I'm not sure he could, ahem, handle the pressure here.
Similarly, you cannot assume Scotland would have scored the penalty. Or that Hungary wouldn't have gone hell for leather upon going 1-0 down, against a mediocre and tiring Scots defence.
Anyhow, to get back onto managerial matters, some people at the FAW are pushing for Thierry Henry to succeed Rob Page (TH did his coaching badges with the FAW). Re the salary:
"The FAW would not be able to offer Henry as large a salary as some other national associations but, as he would be able to maintain his lucrative media and sponsorship work if he was Wales manager, the governing body believes its financial constraints would not necessarily prevent a deal from happening."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/cl44y5ld6myo
I wonder might the FAI look to Hen... Oh, wait...![]()
I'm not sure he could, ahem, handle the pressure here.
List of people not acceptable for various reasons:
Sagnol - racist
Henry - cheat
Keane - complicit in genocide
ESG demands make recuitment a difficult job these days
I wouldn't give Henry the U21s job and it's got nothing to do with the handball because roles reversed Irish fans would have been doing cartwheels and signing ole ole as we went to SA.
Why can't we just be like Austria.
What fun for their fans right now this second
Should hire Austrian assistant manager Peter Perchtold
And where have I claimed that Hughton is ‘great’ ?
I would support Carsley, Barry or even Barry-Murphy if the FAI were going young - but with the likes of Lennon and Sagnol etc. being touted I would take Hughton every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
What is currently happening has gone beyond embarrassing and incompetence and the FAI are still stumbling along with JOS now the only prospect on the list.
I’ve been banging the Hughton drum for a while. I don’t understand why he’s been ruled out.
In another note, has anyone mentioned Big Sam?
What about Malky Mackay? He ticks a number of the boxes for discussion here. 1) A bit sh!t and 2) racist, homophobic and sexist.
I think Willy Sagnol is currently drifting well out of the FAI's price range as well.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
John O'Shea the big winner tonight from an Irish point of view.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
I think its time for the FAI to draw up a job spec and place an open ad on its website and anywhere you advertise a managerial vacancy and let people apply and hold interviews if necessary. Its a 4 year old role realistically as with our hosting of Euro 2028 we should qualify for the tournament.
There are some good coaches out there. It feels like we are going around in circles and we need someone appointed by the 7th August before the EFL starts back.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/trai...iner/statistik
Miguel Delaney
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-b2569760.html
Sagnol made a point of lauding the forward-thinking of the Georgian football federation, talking about these players come from investment in infrastructure 15 years ago.
What is more interesting, however, is that this just wasn’t the academy system copied from Spain or Germany. Georgia kept much more of their own cultural approach to football. This isn’t just the usual thing you hear in these discussions either. Georgian football is an outlier in many ways.
Just go onto the internet now and search for clips from Dinamo Tbilisi’s victory over Liverpool in the 1979-80 European Cup. The Georgian side overwhelmed Bob Paisley’s great side 3-0 with an expressiveness and innovation that would stand out even in today’s football. The second goal is a sensation. Centre-half Giorgi Chilaia suddenly surges forward 60 yards at full pelt, before slipping in Ramaz Shengelia to deftly lift the ball over Ray Clemence. There were echoes of that in what we saw against Portugal. West Ham United meanwhile still talk about how the same team took them apart on the way to lifting the Cup Winners’ Cup the following season.
The manner in which these football cultures were subsumed into the Soviet Union international side meant clubs like Dinamo Tbilisi served as quasi-national teams, but Georgia now have their own.
---
It should be acknowledged that these sort of instructive stories come around any time any lesser-resourced country breaks through, as we already saw so much with Iceland in 2016. They aren’t always lasting, and what probably happens is that the initial shift brings enough difference and enough of a charge to do something more. By the same token, that doesn’t necessarily mean there is anything that other countries can directly mimic. It's more about the real benefit of proper focused planning.
Sagnol duly told his players to go and play like “when you were 16, 17, 18”. They did that while complementing it with a mature defensive display. Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili’s saves and defender Giorgi Gvelesiani were superb.
Some of that is Sagnol’s keen tactical mind, but all of it is empowered by his motivation. You only have to read his words here. To hear him say them is even more convincing. Sagnol is a captivating and charismatic speaker, who has already marked himself as one of the managers of the tournament. You can see why his players follow him.
Ireland have been talking to him about their job, but he may already be getting to the point where he’s out of their reach. More lucrative job offers will surely follow this.
Bookmarks