John Giles resignation and Stan

**Noelys Guitar** · 08/09/2006, 2:02 AM

John Giles resigned after the first qualifying game for WC 82. It was against Cyprus away and we won 3-2. Giles felt he had taken the team as far as he could. And honorably resigned in MO. OK obviously not his first competitive game in charge. But here we are again going to Cyprus and it all feels eerily similar. The result will be crucial. Anyone thinking ahead to the Czech game please stop now. As this Cyprus game is no forgone conclusion. And I for one do not believe Stan will resign even if we don't win. What will the FAI do then? Fire Stan and pay off a 4 year contract? Don't think so. Are they even thinking about this possibility? I doubt it. They should be.

**OwlsFan** · 08/09/2006, 6:54 AM

I see no similarities whatsoever. Giles had been a failure as national manager but had had a fair crack of the whip. The fans never took to his "Mick Martin passes to Giles who passes back to Martin who passes sideways to Dunne who passes back to Martin who loses possession in front of the goal and the opposition" score type of football.

Staunton, on a 4 year contract, has lost his first game narrowly to the 3rd best team in the world on their patch and he might consider resigning. I find all this anti-Staunton stuff at this stage laughable. Talk about not giving someone a chance. Not my choice of manager but let's see how things go - I would have thought that obvious. The fickle fan: you can't beat him.

**nedder** · 08/09/2006, 7:27 AM

Great post owls fan,

Plently of fickle fans around here...

and I'm sure their was NI fans calling for Sanchez's head after they lost to Iceland last week......what happened next?

**macdermesser** · 08/09/2006, 8:22 AM

Originally Posted by nedder

Great post owls fan,

Plently of fickle fans around here...

and I'm sure their was NI fans calling for Sanchez's head after they lost to Iceland last week......what happened next?

he resigned himself

**Istabraq** · 08/09/2006, 8:57 AM

We will just have to wait and see which supporters change their tune. The pro or anti Stans? Hope Im wrong, but I'd be pretty confident it will be the pro's.

Kerr had the goodwill and general support of the majority of the fans when he took over. "Well he deserves his chance" was echoed.
Stans tenure began with shock and disbelief, and imo, will end in farce.

**geysir** · 08/09/2006, 9:05 AM

Yes Owls, I'm glad you got out of bed early to nail this stupidity on the head.
But, Giles had arguably the best home record of all, undefeated 6 wins 3 draws including some of our best ever performances. The snails pace cautious build up was just a feature in the last qual campaign.

**Emmet** · 08/09/2006, 12:05 PM

Staunton should be given the whole qualifying campaign at least ... anything less than that would be unfair and would only further unsettle an already unsettled squad of players

**DotTV** · 08/09/2006, 12:10 PM

Talk of Stan being fired is ridiculous.
He's had one competitive match against the World Cup bronze medallists and we put up a decent show against them.
We need some stability and canning the manager after a few friendlies isn't the way to go.

**Noelys Guitar** · 08/09/2006, 3:44 PM

I didn't say I was in favour of sacking him. I was painting a realistic pic of what could happen. And I take it a few of you favour keeping Staunton on if we don't win in Cyprus? And a "fickle" fan who has "fickled" his way around the world to watch Ireland play for the last 30 years or so!

**thelimerick** · 08/09/2006, 3:57 PM

Originally Posted by DotTV

Talk of Stan being fired is ridiculous.
He's had one competitive match against the World Cup bronze medallists and we put up a decent show against them.
We need some stability and canning the manager after a few friendlies isn't the way to go.

Had it not been for Shay Given we would have lost that match 4/5 nil.
Stan also got himself sent off in his first competitive match, made an arse out of himself in the interview after the game, played our better players out of position to accomadate the poorer members of the team.
The gamble to hire him as Ireland manager and give him a four year contract was made by the FAI. It's their fault pure and simple. I don't blame Staunton, he is completely under qualified and should never have been given the job in the first place.
The fact remains though, we have a manager that has never managed before with a "guru" thats seriously ill and ineffective. For us to gain anything out of this farce, time is of the essence. If he doesn't go we are in serious trouble. We have a manager that decided to "change things" in the Germany game by taking off our most skillfull and talented player while leaving Kilbane run aimlessly about the pitch marking thin air. Thats simply not good enough.
He will try until the bitter end, give it his all, 100%, there is no doubting that, he wants this to work. His is not qualified to manage however and is in the wrong job at the wrong time, no matter how hard it will not work because he has not got enough knowledge or education to be a good manager. People talk of players making the step up, look at who they are though, look at what they accomplished. Stan barely makes the grade as a good club captain. Its ridiculous and the entire squad knows it.
We need someone who knows what he is doing, not merely learning the job as he goes along. The fact that people are calling for him to go after his first competitive match actually speaks volumes for the situation we are in.

**DotTV** · 08/09/2006, 4:16 PM

Originally Posted by thelimerick

Had it not been for Shay Given we would have lost that match 4/5 nil.Stan also got himself sent off in his first competitive match, made an arse out of himself in the interview after the game, played our better players out of position to accomadate the poorer members of the team.
The gamble to hire him as Ireland manager and give him a four year contract was made by the FAI. It's their fault pure and simple. I don't blame Staunton, he is completely under qualified and should never have been given the job in the first place.
The fact remains though, we have a manager that has never managed before with a "guru" thats seriously ill and ineffective. For us to gain anything out of this farce, time is of the essence. If he doesn't go we are in serious trouble. We have a manager that decided to "change things" in the Germany game by taking off our most skillfull and talented player while leaving Kilbane run aimlessly about the pitch marking thin air. Thats simply not good enough.
He will try until the bitter end, give it his all, 100%, there is no doubting that, he wants this to work. His is not qualified to manage however and is in the wrong job at the wrong time, no matter how hard it will not work because he has not got enough knowledge or education to be a good manager. People talk of players making the step up, look at who they are though, look at what they accomplished. Stan barely makes the grade as a good club captain. Its ridiculous and the entire squad knows it.
We need someone who knows what he is doing, not merely learning the job as he goes along. The fact that people are calling for him to go after his first competitive match actually speaks volumes for the situation we are in.

Given made an excellent save from Klose's header and again from Klose at short range in the second half.
He made a good save from Podolski but it was hit close to him.The goal they got was a stroke of luck so I wouldn't think the Germans could have won by 4 or 5.
They definetly weren't 4 or 5 goals better than us on Saturday.
The fact that people are calling for him to go speaks volumes about the types of retards that follow the team and listen to hacks like Dunphy.

**Merc67** · 08/09/2006, 5:50 PM

Originally Posted by thelimerick

Had it not been for Shay Given we would have lost that match 4/5 nil..

yes, let's head to Cyprus with only ten men on the pitch.
i was going to read the rest of your argument, but anyone who continues to use the 'but for our keeper....' line isn't worth listening to.
you have a keeper, world class or not, and his job is to stop goals. end of. do you want stan to do without a world class keeper??

**JayC90** · 08/09/2006, 6:26 PM

Originally Posted by Merc67

yes, let's head to Cyprus with only ten men on the pitch.
i was going to read the rest of your argument, but anyone who continues to use the 'but for our keeper....' line isn't worth listening to.
you have a keeper, world class or not, and his job is to stop goals. end of. do you want stan to do without a world class keeper??

Anyone who claims that 'Stan' had anything to do with Given's superb performance isn't worth listening to. We must assume that Given would have played like that regardless of who the manager was, but the sheer number of shots (not goals as you stated) he had to save was worrying and that was down to Staunton picking wrong tactics. He is a joke of a manager, tactically clueless, and his post-match interviews are laughable.
To the chap that said we wouldn't have lost 4 or 5 without Given in nets, dream on. Given made 3 top class saves that Paddy Kenny simply would not have come close to, and you seem to forgetting about the penalty claim. Also, Ballack had a completely free header and everytime the Germans had the ball they looked dangerous, even when they sat back in the last 15 minutes. We couldn't do anything on the ball - again, mostly down to poor tactics. Why should Staunton be given more chances if we lose in Cyprus? The three friendlies he was in charge for were geared towards finding the right team that would beat Germany. He has certainly failed there, shown by the fact that he called up St. Ledger for a European Qualifying match when he isn't even capped. It's obvious that he is not a world class manager, which is what we need, so what's the point in letting the man continue if it's inevitable he won't qualify. Get rid of this stupid inferiority complex that we are in a 'transition' period, absolute nonsense. We have a team full of Premiership players, a goalkeeper the likes of which this country won't see again for a very long time and our all-time international top scorer. If we aren't going to qualify here, then we have no chance for WC 2010. We should be going into these matches thinking we will win, because anything less is mediocre, however with Staunton there, qualification looks distant.

**eirebhoy** · 08/09/2006, 7:14 PM

Originally Posted by JayC90

To the chap that said we wouldn't have lost 4 or 5 without Given in nets, dream on. Given made 3 top class saves that Paddy Kenny simply would not have come close to

What 3 top class saves were these? The save from Klose was a top class save. What else?

**Emmet** · 08/09/2006, 7:45 PM

Originally Posted by thelimerick

If he doesn't go we are in serious trouble.

Do you think that getting rid of him will really help? What effect will it have on the players? It is proven statistically that teams who chop and change their managers regularly are always unsuccessful. I wasn't in favour of his appointment but I think that keeping him as manager would definitely be the lesser of two evils. And besides - no half decent manager would want to work for an association that sacked his predecessor after only one competitive match!

Originally Posted by thelimerick

We have a manager that decided to "change things" in the Germany game by taking off our most skillfull and talented player

And this player did what exactly? How many shots did he have? How many times did he take on the German defence? He is our most talented player yes but he has been anonamous for ages. Duff needs a good kick up the arse - he has been coasting since his performances in 2002. Taking him off might wake him up and make him realise he's a senior member of the squad now and he needs to start delivering the sort of performances his talent merits.

**Stuttgart88** · 09/09/2006, 8:44 AM

I gave qaulified support to Staunton's appointment (along with SBR) when many were outraged. After 4 games I have reasons to be concerned. It's hard to ignore the Chile & Holland games, but in the spirit of fairness, I'll do my best to, mmerely observing that I found some of the tactical moves ''odd''.

In Germany, the only game that actually has counted for anything so far, I thought the players gave a game performance. Our defence in particular was very solid. Others put in game performances too but the critical area of the pitch - central midfield - was a miserable failure.

Steven Reid, who I admit was dire against Holland, was played on the wing where he has never once played well for Ireland.
Kilbane, whose spersistent selection in central mid by Kerr was one of Kerr's biggest mistakes IMHO, was played yet again where he doresn't have the aptitude to play.
Andy Reid, who may have been injured, wasn't even in the squad. A bit of communication in this regard would at least have been a help.

The selection gave rise to a suspicion that maybe Staunton is doing a Sven - picking his tried & trusted ''senior players'' at all costs, at the expense of only a moderately braver (and more orthodox in terms of palying players where they actually like to play) approach.

The Emmet Malone article pointing out the Doc vs Paddy McCarthy ''head to head'' assessment is a cause for concern.

I personally have grave doubts that Staunton & his team actually know all about the top 30 players in contention for a place and how the likes of mcPhail are performing. Objection your honour, pure speculation. Upheld, I accept.

I've never been one to harp on about the manager. I gave Mick my full support, even during the losing streak in 96 & 97. I gave Kerr my support until the dreadful performances in our last 2 games last time out simply proved that rightly or wrongly, the players were simply not responding to bhis methods.

So I'm not calling for Stan's head by any means. SBR is as competent a man as we''ve ever had on or near our bench, but do we even know if he'll be involved in future? This guy has far more important matters on his plate.

This doesn't make me fickle, I'm just stating my concerns over the way things have started. Some of the simple basics don't appear to have been adhered to so far and this worries me.

**geysir** · 09/09/2006, 9:38 AM

Nicely written Stutts.
Whilst I supported Kerr up to his last game, in review it's no small coincidence that we were poor without Roy for the most part and with him for the most part we were decent enough.
I thought a a team of Stan and Bobby one of the most respected coaches in Europe, would do.
Without Roy we are still rudderless in midfield and Robson's presence has been missed.
There is nobody in the entire squad proven yet to come within a distance of offering what Roy gave to the team from midfield.

The evidence from the German game is that we are looking much better than the last 2 games of the WCQ, with room in the team to improve.
I'd predict a comfortable enough 2-0 win in Cyprus.
Losing in Cyprus would be a total mess for Irish football.

**JayC90** · 09/09/2006, 8:37 PM

2-0? When Slovakia, who many would consider to be our closest rivals to cause an upset in the group, can beat Cyprus 6-1, we should be aiming for a lot higher than 2-0. I do hope that if the team destroys Cyprus by about 4-0 or 5-0, the scoring drought will end.
And the 3 top saves Given made that I was referring to, were the two from Klose (one being a header, the other a shot which Given saved with his legs) and the Podolski shot. He was also very close to preventing the goal.

**eirebhoy** · 09/09/2006, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by JayC90

2-0? When Slovakia, who many would consider to be our closest rivals to cause an upset in the group, can beat Cyprus 6-1, we should be aiming for a lot higher than 2-0. I do hope that if the team destroys Cyprus by about 4-0 or 5-0, the scoring drought will end.
And the 3 top saves Given made that I was referring to, were the two from Klose (one being a header, the other a shot which Given saved with his legs) and the Podolski shot. He was also very close to preventing the goal.

The Podolski shot was right at him. He had no choice but to push it over the bar because of the power but it'd be an absolute howler if a keeper let that one in. Given made 2 good saves in the entire match. Robbie Keane and Dunne should both have scored too.

As for Cyprus - They haven't been beaten at home by more than 2 since we played them 5 years ago.

**Stuttgart88** · 11/09/2006, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

A bit of communication in this regard would at least have been a help.

Hopefully this'll help.

From FAI website:

The FAI has confirmed today that they have appointed Gerry McDermott as Communications Manager.
Mr McDermott joins the Association from the Irish Independent where he was soccer correspondent. Prior to joining Independent Newspapers in 1998, he was Deputy Sports Editor at The Star and during his 25 year career in journalism he also worked for the Donegal Democrat, LMFM Radio, Evening Press and RTE.

He is a graduate of the School of Business Studies at Dundalk Institute of Technology and holds a Diploma in Public Relations from the Public Relations Institute of Ireland. He served as a board member of the PRII for four years from 1998.
Mr. McDermott's responsibilities will include Public Relations, Internal Communications and the development of the Association's website, www.fai.ie. He will report to the FAI's Director of Strategic, Stadium and Media Affairs, Declan Conroy, and takes up his new post on Monday, September 18.