There's a classic case of deflection occuring at the FAI at the minute. Every Irish fan to a person expressed reservations at Stans appointment and have been proved right not only through results but through performances and comments since. And now quite rightly when the reservations are expressed more vocally the FAI and other more alloof sections of Fans deflect accountability by comparing us to mindless tabloid readers.
Some of stans peers and former colleagues cite that the expectations of Irish fans are unrealistic given that we haven't got the squad we had 10 or 15 years ago. That's only a half truth. We fully acknowledge that we haven't got the squad of yesteryear, but we asked at the time of his appointment was a man with no managerial experience really the guy to get the best out a limited bunch of players. The focus shouyld not be on the noises being made by Irish supporters but on the silence of those who should account. Where are those who thought stan was the man in the first place? What did they see last year that we didn't see? What do they see now that we don't see?
Delaney has been getting some positive and negative press the last week for his work in the FAI outside that of the senior team. But if he was never going to be judged on and have to account for the senior team wasn't was too easy for him to be so flippint in this radical appointment. He was never gambling with his own chips was he? (Not that I think he alone hired him but you get the point). I think the portrayal of the Irish football fan in all this is unfair. They travelled to San Marino in numbers and turned out with a good heart against the Czechs after the Cyprus fiasco.
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