Fickle Irish fans: Stan should'nt and will not go

Bounty Hunter

Before i start yes the Irish performance against the dutch was embarassing i am not argueing against that after all it was our worst home defeat in 40 years however i am also slightly embarassed by the amount of Irish fans calling for Stauntons head already.

Steve Staunton has inherited argueable the worst Irish selection pool of any of our recent managers, its a squad overly dependant on Given, Duff and Robbie Keane which just like united has yet to fully adapt to the loss of Roy Keane. The new Irish players that have come into the squad have not been the quality we would have wanted and we no longer have high quality players we can rely on in certain positions such as centre back.

this may have been why no high profile manager took the Irelang job. Instead we were left with an Irish legend taking the hot seat just as Holland did with Van Basten and Germany with Klinsmann except in our case our most capped player Steve Staunton being joined by bobby robson as an advisor/mentor. Honestly this seems like a good choice during Ireland transisitional period before high profile Irish managers in waiting such as David O'Leary, Martin O'Neil or even Roy Keane want the job.

Yet despite all this three games into Stauntons Reign people are already call for his resignation, even here on boards where i usually think we have the smarter than usual fan posting. People need to be more realistic about how good Ireland are, and give Stan time to change things.

Unfortunatley once again Ireland have been thrown into a group of Death which is obviously no help to the situation but as per usual however we do have a slim chance of qualification/playoffs, because we have the quality to challenge against an ageing Czech side without nedved and the welsh and with a bit of luck you never know against the germans.

bohsman

Staunton is no legend. It was a shocking decision from day one, unfortunately I cant see the FAI admitting they were wrong by sacking him and for any hope of a career in the future he wont be resigning. As with previous managers he'll have a bad qualifying campaign and his (2year?) contract wont be renewned, hopefully the same mistake wont be made again.

DerekD Goldfish

nstead we were left with an Irish legend taking the hot seat just as Holland did with Van Basten

Except in Hollands case Van Basten had worked for a number of years as the head of youth development at Ajax one of the most prestegious youth acadamys in the wolrd instead of a player coach at walsall for a year in Stauntons case

DaveH

Yes Staunton would be a legend!
3 World Cups...102 caps...Keane could only manage 1 world cup.

Also who else was in the shake up for the job btw??
There wasnt exactly a queue for the job.

Before the game I thought we'd loose two nil, but the fact is we just dont have the players. I though Doyle did okay when he came on, otherwise didnt think much of any of the other players, and unfortunately theres no one to come in.

Only thing is maybe Bobby Robson can help...but thats it unfortunately.

LostinBlanch

To paraphrase that Fickle banner the Villa fans had about O'Leary

I'm not fickle. I just never thought he was the man for the job.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Nor did I, but **** it, he's got it.

It's not a case of being fickle. Most people either thougth he was the wrong person from day one, or of the opinion that it was a meaningless match with a below par squad and what did you expect?

We just don't all get a chacne to write crap in the tabloids about it...

Bounty Hunter

LostinBlanch wrote:

To paraphrase that Fickle banner the Villa fans had about O'Leary

I'm not fickle. I just never thought he was the man for the job.

im a villa fan and that banner was class but it seems anytime someone makes a point like the above one they convieniently forget to mention who they did think was the man for the job which would also what that job ATM.

BaZmO*

bohsman wrote:

Staunton is no legend.

You sure about that?

bohsman wrote:

It was a shocking decision from day one

So who do reckon should of taken the job then?

bohsman wrote:

As with previous managers he'll have a bad qualifying campaign and his (2year?) contract wont be renewned, hopefully the same mistake wont be made again.

Not "2 year", "2 campaign" contract.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Huggles

bohsman wrote:

It was a shocking decision from day one, unfortunately I cant see the FAI admitting they were wrong by sacking him and for any hope of a career in the future he wont be resigning. As with previous managers he'll have a bad qualifying campaign and his (2year?) contract wont be renewned, hopefully the same mistake wont be made again.

Agreed.

bohsman

BaZmO* wrote:

So who do reckon should of taken the job then?

I think Kerr should have been given more time, other than that anyone with a bit of experience, Bohs learned the hard way with Farrelly that people with no experience shouldnt be hired as manager. Martin O'Neill would have been ideal, Venables and Keegan, the other two favourites at the time would have been far better choices aswell.

Anto McC

He shouldn't be sacked,he should resign instead!

He is not up to the job,plain and simple!

wheres me jumpa

Staunton wasnt the right man for me either. But even with the limited intelligence i have on a sunday morning i know that if after months of searching Staunton was the best the FAI could do, id rahter he didnt retire two weeks before our opening gaem, god knows what the FAI would come up with in two weeks, Steve Collins perhaps, yes I meant to say Steve!


The fact is Staunton is here for this campaign at least. And we should get behind the team. I was at the game the other night and the atmosphere before the game and in the lead up to the first goal was terrible. Usually when Ireland concede at home the first thing that happens is the crowd started trying to get the team going. That didnt happen the other night, people want Staunton to fail.

Guy:Incognito

DaveH wrote:

Yes Staunton would be a legend!
3 World Cups...102 caps...Keane could only manage 1 world cup..

HAHAH. That must make that ALi Dai bloke off saudi arabia the best player ever so.George Best never played in a WC and only got around 50 caps, does that mean he was crap?

gosplan

Right here goes.......

Firstly as regards the match the other night. Ireland were poorer in every single part of the pitch. That's pretty much all I'd take from it. People are harping on about the 4-0 result and worst whatever in 40 years but it has to happen sometime.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not dismissing it but every bloody shot on target went in. Kenny(not his fault) didn't get to a single thing. On another day they may have missed a couple, Alan O'Brien would have squared to Doyle for that open goal and Van Der Sar may not have reached Andy O'Brien's header. So can we stop going on about the score as it really doesn't matter. To put it in perspective Italy are delighted they lost 2-0 to Croatia or whoever the other day as the only other Italian coaches to achieve this feat in their first match were the '82 guy and Lippi. The score doesn't matter but the fact that tactics were off and it seemed no effort was made by the players is worrying.

So how responsible is Staunton for all this? As has been mentioned it was close to the start of the season. A lot of our squad pulled out and the others didn't seem motivated.
Again, to put it in perspective, Italy had a similar lifeless performance. They had a totally new squad as they gave the world cup winners some time off. Not one impressed! Some of these would have been playing for possible inclusion in future squads, for others it would be the only time they would put on their country's shirt, nobody put the effort in. It's just a bad time of year for players.
Now this has usually been countered with 'How come the Dutch players were up for it then?' Well I think you have to look at their mental state as a team.
I think they, like the English the other night, produced a good performance partly to atone for a dissapointing world cup. Also you have to look at Van Basten's masterplan. He's taken a young squad and said to them 'You're the future of Dutch football, heirs to Cryuff and I'. They've been told that they're more important then Seedorf, Davids, Gio Van Bronkhurst, RVN and so on. Damned if they're not going to perform for him. Incidentially, I think this could prove to be a brilliant move in about 4 years or so when the team has really matured. In addition they're just really bloody good players.

Anyway, thats the Dutch so what about us. Timing of the match aside, you have to admit that Staunton could well be out of his depth at this level. I'm basing that more on the fact that he's never managed a side then the performance the other night but it's obviously a worrying point and would need to be adressed.
IMHO anyone calling for Staunton to be sacked is an idiot, yes if you're reading this...AN IDIOT, worse even, a reactionary idiot. Managers have to be appointed every so often. Sometimes you get a great one, sometimes not so great. What you do not do is sack one after 1 good and 2 poor friendlys.
The rags like the Herald have run this story in their usual sensationalist style but they're just selling newspapers.
I seriously mean it when I say that anyone calling for him to be sacked has no realistic idea of how a team needs to be run. What do they think, we'd sack Staunton and then O'Neill would leave Villa for a team in decline where he's one bad result away from the door.
As I said good and bad managerial appointments are made(how long did it take spurs to find Martin Jol???) but everyone should be given time. If Staunton turns out to be a poor manager then you chalk it down as a bad appointment and start again.
I think someone mentioned he's contracted for 2 campaigns but he's not a fool and if the team consistantly plays like the other night I imagine he'd step down. Also he's not on a load of cash so the FAI could pay him off easily. He needs a minimum of one Euro campaign though. Hiring and firing managers every few months would totally kill the team.

I would say that if this turns out to be a poor appointment then the FAI need seriously to look at how they make their choices. I'm not totally up to date on how it works but it seems a bit suspect.
Also as an aside, did anyone see mentioned that the Jamacian FA are paying 3 million a year to their next manager? Making the Irish job a really well paid one could work wonders.

Anyway to the future, can Ireland qualify?? I'd say yes. Czechs are in decline, Wales aren't that great and we've got goals in us. What's paramount I'd say is that we score a lot because we're going to conceed. We need to beat Wales twice and take points off Germany somewhere.