The Steve Staunton Discussion thread

[paul_oshea]

I was on holiday in Carlingford and driving to the house about two miles out of the village and I nearly hit Staunton who was jogging on the road (complete with Aston Villa tracksuit). Random anecdote but who would the FAI have picked if the rental didn't handle so well?

ya even when ye tried, the rental still took control. Bold rental, naughty (moose ) rental.

[Morbo]

Offering Stan a 4 year was insanity, were they actually worried one of the big teams were going to steal Stan from us unless we tied him down to a 4 year deal?

[shakermaker1982]

Stan is here till the 2010 qualifiers. End of. Get behind the man and the team, with a bit of luck we could qualify for something. Stan made some blunders Saturday IMO but fingers crossed he learns from his mistakes.

[youngirish]

Stan is here till the 2010 qualifiers. End of. Get behind the man and the team, with a bit of luck we could qualify for something. Stan made some blunders Saturday IMO but fingers crossed he learns from his mistakes.

If there's anything that we've learned about Stan thus far is that he doesn't learn from his mistakes.

[shakermaker1982]

If there's anything that we've learned about Stan thus far is that he doesn't learn from his mistakes.

Only so many times a man can leave JOS on the pitch. He'll get the hang of this management lark eventually!!!! :D

[liaml]

We'll probably finish 3rd in this group - which is an improvement over Kerr, especially as it's a far tougher group. We're on an 8 game unbeaten run. We're scoring goals for once. There are reasons to be optimistic to be fair and I'd say Stan's will stay if we give a good showing against the Czechs or Germans.

[paul_oshea]

We're scoring goals for once.

Ya that is the thing, although i think its down to the individual players taking their ( limited number ) chances, as oppossed to before.

[Ozymandias]

We'll probably finish 3rd in this group - which is an improvement over Kerr, especially as it's a far tougher group. We're on an 8 game unbeaten run. We're scoring goals for once. There are reasons to be optimistic to be fair and I'd say Stan's will stay if we give a good showing against the Czechs or Germans.

I'm not so sure about us finishing third..Slovakia have wales tonight and then San Marino twice..they could be above us going into the last game as we have czechs away germany home and cyprus home......

this is a weird group and a very poor one at that.. we could get second if we win tonight or else we will probably get fourth......

[WembleyGreen]

You can't buy experience! Stan's contribution to the cause as a player is safe because he will always be respected for that, however as a manager he's just not up to the job. He should never have taken the job at this point in his fledgling management career, he should have stayed at Walsall and worked his way up the ladder like O'Neill did at Wycombe, Leicester etc. We were lucky in some respects with McCarthy because at least he didn't change things too much from the Charlton era plus he did have better players to work with. Kerr? What can you say about him. Negativity brought to a whole new level and then when Delaney & Co. lose faith in him he's out on his a**e and with those eternal words still ringing in our ears about a 'world class manager' the Stan & Bob show rolls into town except of course Bob subsequently had few problems which, lets face it put the footie into perspective, not hos fault just bad luck really. Stan has been left on his tod and as with all new hands he's made mistakes, big mistakes and at times there really doesn't seem to be a plan. Delaney? well he is nowhere to be seen, far too busy setting up iniatives in the far corners of the land and as the good ship Ireland heads towards the rocks rudderless and captained by cadet with squaking parrot on his shoulder it's all down to the ridiculously high expectations of the fans and the horrible media.Yes well! The players, they too must take some of the blame, they have time and time again come out with statement after statement singing his (Stan) praises and so on but when it actually comes down to backing this up with actions they have failed. All last week McGeady was in the press bigging himself up as new mr consistancy and we had Keane giving us his usual bluster. On the night? Lets just hope the penny has dropped with them tonight and they actually do get the 3 points because if we don't it's over and we all know it.

[Morbo]

Stan is here till the 2010 qualifiers. End of. Get behind the man and the team, with a bit of luck we could qualify for something. Stan made some blunders Saturday IMO but fingers crossed he learns from his mistakes.

I'm behind the team and I like Stan but he is a bit thick to be honest, I don't think we can afford to wait for Stan to learn from his mistakes, it took McCarthy several years to become a decent manager then they fired him, I reckon Stan is a bit thicker than McCarthy and it would take him even longer and by then our current crop of good players will be too old

[Morbo]

Maybe not thick but he was a bit stubborn in the early days, like when he insisted on playing Ian Harte at center back. I was annoyed when he was fired though as I felt he was doing a pretty good job and it was only because of the whole Saipan affair that led to him having to go after one slip up

[paul_oshea]

2 slip ups, switzerland and russia.

[mackannovic]

2 slip ups, switzerland and russia.

Any man who asks Denis Irwin to go and prove himself deserves a kick in the bacon slicers!
There are far more than just 2 slip ups but thats a story for another 20 part series akin to that of Lost.

[biscuit]

Stan is here till the 2010 qualifiers. End of. Get behind the man and the team, with a bit of luck we could qualify for something. Stan made some blunders Saturday IMO but fingers crossed he learns from his mistakes.

The man is a feckin imbecile...i dont care if you hand ten hands with fingers crossed,this man wouldn have the cop on to learn from his mistakes. I heard a quote from him yesterday on today fm, "obviously you go to win evey game, but that depends on results.ehhh ive seen the playos de last two days and they are hung..hung..hungry to go...its up to them". - think that says it all about him!!!

[paul_oshea]

[FONT='Times New Roman']

Ive never seen him described as that before.

[Morbo]

The Russia result was a bit disappointing but it was hardly a major upset to lose to Russia as they are a tough team to beat away from home.
I agree with the Irwin comment but is there anyone here who would actually prefer Stan to McCarthy going into this game?

[biscuit]

Ive never seen him described as that before.

damn pos you're quick my friend!! spell check in word, thankfully I dont have to use Imbecile too much so had to make sure of spelling, especially with eagle eyes such as yours about!;):D

[The Legend]

The Russia result was a bit disappointing but it was hardly a major upset to lose to Russia as they are a tough team to beat away from home.
I agree with the Irwin comment but is there anyone here who would actually prefer Stan to McCarthy going into this game?

If only Ming the Merciless was in charge!

[Closed Account 2]

Who is Delaney's boss ? He's not gonna sack Stan and Stan wont leave of his own accord. Delaney must have a boss, even if it's Bertie, it has to be someone... They need to get rid of half the staff in the FAI.

[brine3]

Delaney gave himself a six year contract. He'd have to pay himself off if he sacked himself.

I often wondered how you go about toppling an FA. Do you organise a coup? Start a rival FA and request government and FIFA approval?

[holidaysong]

... Start a rival FA ...

It could get very messy - Provisional FAI, Continuity FAI, Real FAI ...

[theworm2345]

Please sign the petition, maybe we'll get one for Delaney too
http://www.petitiononline.com/99887799/petition.html

[macdermesser]

Please sign the petition, maybe we'll get one for Delaney too
http://www.petitiononline.com/99887799/petition.html

like an internet petition is going to work

[dr_peepee]

As CE, It hink Delaney answers to a board of Directors.... I think that's how it works anyway.

It all comes back to the same line of thought when Stan was hired. The man shouldn't have been offered the job. Delaneys bull**** line after San Marino was "Well, Steve wanted the job!" doesn't cut it.

Wait for the deflection from the FAI now... Kneejerk reaction... Fickle fans... Media influence... We haven't got the players...

Let's pre-empt the deflection....

"Delaney, you snake with a bowl cut, we knew we hadn't got the players when Stan got the job. Our stance at the time was that Stan, with no experience, was not the best man to get the best out of a limited bunch of players! Being proved right gives us no pleasure. Give us some credit as fans. Do not cite our dissenchantment down to a knee jerk reaction to poor results, performances and media influence..... P.S. I hope you get **** on your **** so that you need ***** to remove it. You ****. "

Stan won't resign. He's gonna have to be sacked. And those that hired him should account for their decision.

[geysir]

We are all just disgruntled Dundalk fans.

[DeNiro]

Does anyone else have a sense of expectation that something is going to happen today? I think last night was the straw the broke the camel's back. Something has to give. Hopefully today, sounds a bit knee jerk reaction stuff but the patience has gone. The FAI will be sending out booking forms for the Lansdowne Road anyday now I bet. As it stands I bet people would think twice block booking if it means enduring that shambles every time you go.

[Ozymandias]

listened to stauntons interview with Tony O donoghue afte the match..when asked did he think O Shea going off and hunt coming on changed the perspective of the game..he said no O shea was playing well and then mumbled..in fairness people with guide dogs(absolutely no offence intended) knew that hunt sparked life into our team and the czechs had to all of a sudden defend..comical stuff if it wasn't so serious

He was then interviewed at 4:30 by Gabriel Egan..heard it this morning...it is cringe stuff....claimed there is no common sense be applied to him and his team from the media.....amazing...there is no common sense being applied is right but from him....

I actually now feel sorry for him as he looks a pathetic figure and only a shadow of the man he was....he is now going to be remembered as the Walsall Waterboy who tried to manage Ireland but was crap....his performances as a player for liverpool, Villa and Ireland are being eroded...that is sad for a guy who served us well as a player but was not up to it as a manager

[anto1208]

Am i the only one that thinks he is doing a good job, from day one the media where against him so every little slip up gets highlighted, he inherited a crap team playing really poorly, he got slaughtered for bringing in young players that the so called experts said where not good enough.

Its the best football ive ever seen ireland play do people not remember the crap under Jack or McCarthey even Kerr we where shocking for the first time in my lifetime we actually look like a team that can score goals . John o shea lost Ireland the win V slovakia and again lost his man last night . There isnt much Stan can do about what happens on the pitch.

We lost 1 nil away to the Cech. rep. in a game where we went down to 10 men hit the post and had a shot cleared off the line .

He has brought through Hunt Mcshane Long and Ireland.

This knee jerk reaction to not qualifying for the Euro cup from a group we had little or no chance of getting out of anyway is a bit over the top .

I dont think he should have been given the job but i dont see anything he is doing to warrent the slatting he is getting .

[Henrik]

my blood is boiling sitting here in work. i cant even work this is eating away at me that much. if i thought going round to Merrion Square would have any influence id sprint there now myself! We can not afford to let the dust settle on this again and before we know it were looking a staunton mumbling through yet another pre match press conference, sh *ting on about "building" and " its coming along nicely" ..... if it happens i fear my right foot and the telly will have a coming together....
i have been (stupidly and very likely in vain) checking websites looking for news of an FAI press conference today, which i would expect to be the end of Stauntons shambolick reign.... please dont disappoint again FAI!?

[Henrik]

No Anto your not the only one who thinks he is doing a good job..... theres you and Delaney....... or maybe your the same person?
either way get a grip, he is muck, has no tactical awareness, didnt bring those players through - he was forced to and any manager that would have taken the job would have brought them in...

[mackannovic]

Am i the only one that thinks he is doing a good job, .

IN SHORT YES

[Eire06]

Is Delaney going to suck it up and admit he made a massive mistake and stand down taking Stan with him
or
is he going to be stubborn and not do anything and dig the hole they are in deeper and deeper bringing the whole of Irish international Soccer with him.

Does it actually come into his stupid head that this is not about him
Go on Delaney do the right thing and feck off

[anto1208]

No Anto your not the only one who thinks he is doing a good job..... theres you and Delaney....... or maybe your the same person?
either way get a grip, he is muck, has no tactical awareness, didnt bring those players through - he was forced to and any manager that would have taken the job would have brought them in...

Tactical awareness care to explian ? because now your sounding like Dumphy

Like when he said Doyle isnt good enough a championship player at best , then when he was unfit and stan left him out up pops Eamo with his Doyle is a top premiership player Stan leaving him out shows he is tactically enept.

HE also slated Andy reid yet when he dropped him he was again tactically unaware , when he didnt play Mcgeady he was jumping up and down saying to give the kids a chance when he does start him and he plays bad again its stans fault because he is "tactically enept"

The only thing i would have changed was i would have started Hunt and pushed kilbane into the middle.


If you take a look at the thread about our current starting 11 you ll see its pretty much what stan is picking yet when they loose its stans fault

[Henrik]

no i most certainly am not trying to mirror Dunphy, ive seen him jump on and off bandwagons enough in my time...

the only thing you would have changed was hunt... so you would have played kelly left full when the chap cant even kick the ball with his left, time after time he tried ping balls up the line with the outside of his right to try compensate only to give possesion away.....as well as being off the pace. kilbane should have started there....its his position for wigan

you would have also played mcgeady? was bad against slovakia and worse against the Czechs! time after time he lost the ball AND didnt track back. instead of skinning players he was gettin skint! yet he left him on as his head sunk lower and lower

but forget that, the shape of the team was all over the place.... he is tactically inept as in the first 20 minutes the Czechs were tearing us apart coz they had 5 across the midfield, 20 minutes it was before he had the cop on to pull keane back to midfield to help shore things up, even then that was hardly an ideal solution but still..we should have been 2 down at least by then. he sent hunt out to warm up after 2 minutes yet didnt bring him on until he was forced to!!?? hardly shrewd quick decision making is it?

he has no experience to draw on as a manager so what do we expect. yet again the FAI have taken the cheap option on management and it shows......yet again... we need somebody top drawer, no matter what the cost....if they're stuck for a few quid send a collection up to my local...there's more than a few people that would happily contribute...

[Scruttox]

Stan to finish off campaign, tell the country you were proud to be Ireland Manager. You gave it your best shot, didnt work out as youd have liked.
Its time for someone new to try something different.

Delaney and his helper monkeys-----fly my pretties fly fly...

Get him the hell out of Merrion Sq....:mad:

[Ozymandias]

Stan to finish off campaign, tell the country you were proud to be Ireland Manager. You gave it your best shot, didnt work out as youd have liked.
Its time for someone new to try something different.

Delaney and his helper monkeys-----fly my pretties fly fly...

Get him the hell out of Merrion Sq....:mad:

they'll all be out of merrion square soon..they sold it..moving to abbotstown

[anto1208]

no i most certainly am not trying to mirror Dunphy, ive seen him jump on and off bandwagons enough in my time...

the only thing you would have changed was hunt... so you would have played kelly left full when the chap cant even kick the ball with his left, time after time he tried ping balls up the line with the outside of his right to try compensate only to give possesion away.....as well as being off the pace. kilbane should have started there....its his position for wigan

you would have also played mcgeady? was bad against slovakia and worse against the Czechs! time after time he lost the ball AND didnt track back. instead of skinning players he was gettin skint! yet he left him on as his head sunk lower and lower

but forget that, the shape of the team was all over the place.... he is tactically inept as in the first 20 minutes the Czechs were tearing us apart coz they had 5 across the midfield, 20 minutes it was before he had the cop on to pull keane back to midfield to help shore things up, even then that was hardly an ideal solution but still..we should have been 2 down at least by then. he sent hunt out to warm up after 2 minutes yet didnt bring him on until he was forced to!!?? hardly shrewd quick decision making is it?

he has no experience to draw on as a manager so what do we expect. yet again the FAI have taken the cheap option on management and it shows......yet again... we need somebody top drawer, no matter what the cost....if they're stuck for a few quid send a collection up to my local...there's more than a few people that would happily contribute...

Kilbane isnt a defender and he cant tackle, im an Everton fan so ive seen Kilbane play 100+ times believe me Kelly was the better option if we had a left back available he wouldnt have had to play Kelly out of position and he is better than Harte . Wigan have been forced to play him there because they sold Baines in the summer .

The chechs where at home and they dominated for 20 mins what so unusual about that when O shea picked up a knock he was very quick in re organising the team and for the last 15 mins ireland dominated, But he gets no credit for that .

I ment to say that i would have played hunt push kilbane into the middle an dplayed reid instead of Mcgeady i forgot to include the last bit but Mcgeady was very good against Denmark but poor against slovakia he is a kid so you can get eratic dissplays picking him again was a risk he felt was worth taking, Personally i wouldnt have started him i think he is a better sub but i understand the thinking behind it .

He has no experience and i wouldnt have given him the job in the first place but i dont think the stick he is getting is fair for a manager with no experience trying to totally chance the way a team plays and the players on the pitch he has doen a very good job .

So what we didnt qualify for a competition we where never going to get into anyway i dont think any manager would have got us into it he has done well to get us back in with a shot after everyone had us written off before it even started .

A big name manager isnt allways the key look at England with Sven a fantastic Club record and he could do F all with them.

[Scruttox]

Sven was in it for the truckload of cash that went with the England Job. He didnt give a crap about winning anything. Laughing all the way to the sauna.

He picked his team by reading the last two pages of the Sun, before every match.

[dr_peepee]

We are all just disgruntled Dundalk fans.


:D Yeah!! Exactly....

I feel for Stan... I do... But he has to go.... Every squad and almost every team named is greated with raised eyebrows and just plain disbeleif in some cases. Carsley and Andy Reids exclusions at the start. Even down to the continued presence of Colgan at the expense of say Joe Murphy. Sometimes managers see things that us mortals can't, and even while people might disagree with the likes of Ferguson from time to time, you at least comprehend what he's at. But with Stan it's like unfathomable!! We've seen nothing from him to suggest he can turn it around.

Shame his playing career is gonna be tarnished with this.

[ifk101]

If the FAI is consistent, ie follow the trend they have set in sacking McCarthy and not renewing Brian Kerr's contract, Stan must go.

[Stuttgart88]

A big name manager isnt allways the key look at England with Sven a fantastic Club record and he could do F all with them.I don't agree. Granted they never impressed at finals but invariably got to at least a quarter final and turned them from a team that always narrowly qualified and missed out now and again to a team that is probably as impressive at qualifying and grinding undreserved away wins in tricky countries as anyone. Their seeding coefficient is through the roof.

I think his record in this regard is underrated.

[Henrik]

Kilbane isnt a defender and he cant tackle, im an Everton fan so ive seen Kilbane play 100+ times believe me Kelly was the better option if we had a left back available he wouldnt have had to play Kelly out of position and he is better than Harte . Wigan have been forced to play him there because they sold Baines in the summer .

The chechs where at home and they dominated for 20 mins what so unusual about that when O shea picked up a knock he was very quick in re organising the team and for the last 15 mins ireland dominated, But he gets no credit for that .

I ment to say that i would have played hunt push kilbane into the middle an dplayed reid instead of Mcgeady i forgot to include the last bit but Mcgeady was very good against Denmark but poor against slovakia he is a kid so you can get eratic dissplays picking him again was a risk he felt was worth taking, Personally i wouldnt have started him i think he is a better sub but i understand the thinking behind it .

He has no experience and i wouldnt have given him the job in the first place but i dont think the stick he is getting is fair for a manager with no experience trying to totally chance the way a team plays and the players on the pitch he has doen a very good job .

So what we didnt qualify for a competition we where never going to get into anyway i dont think any manager would have got us into it he has done well to get us back in with a shot after everyone had us written off before it even started .

A big name manager isnt allways the key look at England with Sven a fantastic Club record and he could do F all with them.


I grant you Kilbane is no great tackler but he has an experienced head on him in that position not to get caught where he would need last ditch tackles! Also it wasnt Kellys tackling that let him down it was his distribution, everytime he got the ball he tried ping it down the line. Kilbane would have offered us more going forward from left back with his distribution....look where all the Czech attacks, or most decent teams in fact, started from - the full backs. both of ours were usless in that they just gave possession back to the Czechs

No i wouldnt give him no credit for o'shea gettin injured and him changing it around then and us looking more solid.....he was forced into that, luckily for us

I am not doubting that staunton is trying his little socks off in the job but the fact is he is not good enough. he has not done a great job with what he has.... look at scotland, thats doin a great job with what you have....we have underacheived again.
"So what we didnt qualify for a competition we where never going to get into anyway" - are you for real! ......... that team should have easily won in cyprus, held on the for the home win against the Czechs and beat Slovakia more comfortable like the welsh did....oh and along the way put 7 past san marino....... and any decent manager would have got us those extra 7 points with the Czechs less 1 and then today we would still be 2 ahead of them and talking about last night as just a blip on the road to qualification....

and i really dont think im being too unrealistic with the results we should have got....im sayin we could have lost to Germany and Czechs away and still qualified

[Stuttgart88]

when O shea picked up a knock he was very quick in re organising the team and for the last 15 mins ireland dominated, But he gets no credit for that .


The reality is that the "reorganisation" you refer to was indeed very effective but it was the team (O'Shea for Kelly excepted - but they're like for like) almost EVERYONE was calling for. The squad was threadbare with few credible options from the bench so the change was forced upon him. We wasted nearly 40 minutes of the game due to his stubbornnes. He gets NO credit from me for that.

I actually thought Kilbane & Hunt on the LHS immediately restored balance to that side. You may have seen KK perform poorly at LB for Everton, but haven't we all seen him perform poorly in CM too?

[cavan_fan]

I'd like to think there is some thought going on inthe FAi at the moment. In some ways the easy thing to do would be to sack Stan and that would keep everyone happy. But I'm not sure he should be sacked for 2 reasons:

How bad did we do? - It wouldnt have taken much luck for us to have got 4 points from the last 2 games. This is comparable performance to previous tournaments. I think after Cyprus we all felt we could be finishing behind Wales and also behind Cyprus. It's likely we'll finish 3rd. So there is some improvement in performance. A lo is made about the selecion he made but I think the only change most people would have made was Hunt for McGeady and there werent many calling for McGeady to be dropped before the game. What would Guus Hiddink have done?

What do we do if we sack him? - This is my big concern. Don't sack him to give someone else a managerial apprenticeship. That means dont sack him for Aldridge or Houghton. If for financial reasons or because the job is not that attractive that's the best we can do then we may as well stick with Stan. At least he has 2 years experience under his belt.


Al in all a depressing day, a campaign in whcih we never really threatened to qualify and 12 months until our next match of importance.

[Scruttox]

Why do we always qualify for tournaments halfway around the world?

USA 94 - Qualified

Japan/Korea-Qualified.

We never qualify for UK / Euro based competitions.

I heard South Africa is lovely.... cant wait :D

[geysir]

FAI statement, we believe in Stan.

http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2407

[ken foree]

anto any further evidence, if some is required, of staunton's inability at this level is easily provided by the fact that he promised changes for the czech game due to the heavy pitch in slovakia. he then proceeded with exactly the same team in prague bar the enforced absence of stephen ireland. what do you say to that??

[Wolfie]

“Like everybody else, the FAI is disappointed with the result in Prague but the performance offers a lot of hope for the future. Stephen, his backroom team and the players must continue the work they are doing".

A predictable response.

Time to step aside Stan. Do what Keegan did at England - hold the hand up and admit its time to go.

[Scruttox]

We are putting more coaches on the ground to work on the development of the game and our players. The FAI is determined that we improve our success rate in qualifying for major tournaments but the required level of success is created by hard work and patience and not by waving a magic wand.


I say, forget about the hard work and commitment and lets get ourselves one of these wands. Surely that makes more sense?

[kingdomkerry]

Stan is learning though, it only took him a game and a half put the right team on the picth. Damage was done by then and 5 points were droppen.

I definetly would'nt leave him drive the train to Cork!!