Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968988#Comment_121968988

a risky strategy I would maybe try with o Shea is to pay him a retainer to manage the team till the end of the year.

If we find someone before the first match we like and wants it then he would probably have to let him go meaning he couldn’t be on the management team for the new person as it would be too uncomfortable for the new manager to have him on the staff seeing as he would be a bit of a cuckoo figure.

I don’t even know if that’s a good idea but giving Oshea a 2 year contract because we can’t find anyone better seems a bad plan.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121969052#Comment_121969052

So the new manager would go straight into the World Cup qualifiers with no prep time? That sounds like an awful idea.

A new manager needs to be appointed at the very latest before the Nations League. Nobody should effectively be given a 9 month trial at the job. If Marc Canaham can't find a suitable person, he should be fired.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121969116#Comment_121969116

not what I said but appointing someone like John Oshea is a fairly bad option. I don’t think good options actually exist at the current state of play. We can pick the least worst option currently available or play for more time. I think the latter is an option I would take but I doubt they will as the media would have a field day

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121969144#Comment_121969144

Its pretty much what you said. Its irrelevant anyway, why would JOS accept being put on retainer? He's above that.

The good option is appointing someone and letting them get on with the job. There are friendlies in June and a manager should be given time to work with the players then.

The worst option is appointing nobody.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121969192#Comment_121969192

appointing someone is the best option. Ok, thank you for that.

As I say, I’m not seeing many good solutions being put forward for all the criticism directed at the FAI.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121969207#Comment_121969207

They've had 6 months. They should be criticised.

I have not studied the options for the last 6 months, they have.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121969224#Comment_121969224

I might sum it up by saying Irish football is smalltime, European and Uk football is big time.

We’ve ran into the problem that we can’t afford the buy-in stake at the UK and European football poker table.

kowloonkev

I've revised my opinion. The new FAI are absolute geniuses. They have managed to persuade fairly reasonable folks to shift their expectations and position so far that they think John O'Shea is a decent option to follow Stephen Kenny.

YTM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121969274#Comment_121969274

And look at all the money saved by not having appointed anyone yet.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121969263#Comment_121969263

We can hire a manager. Are you expectations so low that you don't believe an international football team of our stature cannot attract a manager?

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970143#Comment_121970143

we cannot currently attract a manager that would be a popular appointment. That’s different from every appointment since Stan.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970214#Comment_121970214

We definitely could have but the FAI have messed this up. It’s ridiculous to say we couldn’t.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970330#Comment_121970330

I don’t know what evidence that assertion is based on

kowloonkev

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970330#Comment_121970330

I would agree with you on that because I am sure they could attract a manager at the exact opposite end of the spectrum they've been looking at. They should be looking for a very experienced manager 60+ who would be more relaxed to take on the role. Instead they want Ireland to be a stepping stone for an apprentice.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970620#Comment_121970620

can you name a 60+ manager who works for 700k a year who would be marketable to the Irish fans and media?

Patrick2010

I can’t but I’d imagine there are experienced managers 60+ who have their money made who would find 700k pa for basically a part time job attractive

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970680#Comment_121970680

didn’t realise Duff was on 700k+ at Shels.

There’s one very obvious name we could have gotten 6 months ago. FAI messed it up and he can’t be gotten now. He’s even >60.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970898#Comment_121970898

Mark Hughes? Steve Coppell? Martin Jol? Héctor Cúper? Vahid Hadlilozic? Alberto Zaccheroni?

Jorge Sampaoli or Rafa Benitez probably still wanting a payday.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970900#Comment_121970900

ah yes; Philippe Troussier

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971005#Comment_121971005

you don’t reckon Duff woulda taken the job at the end of the LOI season? Wouldn’t take it for the wages on offer? Or wouldn’t have been marketable to Irish fans?

Which is it?

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971035#Comment_121971035

oh you meant duff, you know >60 means more than 60, not less?

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971043#Comment_121971043

you know people make typos. Considering I typed duff, it’s pretty clear I mean duff yeah.

If this is the strength of your argument. Fair play.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971074#Comment_121971074

I honestly thought you meant someone else who you weren’t naming. I thought you meant Bruce or something. It isn’t a typo. It’s just you misread it which is grand.

I don’t think duff is very marketable yet to the fan base. I think the fai going after carsley was a better option than immediately appointing Duff 6 months ago. I think it’s very early to be targeting duff as number one choice for a job of this magnitude.

I’d be a close LOI follower and he seems a bit emotionally out of control which is not something I associate with many successful managers.

He also has a bad relationship with the FAI.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971132#Comment_121971132

You don’t think Duff is marketable? That’s a joke.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971158#Comment_121971158

I think duff as a former player is marketable, I think duff as the manager who’s biggest deal is getting walloped in a cup final and getting Shels into Europe is underwhelming. It’s a wait and see job for me and many others.

If you follow LOI you know his style of football is putrid aswell.

~Rebel~

Duff has made it fairly clear he has zero interest in the job at this stage of his career anyway, so it’s a bit of a moot point.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971177#Comment_121971177

So you accept he is marketable, grand. I’ll leave it there with you.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971179#Comment_121971179

In the past few days he has but not 6 months back which is the point.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971193#Comment_121971193

ok then, the FAI ‘s great error was not appointing Damien duff immediately…we’ll see how that ages in a couple of years

Guffy

I think Duff has a plan for his coaching career that does involve Ireland, but that's just not now. Duff is doing a very good job at Shelvourne, and given their off season, it would have been a shame to see him walk away before the season started.

Duff has a long coaching career ahead of him imo, hopefully he'll manage us one day but i don't think now is right for him or us

Loafing Oaf

Evan Ferguson not even on the bench for Brighton tonight. Supposedly has a 'knock'…nothing to do with Joao Pedro being back in the team I'm sure…

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971193#Comment_121971193

Why do you think he was any more amenable to the FAI 6 months ago than he is today? I don’t see it to be honest, I think his feeling towards that job has been the same since he walked away from them. The sheer number of times he used the word ‘trust’ in talking about his current job seemed quite intentional in pointing out he’s never had any trust in the FAI. It actually sounded like he’s only just starting to warm to them, stating he stopped watching them after he left but would tune in for the JOS games.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971616#Comment_121971616

Duff wants to make his mark on Irish football. Being Ireland manager is the greatest opportunity to do that. However, he’s seen the carry on over the past 6 months, it’s poison now. He has a good thing going at Shels and he clearly isn’t in it for the money.

Ultimately we’ve no idea if Duff would have taken it 6 months ago. I believe he would have for the reason outlined above, you believe otherwise.

Duff was an example. The other poster reckons Ireland cannot attract a manager. I think that’s crazy. Leaving the politics of Israel aside, I think Robbie would have taken it. I think he is marketable and would have been met with a broad “fair enough”. I think there’s a decent list of other managers that would have taken it. The other poster reckons differently and thinks we should wait up to January 2025 to appoint a full time coach. I think that’s crazy. That was the starting point and Duff was an example, nothing more.

noodler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968413#Comment_121968413

I know a few people made this claim during his reign but I thought it hd been well debunked by now.

Irish fans typically support their country, Netherlands and France are massive draws, fai sell tickets in a double pack and the Greek home game didn't seem very well attended.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971698#Comment_121971698

I don't know… he's literally talked about how being Irish manager doesn't really matter. As he said, all that matters is the academies. He described everything else as irrelevant, particularly anything any manager does before those academies are improved and start getting players through to senior level. ("It’s academies, academies, academies. By the time academy structures are properly in place, money is invested, the manager who comes in [now] will be long gone by the time academies start churning out the players. If I’m a manager taking over Ireland tomorrow you’re not really going to be given time to wait for academy players coming through.")

I could be wrong, but I really really don't think he'd have gone anywhere near that job 6 months ago, any more than today.

I do agree that we should of course be looking to get the best manager we can in the door for the upcoming campaign though, and not settle for someone with no experience and even very little track record at assistant level.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971698#Comment_121971698

so we need to presume that

• duff was prepared to take the Irish job 6 months ago but not now, even though he has a bad relationship with the FAI since leaving his post on Kenny’s staff in 2021 after videogate
• That Robbie Keane would take the job despite his terrible relationship with the fai
• That either men’s appointment would be or would have been greeted warmly by Irish fans even though there was no real groundswell of support for either men to take the job at any time.
• There’s a decent list of other managers that would have taken it at the terms offered. No names put forward mind. A decent list of managers that the fans would have supported in the job but that the FAI for some unknown reason haven’t pursued.

It’s all kind of …baloney as judge Judy calls it.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971928#Comment_121971928

I take everything Duff says with a truckload of salt. I say that as a Shels supporter. He’s also said the LOI is the best league in the world. He says a lot of stuff. In my opinion, his comments in the last few days are to massively distance himself from the Ireland job, there was speculation around him over the past few months and only now has he really distanced himself from it. He’s kept relatively quiet up until now. At the end of last season, he threatened to walk away. The owner of Shels left instead. I think he was gettable. It’s pure speculation and not of the most relevance to the original point being made.

Who that person will be leading us into the next campaign? I’ve no idea.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971931#Comment_121971931

A 9 month trial is the way forward according to you. JOS can be fired at any time in case someone better comes along. Good stuff.

We should get the Shels guys in, turns out it’s a more attractive job according to you.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972076#Comment_121972076

maybe that isn’t a great idea (mainly coz Oshea probably wouldn’t agree to it) but at least I acknowledged that. For me it’s a reaction against the apparent demand we have to have a manager now when there’s no real candidate of substance currently. If there’s no good houses, you continue to rent till there is, if there’s no good cars, you continue to take the bus until there is. If there’s no good Irish managers available, we have to take a bad option apparently.

You’re putting forward a load of baloney theories centered on a man’s inner thoughts that you’ve probably never met.

edit - and your idea that the huge mistake the fai made was not immediately appointing duff six months ago is more baloney

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972108#Comment_121972108

I’ve met Duff. Let him use the toilet ahead of me on the flight to Estonia. Queue was bigger for the players toilet than the queue at the back of the plane. I reckon that makes me qualified. I didn’t meet Robbie tho.

You asked for names. It doesn’t matter who I say, you’ll just criticise them and say “boloney”. Of course they’re my thoughts, it’s a forum. I woulda have given it to Hughton who also is marketable to the Irish public but a decent cohort actively didn’t want him. I reckon he’d be accepted now oddly enough.

Nobody can say for certainty if Duff or Keane would take it. Your dismissal of them is also based on your inner thoughts. It’s a forum.

It doesn’t matter what anyone says to you, it’s not the FAIs fault unless the person has a name or funding model. According to you, you can’t criticise the FAI unless you have the solution which is nonsense.

We should have a manager by now and it’s embarrassing we don’t. You think that isn’t the FAIs fault.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972148#Comment_121972148

It’s based on my inner thoughts, not my perceptions of the inner thoughts of a human being I once met in a toilet queue.

~Rebel~

Oof, even still I'd be very wary of Hughton. Lovely lovely man, but such a known-bad quantity at this stage. In that sort of category, I'd have Lennon well ahead of him, who has made no secret of how much he wants it.

For me at this stage I'd go with either Lennon, or one of the higher-rated assistants floating around (ideally one of the ones rated more highly than O'Shea, like Paddy McCarthy, or the wunderkind Barry)

I still wonder if Sagnol isn't off the table though - he has the Euros now of course, but I'd be grand and happy to wait until after that to take him on, since we don't have any competitive games until September anyway.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972171#Comment_121972171

I’d bite your hand off for Sagnol.

I’d take Hughton over Lennon but tbh, I’d take either. Both would be fine in the same way Poyet would be fine.

Whoever is appointed now is going to see some backlash that it’s taken so long and the “contractual obligations”.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972165#Comment_121972165

I honestly just think you’re bored and want an argument.

Yeah, everyone’s opinion here is based off their inner thoughts and what they believe other people think. None of this discussion based on objective fact.

There’s no point in us discussing anything further.

Kerry_2008

It really does look like Poyet agreed to the gig and is now having second thoughts or trying to play the Greek FA off the FAI to get a new contract or a better offer from the FAI.

It does look very poor that we are still scratching around for a manager after all this time though. Did the line about needing international experience come from anyone other than Lennon?

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972361#Comment_121972361

The 'we have our man' was also a load of bollocks

SaoPaulo41

Looks like delayed now till end of April.

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/12673161/ireland-manager-fai-push-back-decision-april/

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972217#Comment_121972217

just think characterizing as the FAI’s huge error to be not appointing duff 6 months ago isn’t a very convincing argument to criticize the FAI.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972714#Comment_121972714

Unfortunately for Duff the FAI were well and truly burned after appointing the LOI's "best" last time.

From a PR point of view they can't go LOI again.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972738#Comment_121972738

duff isn’t even the LOI’s best. That would be Bradley as things stand. To use hurling parlance it’s like it’s 2013 or 2014 and Bradley is Brian Cody. Duff is like Davy Fitz.

budgemook

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972762#Comment_121972762

Definitely looking for an argument 😀😉