Examiner article on O'Neill & the FAI

Anyone read Liam Mackey in today's Examiner?

THE FAI’s search for a new manager has intensified over the past few weeks but, while the association is refusing to comment on the individuals being canvassed, it has become clear that Martin O’Neill remains their chief target.

It’s understood that, behind the scenes, contact has now been made with the former Celtic boss, who stepped away from football at the end of last season to care for his wife Geraldine who has been battling cancer.

Understandably, given the sensitive nature of his situation, O’Neill has been unable to put any kind of timeframe on a possible return to football but, when he spoke to the press in Dublin in October, he didn’t definitively rule out an interest in the Irish manager’s job.

“I don’t want to make a dramatic statement but football is in my blood,” he said. “I’d like to get back into it at some stage or another but honestly, at this moment, I couldn’t tell you when that stage would be.”

At that time, O’Neill added that he had not been approached by the FAI but there has since been contact between the two parties, with the Northern Irish man remaining the Association’s preferred choice as a successor to Brian Kerr.

FAI Chief Executive John Delaney has always been reluctant to impose a deadline on the hunt for a new manager but it’s understood that the Association has now targeted mid- February as an ideal cut-off point, so that the new man could be installed ahead of the friendly against Sweden at the beginning of March.

However, if Martin O’Neill was in a position before then to indicate that he was confident of being available at a later date, it is believed that the Association would be willing to put back the deadline in order to facilitate his appointment before the European Championship qualifiers begin in the Autumn.

I've thought all along that O'Neill's comments were sufficiently vague & that there was a massive overreaction to what he said in October. eirebhoy posted reported quotes from O'Neill's brother which were very interesting. Although there's nothing substantial in Mackey's article it sounds credible.

If official contact has been made it's getting interesting. Several possibilities arise, such as:

O'Neill confirms he's interested, but not for ages
O'Neill confirms he's interested & will let us know after Christmas
O'Neill doesn't let on whether he's interested
O'Neill is clearly uninterested

I personally would rate O'Neill & Hiddink as my preferred candidates, Ranieri is better than most of the rest, and the rest are all seriously underwhelming for various reasons.

If 1 above is true the FAI better have a good interim & contingency plan in place if they decide to wait. No harm in approaching other candidates in the meantime though.

Was the article headlined "Geraldine O'Neill Death Watch" :(

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it’s understood that the Association has now targeted mid- February as an ideal cut-off point, so that the new man could be installed ahead of the friendly against Sweden at the beginning of March.

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Poor form in my opinion, I believe that the FAI were also reported to have said that they were waiting to see if O'Neill's "circumstances" would change before making a decision.

Celtic currently pay MO'N far more to do nothing than Brian Kerr got as Ireland manager. He has been widely tipped as the FA's main candidate to replace Eriksson (4 million stg. salary) and will also be in the frame to take over at Old Trafford.

He's the best "candidate", alongside Hiddink, but I don't see why either of them would realistically consider it (leaving aside sad personal circumstances).

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Originally Posted by Jerry The Saint

He's the best "candidate", alongside Hiddink,

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Of course Hiddink won't take it - he's bringing Australia to the World Cup. I doubt he'd prefer to manage us in meaningless friendlies instead.

He's not even a candidate any more.

Yes he is. Our next qualifier is after the world cup.

Hiddink is a bit of a maverick and it is not inconceivable that he would want to manage the Irish team. He is sure to leave the Aussies after the WC as it would be another 4 years before they play in a major championship. He will want to manage a team in the Euros. So why not us. If he was approached NOW with a view to taking over in the summer then so be it. I have MON at 28/1 but am prepared to lose that if Hiddink was appointed.

Does anyone else wonder whether the FAI just didnt want to pay a manager for the months between October and March, when they would have no games? I would be surprised if O'Neill would take the job and it is a nice excuse to say they are waiting on him, when all they really want is to save some money. I wouldnt put it past them.

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Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar

. I have MON at 28/1 but am prepared to lose that if Hiddink was appointed.

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-when did u get MON at 28/1???? -i have him aswell-cant see anyone else getting the job

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Originally Posted by as_i_say

-when did u get MON at 28/1???? -i have him aswell-cant see anyone else getting the job

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Why not???

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Originally Posted by Jerry The Saint

Was the article headlined "Geraldine O'Neill Death Watch" :(



Poor form in my opinion, I believe that the FAI were also reported to have said that they were waiting to see if O'Neill's "circumstances" would change before making a decision.

Celtic currently pay MO'N far more to do nothing than Brian Kerr got as Ireland manager. He has been widely tipped as the FA's main candidate to replace Eriksson (4 million stg. salary) and will also be in the frame to take over at Old Trafford.

He's the best "candidate", alongside Hiddink, but I don't see why either of them would realistically consider it (leaving aside sad personal circumstances).

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why is there an assumption that a manager like MON would be motivated purely by the salary he would get? given his current circumstances he may think that the Ireland job suits him fine i.e. he gets back into football management but still has a large amt of time for his personal committments

do you really think that a man with his roots and backround would be interested in taking the england job should it become available? me thinks not

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Originally Posted by jbyrne

why is there an assumption that a manager like MON would be motivated purely by the salary he would get? given his current circumstances he may think that the Ireland job suits him fine i.e. he gets back into football management but still has a large amt of time for his personal committments

do you really think that a man with his roots and backround would be interested in taking the england job should it become available? me thinks not

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His background and roots. A former Northern Ireland international and British citizan. Why would he not manage England?

I'm actually with jbyrne on this. I couldn't see him turning down Ireland so he could manage England. If he's not going to manage Ireland it'll have nothing to do with his desire to manage England. He's Irish ffs. :)

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Originally Posted by Only2keanos

when all they really want is to save some money. I wouldnt put it past them.

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Thats actually a very good point that I never considered.

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Originally Posted by Hibs4Ever

His background and roots. A former Northern Ireland international and British citizan. Why would he not manage England?

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ahhmm, let me think, being from Derry, being brought up in a GAA household, and being a former Celtic manager don't really go hand in hand with being England manager.

Also, the potential abuse he would get when he relys on Englands 30somethings to get him results backed up by his brand of football are something that the English media are not going to love (even though they all want him installed as their next manager).

He really is suited to the green of Ireland ala Jack Charlton - his methods are results based. He will bring what the FAI and the fans want - success - he'll not bring style in terms of pure football and he'll not bring through young players through that are not already there.

The Examiner article doesn't exactly shake the earth with its beliefs and understandings. But I am also encouraged by the FAI's silence. The longer it goes on, it does add some weight to O'Neill as being their first choice.
(Still doesn't mean he will take the job)
The last time was more urgent (in mid campaign) after Mc Carthy's resignation, it still took the FAI about 12 weeks to appoint Kerr and that was about a month? or so before the first friendly. If we are following a similar timeline, that is how long it can take the Fai to come to a final decision no matter who it is.
Maybe money is an issue for the FAI, it is possible they have given Kerr 1 or 2 months salary.

O'Neill was 28/1 for a few hours just after the Venables gamble

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I'm actually with jbyrne on this. I couldn't see him turning down Ireland so he could manage England. If he's not going to manage Ireland it'll have nothing to do with his desire to manage England. He's Irish ffs. :)

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For 10 times the salary though? You would have to be fervently pro-Ireland/anti-England not to be tempted.

And if you were then you would definitely have to take the England job, if only to bring them down from the inside! :D (Like Roddy Collins did:cool: )

O'Neil is a major candidate for me. Given the health of his wife he is perhaps thinking of easing his way back into football and the Irish job would be ideal. It is less stress , very few games over the coming months , and near enough to his home.

The hassle and time consumption of a high profile job such as Man U or England is not an option for him in my opinion.

For me he is the number one choice. I dont want the FAI rushing an appointment and at the same time I dont want former players with little experience. The next two years are going to be a very important time for Ireland. We are slipping down the rankings (thus making qualifying more difficult) , and because of our failure to qualify for the last two tournaments , that failure is going to count against us in the future. We dont want to end up following the demise of Scotland and Wales by appointing the wrong man (Vogts, Toshak etc).

I would be happy not seeing anyone permanent in the job until the summer. A lot of candidates will appear once the season and world cup is over with.

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Originally Posted by wallis

O'Neil is a major candidate for me. Given the health of his wife he is perhaps thinking of easing his way back into football and the Irish job would be ideal. It is less stress , very few games over the coming months , and near enough to his home.

The hassle and time consumption of a high profile job such as Man U or England is not an option for him in my opinion.

For me he is the number one choice. I dont want the FAI rushing an appointment and at the same time I dont want former players with little experience. The next two years are going to be a very important time for Ireland. We are slipping down the rankings (thus making qualifying more difficult) , and because of our failure to qualify for the last two tournaments , that failure is going to count against us in the future. We dont want to end up following the demise of Scotland and Wales by appointing the wrong man (Vogts, Toshak etc).

I would be happy not seeing anyone permanent in the job until the summer. A lot of candidates will appear once the season and world cup is over with.

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the demises of Scotland and Wales were not caused by the appointments of the afformentioned managers. The two nations were already in decline. If you were to look at the results of the Welsh side under Hughes in the last few cames before he left it was a sense of he had took them as far as he could and there needed to be fresh impoteous. Meanwhile, Vogts, and the under 21 manager Bonhoff, have been a benefit for Scottish football. There is a general consensus that they have brought more professionalism to the setup and there under 21 and future team squad system was devised by them, not walter smith. Also, remember that Vogts has been a very successful international manager in the past with Germany, indeed i believe it was he who was in charge when they won Euro 96. Therefore I believe your points are not valid.

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Originally Posted by livehead1

Therefore I believe your points are not valid.

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bit harsh!!!!!:eek:

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Originally Posted by Hibs4Ever

His background and roots. A former Northern Ireland international and British citizan. Why would he not manage England?

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you obviously know nothing about MON or the beliefs that many similar people from that part of our country have

You dont think that the appointment of Toshack was detrimental to Wales ? Players deciding to quit rather than play for him and then he walks out ?

And Vogts who was resented by the majority of Scotland supporters which led to a lack of crowds at home games and players not wanting to play ? Whatever his supposed contribution behind the scenes may be, the scottish team became a joke under his reign.

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Originally Posted by wallis

O'Neil is a major candidate for me. Given the health of his wife he is perhaps thinking of easing his way back into football and the Irish job would be ideal. It is less stress , very few games over the coming months , and near enough to his home.

The hassle and time consumption of a high profile job such as Man U or England is not an option for him in my opinion.

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I hope whoever is appointed is going to see the job as a little bit more that a part-time job where they only need to turn up 3/4 days before every game.

I would expect our next manager to be watching both the current players and the potential players in action week in and week out. This would mean spending a lot of the time in England watching 2/3 games a week. I would also expect him to heavily involved in the development of young talent in this country and working as part of the FAI's technical plan.

Say what you like about Erikson, but he certainly puts himself about watching players.

If O'Neill or anyone else is not in a position to give this job their full attention and time then they will be no good to us.

Kerr is probably the only manager we've had that treated his job as a full time job.

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Originally Posted by Hibs4Ever

His background and roots. A former Northern Ireland international and British citizan. Why would he not manage England?

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:rolleyes: oh dear......

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Kerr is probably the only manager we've had that treated his job as a full time job.

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Agree with you there ... I guess there is no point in saying at this stage that he should be reappointed .. but what the heck, he should have had another campaign. What makes us think that the two top candidates for arguably the biggest club in the world (Man U) are going to plump for managing Ireland. I mean I love the high opinion that the Irish have ourselves .. but thinking that Hiddink or O'Neill are going to manage us is stretching it a bit to put it mildly. Hope I'm wrong though.

I can see O'Neill managing us to be honest. Hiddink is a shot in the dark though.

But it does look increasingly likely that Ferguson's reign at MUFC is coming to an end & O'Neill and Hiddink are both of the calibre they require, albeit having very different skill sets to each other. This throws a spanner in the works!

For the time being though I think the FAI are right to hold fire on an appointment. There's a lot that can happen in the next few months in terms of managerial availability though I sencerely hope that they are working hard on a contingency plan if their preferred targets prove unavailable. Maybe this is what the rumoured Ranieri meeting was all about. This is where the experience of a professional international search firm would be invaluable. I hope to God it's not a question of JD & Milo thinking among themselves who'd be a candidate.

Hiddink linked with the Man U job this morning according to football365, the board are prepared to wait until after the World Cup before offering him the job

Next Ireland Manager: Alex Ferguson 100-1 .......
He might be unemployed soon.....