is now captain and player of the year the last 2 seasons at City. An excellent centre half.
Steven Reid was superb for Blackburn last season and attracted interest from Spurs in the summer.
McGeady's in the form of his life and would no doubt help us in the goalscoring department.
Keane is our record goalscorer who needs someone that can get the best out of him.
Doyle has overtaken Morrison, Elliott, Connolly, Doherty and whoever else has played up front for us in recent years.

OK, the 3 positions after that are problem positions but if Man Utd are top of the league with O'Shea playing the holding role then we can survive with a few weak area's. Ian Harte was our left back for years and isn't the worst player in the world. Central defence is a worry but O'Brien looked very good against Germany.

We do have the players to qualify and that should certainly be the aim.

[keenanboy]

I agree with some of you that Stan is getting a really hard time at the moment, some of it is his own fault. i.e. answering a question with a question. We had a teacher in scholl who used to do the same and he was pretty painful to listen to....but its on the pitch that matters not how good Stan is with the media.
A couple of wins in the next few games and the media will be singing his priases for returning passion to the team. I was disappointed on saturday but was pleased with the work rate and passion..thats half the battle. The other half is having all your best players available and playing well. We need everything to fall into place for us or we could be in trouble but for now we need to get behind Stan and the lads. This forum is the number 1 place on the internet where Irish fans share opinions, opinions that are put to paper by our media.
So in a way we are indirectly responsible for negative headlines. A bit more positivity lads, the glass is half full.

[OwlsFan]

we wont be fooled again by no happy jack english manager comin over here with his brand new squeeze box thinking he is some kinda pin ball wizard.

And who exactly was my generation "fooled" by ? Our one and only wholly English manager saw us to European qualification (7 minutes away from a semi-final) and two World Cups (last 8 and last 16). If you want to join the revisionists, try and at least make some sense.

[drinkfeckarse]

We do have the players to automatically qualify - I believe we are definitly good enough to finish second.


I personally think we certainly have the players.


I don't doubt that and don't misinterpret what I was saying, what I mean is it is never going to be easy for us and I think a lot of fans expect us to qualify without actually putting much thought into the process.

Some people forget that the Germans and Czechs are still good teams regardless of whether they are in transistion or not. Wales will be 2 hard games also. I think we are already on the back foot not just because of Saturdays match but because of Germany putting 13 past San Marino. There's no danger we'll score 13 even over the 2 games against them never mind 1, so that's us struggling with goal difference already.

[Billsthoughts]

And who exactly was my generation "fooled" by ? Our one and only wholly English manager saw us to European qualification (7 minutes away from a semi-final) and two World Cups (last 8 and last 16). If you want to join the revisionists, try and at least make some sense.

:D :D :D

[TonyD]

If one thing is certain I'm at least happy Kerr is gone as he definitely hadn't a clue.

Well, I'm happy that you're happy. You think Staunton is a better manager than Kerr ? Two competitive defeats,three defeats overall, two of them to the two teams who contested the recent world cup final. I hope all the people who wanted Brian Kerr out are now as happy as you. In my view you all deserve the manager Ireland now have. Staunton shouldn't be the one to carry the can though, John Delaney should walk with him.

[NeilMcD]

I agree Tony. Nobody can be happy that Kerr is gone and Staunton is in charge at the moment. We were promised a world class manager and what have we got. It was a gamble and most gambles dont work. I think it was fair enough that Kerr went as a 3rd and a 4th finish was not good enough in my view, but only if he was to be replaced by a top class manager. This has not happened.

[shakermaker1982]

Scotland have W Smith, Wales have Toshack. Two managers with proven track records..... We have Stan.

Rumours are going around that L Sanchez will quit Northern Ireland for family reasons. I'd snap Curbs hand off if he wanted to manage us. Excellent record at Charlton with sweet fa resources.

[geysir]

I don't see where the evidence is that Stan is a failure after one competitive game.
Stan doesn't do media interviews, they are regarded as interrogations, whatever you say, say nothing.
The team under Kerr flopped in its first 2 real tests, Russia at home and Swiss away.
Apply at least 25% of the standards of objectivity that McCarthy and Kerr deserved and wait and see how the next games go.

[youngirish]

Well, I'm happy that you're happy. You think Staunton is a better manager than Kerr ? Two competitive defeats,three defeats overall, two of them to the two teams who contested the recent world cup final. I hope all the people who wanted Brian Kerr out are now as happy as you. In my view you all deserve the manager Ireland now have. Staunton shouldn't be the one to carry the can though, John Delaney should walk with him.


Thanks for being happy for me. We were going nowhere except backwards with Kerr. He had his chance and he was found to be desperately short of what was needed. His time in charge was a disaster for the team. I like your selective picking of the stats leaving out the really important ones like we didn't beat anyone in over 3 years in a competitive match that was higher ranked than Albania (????) and we had our worst placed finish in a qualifying group in over 20 years. I don't give a sh**e that we beat Portugal and Holland in friendlies under him. Who cares?

Staunton wouldn't have been my choice but something had to be tried and there wasn't exactly a queue of top class international managers looking for the job (in large part due to a lack of interest because Kerr ran us into the ground). If he turns out to be a failure I wouldn't be surprised but at least we tried for something better than the previous sh**e. I'd be amazed if his time in charge proves to be any worse than Kerr's though to be honest.

[macdermesser]

Scotland have W Smith, Wales have Toshack. Two managers with proven track records..... We have Stan.

Rumours are going around that L Sanchez will quit Northern Ireland for family reasons. I'd snap Curbs hand off if he wanted to manage us. Excellent record at Charlton with sweet fa resources.

would be a very brave move by the FAI to cut their losses after one competitive game under his belt, pay the huge compensation to Stan and ask Curbishley to take over. They don't have the money and would have far less after their wise decision to give an unproven manager a four year contract. You could not make some of this up.

[billybunter]

If you offered me Ireland to score 13 goals over the entire campaign (much less in 1-2 games), I think I would take it at this stage!!!

think about it. (11 games left)

[thelimerick]

I don't understand how people can keep saying it's not that bad, lay off Staunton, give him a chance.
Had Given not played the game of his life we could, nay SHOULD have lost that game 4-0 ...at least. in the end we actually got a decent result. Lost the most difficult match, away to Germany, and only conceeded one goal against the best team in the group, argueably.
This was achieved completely in spite of Staunton, his inexperience made all the more obvious by his sending off. His substitions were ridiculous both in timing and the players being substituted. His selected was wrong from the start by playing good players out of position to accomadate the sh*te and allowing Kilbane to make the journey at all.
Really, if you look at it, we're not argueing whether he should go but when.
I'd say sooner rather than later for everyones sake, before we remove ourselves from contention before we complete full fixture list and we slide down the rankings and end up in Groups of Death for the next decade.

[eirebhoy]

I don't understand how people can keep saying it's not that bad, lay off Staunton, give him a chance.
Had Given not played the game of his life we could, nay SHOULD have lost that game 4-0 ...at least.
Don't be ridiculous. He made one fantastic save (Klose header), he had one hit right at him (Podolski) and made one good save that would have been soft if he let it in (Klose?). 3 shots on target from Germany, 1 which any keeper on the planet would save. Hardly the game of his life.

[bennocelt]

Our near term hopes are tied in with Bobby Robson's health, no question.

I'm fighting the inclination to tear things up & start again, but we've simply got to accept that we can't afford a good manager. If the Drumavilles of this world cared enough they could stump together EUR 1m a year for an experienced manager's salary, with the FAI guaranteeing a further EUR 1m-2m upon qualification. Too many people get something for nothing these days, but rewarding results is fair.

Just out of interest, let's say we win in Cyprus, who'd people like to be in charge for the Czech game?

Mick
Staunton
Aldridge
Kerr
Bobby Robson

We asked the same question among ourselves on Saturday- who'd we like to be managing us for a one off in Stuttgart - omitting Robson & Aldridge, and not one of us said Staunton!


yeah but when little T and T could leo benhaker, and russia get Gus Hiddinck, we get stan the man,
and rangers get that french fella,
there are always good managers knocking around, but if the FAI cant be arse to get serious about it...............:mad:

[superfrank]

1) Alienating a lot of eircom league fans and the general public who were in many cases already disullusioned with the National team by pretending to give the el players a fair crack of the whip when he has no intention of doing so and attempting to recruit the likes of Kevin Nolan and Aaron Lennon and making it publicaly known that if you can qualify for Ireland even if you are not 1% Irish he will give you a chance
Here's one eL fan who is disillussioned by the FAI and the national team before Stan came in but the situation hasnt changed, esp. after playing Byrne against Chile, him doing well and then leaving him out of the next game when he was scoring goals for fun with Shels.

[backstothewall]

The last to posts are interlinked. The EL is improving, but only slowly. Without a strong league generating income and talent, the finance required for a top class manager and talent for a top class team won't be there. The teams we should be aiming ourselves at, like Portugal, Serbia, Sweden, even Holland have a competative league with teams capable of qualifying for the champions league. We don't.

That sort of experience is invaluable. The money it brings into the game is obscene. not only from TV, also from transfers of players who are put into the shop window. Despite the exploits of Derry the EL can't offer this

Whilst the move to summer football has been beneficial, the eircom league is currently missing 4 of Irelands biggest sides, in the forms of Shamrock Rovers, Glentoran, Linfield and Belfast Celtic.

A competative league with those 4 added to Cork, Shels, St. Pats, Bohs, Derry and a few others with promotion and relegation to 4 provicial leagues would provide a competative league of big sides. With the right promotion, being played in the summer it would be a unique product, in the british isles at least. With money spent on stadiums, and a few big name signings and managers, people might actually want to watch it as opposed to having nothing better to do or going out of wanting to support the local lads. Lets face it, no one watches Irish football outside Ireland.

With a decent league, the possibiity of getting a team into the group phases of the champion league or UEFA cup comes into sight, with the development in terms of talent and income that brings, which brings it right back round and benefits the national team no end

[mypost]

Lost the most difficult match, away to Germany, and only conceeded one goal against the best team in the group, argueably.

The most difficullt match is yet to come, away to the Czechs next year.

I think we will have to review our official fixture policy of playing one of the big guns away first. In hindsight, it was madness to play the Germans away first, with a weak boss "in charge", and no morale in the squad. It worked well against the Dutch and the Croats, but has failed since then. From now on, it would make more sense to play one of the minnows first as a warm-up game for facing the big guns soon afterwards.

[geysir]

Facts, we played the Croats at home first. France & Portugal away would hardly be regarded as failures.

[TonyD]

Thanks for being happy for me. We were going nowhere except backwards with Kerr. He had his chance and he was found to be desperately short of what was needed. His time in charge was a disaster for the team. I like your selective picking of the stats leaving out the really important ones like we didn't beat anyone in over 3 years in a competitive match that was higher ranked than Albania (????) and we had our worst placed finish in a qualifying group in over 20 years. I don't give a sh**e that we beat Portugal and Holland in friendlies under him. Who cares?

Staunton wouldn't have been my choice but something had to be tried and there wasn't exactly a queue of top class international managers looking for the job (in large part due to a lack of interest because Kerr ran us into the ground). If he turns out to be a failure I wouldn't be surprised but at least we tried for something better than the previous sh**e. I'd be amazed if his time in charge proves to be any worse than Kerr's though to be honest.

So my quoting of stats was selective, but yours isn't ? What makes the stats you picked the "really important ones" ? As for "running us into the ground", rubbish. Ireland were always competitive under Brian Kerr. Yes, we finished fourth, by one point in a very, very tight group where one extra goal in any of a number of games would have made the difference. It's a thin line sometimes for managers, and sometimes good managers have a poor run of results. Brian Kerr is a bloody good manager, his previous record more than proves that. Here's another stat for you - how many previous Irish managers have ever won a trophy, of any description ? However, as I've said already, if you're happy with Staunton then good luck to you. Time will tell I suppose if his record turns out to be worse than Brian Kerrs, you might be amazed if it does, I certainly won't be.

[pineapple stu]

This was achieved completely in spite of Staunton...His substitions were ridiculous both in timing and the players being substituted.
Small point, but the subs were Pat Devlin's not Stan's.

Both were made after Stan was sent off and, presumably, he had no further contact with the bench after that. Maybe they were already planned (they did arrive very soon after the sending-off), but technically at least, they were Devlin's switches, not Stan's. If you want to be conspiratorial, Devlin brought off his client who doesn't need to go into the shop window (possibly to avoid injury), while he brought on another client who hasn't had any Premiership football and for whom the exposure would be good.