The Steve Staunton Discussion thread

[thelimerick]

I agree with other posters here that Staunton should never have been given the Ireland job. We replaced an average joe in Kerr to someone with absolutely no experience whatsoever. The fact that an old has been of manager had to join him as his mentor didn't bode well. I shudder every time I remember the two of them sitting at that press conference, "I'm the Gaffer" Staunton reasured us, surely our chances in this competition ended then.
By the way I respect Bobby Robson, but his time has passed, football has moved on.
In saying this, getting rid of him now would do very little for our chances of qualification. Who replaces him for a start? In a perfect world Martin O'Neill would be leading our blend of youth and experienced players like Duff, Keane and Given into an era of success. Yet the reality is this : good managers don't want to manage Ireland, at least not until they have nothing further to offer the world of club management. We saw how difficult is was to replace Kerr, who's going to want a job you could potentially loose before you even play a competitive match??
The FAI, like nearly all organisations in this country, are completely incompetent. Hiring Staunton was worse then hiring Aldridge, Houghton or Whelan. The latter three have had managerial experience at least. Yet we surely would have mourned their appointments and rightly so. So it goes without saying this one was a big BOO BOO, but we're stuck with it.
If he has any potential for being a decent manager he is learning from this fast and will improve. If not we're doomed.
Either way, we have some fantastic young players breaking through, he will give them a chance and therefore experience, thats a positive. I firmly believe we will have a really good squad doing good things out there in the next three years or so. Until then its Macedonia time baby!!!!

[Fubar]

I didnt like the appointment of him as manager I thought it was Delaney just givin the job to his buddy. for what other reason could he have picked him? I did think though that he would be able to inject a bit of passion and pride into the team even if he wouldnt have the same tactical abilities as Kerr. but wed night there was no sign of passion and I hope he gets it sorted before Germany because organistion and pride in the jersey is the only way we will get anything from that game.

If he gets neither of them right this campaign then its time to call for his head.

[southbucket2001]

OK guys lets keep this in perspective. This was a friendly match and the only thing it proved is that currently we do not have a strong enough squad (not first XI). If Brian Kerr was still in charge for Hollands game we would have gotten the Irish moral victory - a draw (or maybe a narrow defeat) but our "optimism" would then disappear in the matches that count, the qualifiers in which Kerr couldn't ever buy any sort of proper victory

Now we find ourselves dreading the possibility of being embarassed by the Germans but this will not happen. They will now write us off - always a danger and we'll see. . .

My advice to Stan and staff is as soon as the squad is gathered together ahead of the German match is to practice practice practice practice set pieces both offensive and defensive. Our skills at these were sorely lacking under Kerr and have evidently not returned.

The Leicester match has just finished and I note Paddy McCarthy was named man of the match. Surely it is time he receives a call considering our options at CB.

[Irish_Praha]

The Leicester match has just finished and I note Paddy McCarthy was named man of the match. Surely it is time he receives a call considering our options at CB.

He also got his customary yellow card :p
However, i agree he needs to called up even if it's just as back-up.

[Forever Dreamin]

Staunton's appointment was a poor decision even by the fai's standards but now that he's here he should be allowed to build a team for the world cup in2010.McCarthy looked to the youth and built a decent team that could've and should've gone further in 2002 had he not gone on an ego trip.Stan needs to look at players like Doyle and McGeady and forget the 'big' players who aren't interested

Should have gone further in 2002? we played the Spanish off the park in extra time, threw the kitchen sink at them, and if the game was still going on we wouldnt have scored a winner, it was unfortunate but one of those nights we were never going to get the winner, days like England had in 88, Holland had in Dublin in 2001 with 4 of the worlds best strikers? Dont blame Mick for the lads missing the penos please...

[Roverstillidie]

the reality is O'Leary is now available and delaney is one ruthless *******. stan will go sooner rather than later if the performnces, whatever about the results, dont dramatically improve.

[dr_peepee]

I've been away for a few weeks and wasn't in a position to post... I didn't get to see the performance on Wednesday.

I was a little shocked to say the least when I seen the squad, or the absences from the squad I should say. Staunton justified the absence of players like McCarthy by saying he wasn't ready for international football. This is a dangerous mentality to have for a manager of a relatively small footballing nation with limited resources.

90% of the northern Ireland squad isn't ready for international football. Neither are 50% of the Welsh squad. But the long and the short of it is they've no choice but to include them. We need depth in every position, and if the cover isn't up to the desired standard it's just a punch we'll have to roll with. But to ignore them totally shows a level of naivity that belies his vast experience as a player. There's no consistency in his thinking. He's entitled to believe players aren't ready, sure. But by the same token does he really believe players llike kilbane are an option as an international centre half??

Stan is entitled to time to convince. There are a number of positions in the first eleven up for grabs and outside 5 or 6 players there's not much of a diference in class for the rest of the option. He has to pick the best from an average bunch but is not casting the net wide enough for me.

[Soper]

I agree with you I think...Wales have players like Gabbidon and Earnshaw who were playing in English League 1 when they were introduced into the Intl setup.These players, as well as a few others, have become vital members of the team since then.There is no way McCarthy will be ready if he isn't given a chance to play!

[nshoop]

Dont blame Mick for the lads missing the penos please...

I was refering to him sending home our leader and world class midfielder,keane would've buried his peno seen as u brought it up

[OwlsFan]

I was refering to him sending home our leader and world class midfielder,keane would've buried his peno seen as u brought it up

Like he did against Romania in 1997 :rolleyes: ?

[NeilMcD]

Staunton's reign sees decline in quality

Emmet Malone On Soccer: More than six months after the irrepressible Bobby Robson took on the job of providing guidance to Steve Staunton during these early days of his career in football management, we shouldn't be too surprised by news that the 73-year-old, who is due to have a brain tumour removed tomorrow, was apparently both anxious to attend yesterday's press conference where Staunton announced his squad for Germany and keen to travel to Stuttgart next week for the game itself.

Thankfully, he was talked out of both trips, though in the wake of last week's defeat by The Netherlands the latter offer must have been just a little painful for the FAI to decline.

The veteran coach's expertise was sorely missed on Wednesday night when Staunton and the rest of his coaching team looked utterly shocked by the extent of Ireland's onfield disintegration and entirely at a loss as to how they might halt the slide.

Five days on, the manager was putting a remarkably brave face on the situation yesterday, claiming he, Robson and the players were all taking heart from the second-half performance and looking forward to building on it during the game against Germany.

It is, of course, understandable that nobody in the Irish camp wishes to dwell on the fact that the team was only slightly less awful after the break than before it. But one suspects that in private, far from being "buoyant", they would acknowledge that if the performance in Stuttgart significantly resembles the one in either half last week they will be simply at the mercy of their hosts.

During the Brian Kerr years, the Republic's record in friendly games was outstanding but the team never beat a side of any quality in a competitive match.

Staunton's problem at this stage is not that he has lost two of the three games he has overseen since taking charge; rather it is that there has been a marked decline in the quality of the performances and a growing suspicion that the players do not really understand what is being asked of them tactically.

For this, Staunton must bear much though not all of the responsibility. It was well known how the Dutch would play here, and yet his side proved incapable of dealing with a situation that no end of positional tinkering seemed to improve in the slightest.

Still, Eamonn Dunphy's insistence on absolving the players of any responsibility for what happened at Lansdowne Road was even more surprising than his assertion, just two weeks ahead of the start of the Euro 2008 campaign, the FAI should change a manager he had once endorsed.

There was certainly very little during the 4-0 defeat to support Staunton's claim that the training sessions he had overseen during the previous few days had been impressive. But the idea that a back four consisting of Steve Carr, Andy O'Brien, Steve Finnan and John O'Shea, defenders who have played around 700 Premiership games between them, should be unable to co-ordinate the marking of an opposing side's lone centre forward at a corner - regardless of what their international manager had gone through with them in training - is surely absurd.

There were individual as well as collective failures everywhere last week, and one of the few things Staunton can take away from the game is that it is surely implausible quite so many of his players could perform so badly again on Saturday week.

Whatever about his players, though, the manager now appears to have been guilty of a serious misjudgement in opting to bring his squad to Portugal for a training camp rather than lining up a couple more games prior to the summer break. He said yesterday he was anxious to allow his senior players as long a break as possible so as to have them fresh for the new season. But, as it turned out, he was still without a string of them last week.

He went on to insist that without the bigger names, nobody was interested in playing us at that time of year, yet Northern Ireland could line up games against Uruguay and Romania in America.

Additional matches would have helped the players adapt to the new regime, while even working with a weakened team would surely have benefited the Louthman as he tries to prepare for an encounter next week that would prove a major test for men with far greater managerial experience than he has been able to amass in a few months.

As he discussed his squad yesterday he referred more than once to the lack of depth available to him and his aim to develop talent over the next four years. For the moment the development of his own management skills is perhaps the most pressing concern.

The FAI can hardly argue with Dunphy's assertion that they took a major chance in appointing the 37-year-old at a point when he had nothing really but an illustrious playing career on his CV. While it is far too early to say they have gambled and lost, they could do with having some evidence to point to during the next few months that things are indeed moving in the right direction.

For the most part there remains enormous goodwill toward Staunton, but whatever about the last three games, his job would become much harder if the next three - Germany and Cyprus away, then the Czech Republic at home - were all to go poorly.

If that is how it transpires, it will be interesting to see how long the FAI retain their faith in a man whose appointment was sold on the basis of his ability to inspire the current generation of stars rather than uncover the next

[Macy]

Kerr being sacked/ contract not renewed if people prefer :rolleyes: was justified, if we were getting someone better. We were told that it was to get a genuine quality manager in the Hiddink class. We didn't, we got a Walsall reserver team coach, so it wasn't justified, and Delaney should've gone then.

However, Staunton has to be given at least this campaign to prove himself or otherwise. To talk about sacking him after one friendly is ridiculous.

As ever, it comes down to our lack of quality players - something that people seem unwilling to accept even after the last 2 campaigns. We'll píss around with tatics and calling for managers head when the problem is the structure of the game in this country, or total lack of it. Too much reliance on a failing English system to produce quality players (aided and abetted by FAI underage managers ffs) and celebration of "nursery" clubs that are only interested in results and who many kids they can send abroad, rather than putting in place academy's with top quality coaches that develop the players skills (both football and off the field).

Kerr Out or Staunton Out is irrelevant. Delaney and the rest of the blazer wearing tossers OUT is more like it.

[OwlsFan]

Kerr Out or Staunton Out is irrelevant. Delaney and the rest of the blazer wearing tossers OUT is more like it.

I just love cliches like "blazer wearing". Most of the people in the FAI come from the grass roots of Irish soccer. With whom would you like to replace them with ? Non football people in which case you will get a load of blazer wearers.

That said, I agree Kerr should not have been replaced unless we had someone better lined up. I still don't see rationally how Staunton was chosen ahead of the likes Aldridge who had managerial experience and some success. However, he's in the job and should be given at least one campaign before we have clowns like Drunkphy calling for his head in a tabloid newspaper - the same poison dwarf who castigates the English tabloids at every opportunity.

[Billsthoughts]

I just love cliches like "blazer wearing". Most of the people in the FAI come from the grass roots of Irish soccer. With whom would you like to replace them with ? Non football people in which case you will get a load of blazer wearers.

Bit of a cheap shot on what was a very intelligent well argued post.
these people are career politicians, Owlsfan. John Delaney has never been involved in "the grass roots" of Irish soccer. And it would be absolutely no harm to replace them with non football people. People with a proven track record of delivering large projects(something which the creation of an academy system would be)

[Macy]

I just love cliches like "blazer wearing". Most of the people in the FAI come from the grass roots of Irish soccer.
You have five years (max) in sports administration before you become instutionalised. How many years in football administration do you reckon you need to become head of the FAI?

The Grass Roots are part of the problem - everyone fighting for their own bit instead of everything working for a common goal. For a quality International Team you need a strong domestic league, which needs to be the step up from a schoolboy structure designed to develop player skills rather than put names on a club house plaque and trophies in a cabinet.

[bwagner]

Walsall reserves team coach.......one word PATHETIC !!!!!1 HOW THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO QUALIFY WITH THIS CHUMP.
Im a dundalk man and even played and drank with his wee brother paudie but f me this is sick ,just sick in my opinion , imagine england hiring a reserve coach in the 3rd tier of their soccer ....money money money ...the fai have enough with all the full houses and grands , sponors etc
We really r turning in to the joke of europe soccer
its downhill all the way, im dreading the wales and cyprus games i swear

[DotTV]

I liked Emmet Malones point that our defenders against Holland had over 700 Premiership games between them and still could not organise things.
A lot of the organisation of the defence is down to the keeper who can see everything so hopefully things will change with Given at the helm

[OwlsFan]

Bit of a cheap shot on what was a very intelligent well argued post.
these people are career politicians, Owlsfan. John Delaney has never been involved in "the grass roots" of Irish soccer. And it would be absolutely no harm to replace them with non football people. People with a proven track record of delivering large projects(something which the creation of an academy system would be)

I would have thought the cheap shot was describing anyone who works at the FAI as a "blazer" which is a populist pejorative. Have a look at how it works:

http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=40

These are nearly all, Delaney apart, people brought up in football, including numerous Eircom League people, who run the game in this country.

I repeat the question - if you don't want football people to run the game, who do you want ?

[hoops1]

where is the names on that link?

[wws]

I would have thought the cheap shot was describing anyone who works at the FAI as a "blazer" which is a populist pejorative. Have a look at how it works:

http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=40

These are nearly all, Delaney apart, people brought up in football, including numerous Eircom League people, who run the game in this country.

I repeat the question - if you don't want football people to run the game, who do you want ?


and I'll do the honours of repeating his answer, given above. Professional people who can put in place and deliver a structured program producing results at all levels. This starts with the EL as the football fulcrums within their communities for the education and development of local talent and hopefully in a few years fodder for the national team and less reliance on the meagre return and decreasing one from the player mill in the UK.

[DmanDmythDledge]

I don't see why he should be given to the end of the campaign to prove himself. If he continues to be useless before the end he has to go before the end.

[NeilMcD]

Cause every other manager got that treatment so why should he not get it. Fair is fair.

[Reality Bites]

I can see the whole Stan affair going pear shaped alot like Niall Quinn at Sunderland...So have the lads at Merrion Square a Contingency, We just cannot keep sacrificing places in Major Tournaments for the sake of Blooding inexperienced Managers!!!!!!!!!!

[RogerMilla]

its not places in tournaments we are sacrificing its our seeding , we could have ended up in scotlands group in the last draw , i shudder to think how that group will go for them

[Billsthoughts]

Cause every other manager got that treatment so why should he not get it. Fair is fair.

not really a sound basis to run a business.....

[NeilMcD]

Either is sacking a manager after 3 friendlies. A sound basis of running a business is letting your manager have time to show he can do the job. I agree that appointing one of your best mates on the basis of his playing career is not a good start. I was not behind the appointment of Staunton at all but I do think that now that he is in the job he should be given a fair crack at the whip. Therefore he should be given at least one campaign.

[Billsthoughts]

Exactly. What everyone should be asking is why he was appointed in the first place!*










*apart from "why the crest?" ,obviously!.....;)

[NeilMcD]

Sure I can meet you in Dalymount on Friday or over in Stuttgart next week and i will let you know.

[Billsthoughts]

Jesus a Bohs fan for a few days and you are already organising "meets":D

[wws]

Meetin IN Dalymount before a game in Tolka
now thats HARDCORE!

[NeilMcD]

Sorry could you keep personal comments off the site please. I wanna talk about football on this site and nothing else.

Thank you.

[NeilMcD]

Meetin IN Dalymount before a game in Tolka
now thats HARDCORE!


Ever heard of meeting somewhere and walking over to Tolka.

[jebus]

Well I was never happy with Staunton being given the job in the first place, I realise there wasn't exactly a queue forming for the post, but someone with a bit of experience please.

That said you can't sack a manager off the back of a friendly defeat, he needs to at least be given this campaign to see what he can do with what is in all honesty a poor squad. Also it should be noted that Ireland under Kerr managed some great results in friendlies, but flopped in the actual qualification stages, which is quite rightly where a manager should be judged

[wws]

Ever heard of meeting somewhere and walking over to Tolka.

yes and its STRICTLY for the HARDCORE
unless you live in phibsboro and Dalymount is ure local boozer

[hoops1]

Neil Whats the deal with the bohs crest?
Your no more a Bohs fan than a fan of the Ireland team
Whats this an effort to get some sort of respectability on your
ramblings

[NeilMcD]

Again I would request that the thread be kept on topic please.

[NY Hoop]

Again I would request that the thread be kept on topic please.

Request what you want. Remember when you asked for proof of you being a WUM?


KOH

[NeilMcD]

Sorry if you think I am a wind up merchant but my question regarding Lucifer was a genuine question and I did not mean to cause offence by it. Call it ignorance on my part or possibly the reason was that I thought you may been referring to Roy Keane.

I can assure you that I am not trying to wind you up by having a Bohs Crest. Many people have avatars in this site without having to explain their credentials to the whole site or what footballing habits they have. I believe I should be no different. If you think I just have the Avatar this week for the Cup Game, come back next week and It will be still there and the week after and so on. If I was just about winding up I would have done it long ago and not waited 3 years to do it.

I do not wish to be drawn off topic on this one but I wanted to set the record straight that my motives were not to wind any body up on this site.

[NY Hoop]

Sorry if you think I am a wind up merchant but my question regarding Lucifer was a genuine question and I did not mean to cause offence by it. Call it ignorance on my part or possibly the reason was that I thought you may been referring to Roy Keane.

I can assure you that I am not trying to wind you up by having a Bohs Crest. Many people have avatars in this site without having to explain their credentials to the whole site or what footballing habits they have. I believe I should be no different. If you think I just have the Avatar this week for the Cup Game, come back next week and It will be still there and the week after and so on. If I was just about winding up I would have done it long ago and not waited 3 years to do it.

I do not wish to be drawn off topic on this one but I wanted to set the record straight that my motives were not to wind any body up on this site.

So you're a boez fan now? Fair play for picking an EL club to support and remember to keep away from the BSC:D

Lucifer is lucifer and traitor is traitor.

Anyway back on topic anyone who thinks Stan should go after 3 friendlies knows nothing about the game.



KOH

[NeilMcD]

Well I think it is usually better and more clear cut when people use peoles actually names like Jack Charlton, Mick Mc Carthy Roy keane or Kilcoyne. I understand why you would call such a man Lucifer and I agree with you on the points you made about him and about Dunphy.

[Dublin12]

I think IF Ireland lose the first 3 qualifers the fai should hold up their hands and admit that they made a mistake and let him go.There would be no point in staying on for the whole campaign at that stage, as we would be will out of the running,might aswell get somebody in for the remainder of the campaign and try and rebuild the confidence and get some sort of winning run together in preparation for the WC group.The fai should look to some sort of investor and try and land a manager with at least some international background instead of paying peanuts for another learner,for instance if Trinidad and Tobago can get somebody like Leo Beenhaker(with Poland now btw) surely we can get somebody of that calibre that can do a job with our squad?

[DmanDmythDledge]

Cause every other manager got that treatment so why should he not get it. Fair is fair.
So you think if we lose the first 3/4 games of the campaign with a near full strength team Staunton should be left in the job?:rolleyes:

[NeilMcD]

If we lose the 1st 4 games of the qualifying campaign he should be sacked. But we are playing Cyprus and San Marino so I dont think that will happen.

[gufct]

Tahts the final straw Dave O'Leart ffs. Lads we are rebuilding with very few solid blocks to build a team .We will not get walloped in Germany last wednesday was a bad day but thursday was worse when Irish soccer journalism finally plumbed the depths that we laugh at in England its been coming a long while but the standard of Irish Journalism has reached the gutter all we need now is a swede a la graham taylor.

[Dublin12]

but the standar of Irish Journalism has reached the gutter all we need know is a swede.

Are you an Irish Journalist by any chance:D

[Billsthoughts]

Anyway back on topic anyone who thinks Stan should go after 3 friendlies knows nothing about the game.



just like Stan so.......:D

[FarBeag]

No..He has to be given a chance to prove himself. His predecessors were experts when it came to winning a friendly and we all know what happened after that.Staunton also appears to lack alot of confidence particularly in front of the camera.Lets hope this is not his usual presentation when talking to the players or we are in big trouble.Lets see what happens against the Germans.

[Sideline]

We will have to stick with it now. However if Robson retires there may be an opening to bring in somone as an adviser who would be agreeable to both Staunton and the F A I.

[Den Perry]

Sack him hes useless

[gustavo]

The very notion of sacking Staunton at this stage is ludicrious (like Dunphy) ,The team and management deserve at this stage is our full support at this stage