QuoteYep, that's probably true.Originally Posted by irishfan86
I agree with this.
(That's us back on the party line EG)
The Englishmen came over in the year 2005
But little did they know that we'd planned a wee surprise
Sir David scored the winner, and Windsor Park went wild
And this is what we sang...
Yep, that's probably true.
Are the Fai offering a fixed salary or a scaled type salary according to quality/experience?
If Houllier was worth a €1.1m p/a then imo Sanchez would be worth about €300,000.
Lord knows.
(There's one bit in the following article which made me burst out laughing - you can probably tell which one
John Laverty's take in the Belfast Telegraph ....
Our Lawrie can pull off yet another big surprise
Friday, January 18, 2008
It could never happen... could it? Well, in football they say anything can happen - and 'they' would normally be right.
Let me take you back to 19 years ago for instance, to July 10, 1989.
I remember the date vividly because it was the day I wrote the biggest 'scoop' of my journalistic career.
A friend, who had an uncle who was best friends with a director of Rangers - yes, it was that vague - told me that, later in the day, the Ibrox club would announce that they had signed striker Mo Johnston.
That the Scottish international player was a Catholic was sensational enough; that he was a former Huns-hating Celtic player... well, I suppose if you're going to shatter a tradition, do it in style.
The Belfast Telegraph put the story on its back page: 'Johnston to sign for Rangers.'
We knew it would get people talking.
What we didn't know was that the phones would virtually ring of the hook all afternoon, with furious Teddy Bears fans berating us for "making up lies " and equally furious Orangemen castigating us for "trying to ruin the Twelfth."
But the story was in fact 100 per cent true.
Early in the afternoon Rangers confirmed it, the headlines moved from our back page to our front page and so was another example of the maxim that, in football, anything can happen.
So don't for one second rule out the possibility that Lawrie Sanchez, once the darling of Windsor Park's Spion Kop, could in a couple of weeks' time be paraded as the new Republic of Ireland manager.
I know Lawrie pretty well. He's confident, assured - even arrogant.
That may have taken a bit of a knock when Premiership club Fulham - whom he upped sticks and left Northern Ireland for last year - sacked him a few weeks ago. But few people in the game are as good at selling themselves as Lawrie is.
And he's good at putting his money where his mouth is, too.
Anyone who read his recent book The Northern Ireland Years will know that he badgered the Irish FA into giving him an interview for the vacant international manager's job.
Like the Republic of Ireland media are doing now, the Ulster scribblers didn't give the man a hope of landing the role.
Remember, Lawrie was courting the IFA, not the other way round.
But it was a different story when the 48-year-old plumped himself down in front of the interview panel.
He told them he could organise a team, motivate them, get them playing the sort of football that gave them a chance of achieving some success.
Moreover, he reminded his inquisitors that he had a penchant for producing the sensational and the unexpected which was exemplified by his winning goal for Wimbledon against red-hot favourites Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final, and his managerial magic in steering no-hopers Wycombe to an FA Cup semi- final.
The rest, as they say, is history; Lawrie got the job - and Northern Ireland fans eventually got a team capable of beating England, Spain and Sweden in three never-to-be-forgotten nights at Windsor Park.
Believe me, those games will be mentioned when Sanchez is interviewed for the Republic job; the irony for Northern Ireland fans there for all to see.
If he gets it, he won't have left 'us' for 'them' and so quite a few members of the Green and White Army will wish him all the best.
But if 'they' are going well and 'we' - the team he left for the Fulham money when they were still in with a brilliant chance of qualifying for Euro 2008 - aren't, that's when the latent bitterness, the wringing of hands and the stories about what might have been will kick in.
Lawrie's catchphrase is: " Don't be surprised if there's a surprise" and another seismic event in the world of football this week would have added credence to that.
Admit it, football fans... if someone had told you a couple of weeks ago that Kevin Keegan - who has spent most of the last three years playing golf - would be named this week as the new manager of Premiership sleeping giants Newcastle United, you'd have laughed in their face.
But there he is, the Geordie messiah returning some 12 years after he left, citing that he had taken the club as far as he could.
It was only a couple of days ago that the Magpies chairman insisted, after the abrupt sacking of previous manager Sam Allardyce, that Newcastle were "looking to the future" in their pursuit of a new boss.
Instead, they looked firmly into the dim and distant past.
Like I said, in football anything is possible.
I agree. Stranger things have happened.
For those on the FAI Board looking for the cheap option as opposed to the 7 figure sums mentioned for most of the other managers, "our Lawrie can pull off yet another big surprise" and get some support on the Board.
Just as I wasn't shocked at the Charlton appointment, I wouldn't be shocked by this one either.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Please no.
In Trap we trust
why not give Coleman an interview? As much as I respect Sanchez's achievements at Norn Iron I do not want him as manager. I'd rather have El Tel and it hurts to write that but I would.
"If God had meant football to be played in the air, he'd have put grass in the sky." Brian Clough.
You'll NEVER beat the Irish.......you'll just draw with us instead!!!
Sanchez
I totally agree. Sanchez did a terrific job with NI but he has only 1 system of play - long ball + a big target man. When that doesn't work, he gets found out as happened at Fulham.
With all due respect to NI, we have more skillful players. I see absolutely no evidence of Sanchez having the coaching ability to get the best out of very skillful players or improve the younger ones.
For all his faults, TV is a widely respected coach and tactician who is spoken of very highly by pretty much every quality player he has coached.
My concern about TV from day 1 has been his commitment to the job not his ability to do it. His recent track record makes me fear that he will be half hearted and, if it goes wrong, he'll gladly walk away with a big payout.
I firmly believe that, if Venables really wants to show that he's still got it and is willing to put the effort, he could get the best out of our players and make us a decent team. We don't need to be a long ball team and I doubt TV would go that way. I have no doubt that Sanchez would and thereby waste the talents of McGeady, Ireland, Reid(s), Duff etc.
Frankly, I wanted Houllier or Coppell or Jol because I am wary of TV. However, if it isn't going to be any of them, I'd much rather have TV (or Hoddle) than Sanchez.
I am confident that TV has the ability to do it, it depends on his commitment.
I'm afraid that Sanchez will have to rebuild his post Fulham reputation somewhere else before I'd consider him for our team.
At the end of the day, if it is TV, then we should get together and give him a chance. It will be clear soon enough if he really cares - if not, then we can have a fair go at him.
However, I think giving him a hard time before he's had a chance would be both unfair and unhelpful to the team.
There is a big difference between being #1 and being #2. I don't think the #2 position suited him with England, he undermined McClaren to a certain extent. He is a good coach with a good record, he will be able to deal with our media quite easily and he'll be able to deal with the FAI. I think the Ireland job is perfect for his ego, he is a pefect match in many ways, baggage notwithstanding.
Think this is the wrong thread for talk about TV but have you actually looked at his results with his last 4 management jobs (not to mention his spell on the board at Portsmouth)? People don't generally give a toss about his bagage, they don't want him because he's been a rubbish manager for the last decade plus....
Looks like Sanchez has interviewed very well - trading at 7/2 third favourite for the job tonight.
The Englishmen came over in the year 2005
But little did they know that we'd planned a wee surprise
Sir David scored the winner, and Windsor Park went wild
And this is what we sang...
Sanchez
Looks like Sanchez has interviewed very well - trading at 7/2 third favourite for the job tonight.
Sanchez - no!
He may interview very well but he's a long ball merchant who won't utilise our skilfull players and will take us backwards.
I think Sanchez would be a disaster.
If it's not Houllier, I'm rooting for Venables or Hoddle, Allardyce or even Brady or Dalglish! Any of them would be preferable to Sanchez.
Probably EG gambling his retirement fund.
Who would have believed it, the Bookies must have had a convention last night, after exhausting the list of candidates over the past weeks it was decided that nobody would fall for another Giles is gonna do it rumour or Bradys got it in the bag, so they thought - how about Lawrie - there must be some people (besides Lawrie) who thinks he has a chance.
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