Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

I would have agreed with you re the 250k a year, but was very surpirsed at the amount of people defending him on this thread in the last few weeks; 'it was the FAI's error, not Robbie's, so he was right to take the money'.

There's mixed feeling online from the Southampton fans about this. Plenty are glad he's out of the team, with a fair amount of harsh Twitter comments saying so, and less harsh but still a fair amount happy on SaintsWeb fan's forum. A lot say although Gav is great with his feet, his shot stopping (especially low, hard and to his left) and dealing with crosses is bad. No argument there from me. Then there's a lot saying they wish he gets back quickly because they aren't happy with the backup keeper. Consensus seems to be that Gav has a few wobbles every game.

To me, as a huge admirer of Gav in his earlier days (I'm a Rover's fan too), I thought he was going to be the real deal, a top keeper. Now I think he'll be lower Championship or L1 at best. Now, the other lad a Liverpool, now I think he's got a better chance to make it, but the jury is still out (he also is prone to a few wobbles, although fewer than Gav) because he really needs to get regular first team football at a high level (Championship+) before he can be assessed.

I think we'd be a lot better off hiring someone who has no previous relationship with the FAI, the players, Ireland, and preferably someone who doesn't understand how incompetent the organisation is and what a basket case we are.

What I would give for a Trapattoni figure now. Someone who doesn't even speak English, who is totally confident and isn't interested in anything we think. We really badly need someone who doesn't respect us at all.

Problem as well is the format for the next World Cup.

Only the top team qualifies straight away, 2nd team plus Nations league into seeded playoffs.

Not too attractive.

With Ireland being an island, I might propose that the team joins the Oceania Football Confederation. Some mighty away trips there, as well.

Yeah, that's a bad blow for him. Southampton in with a strong shout of promotion and he likely would have been a starter in the Premier league for them.

And a shock to no-one

Clueless..

Needed a deep clean, not just Delaney

Think Southampton would have brought in an experienced keeper next season like Bournemouth did with Neto. Put some pressure on Bazunu to perform.

Unfortunately for Bazunu now they'll definitely bring in a new keeper this summer even if they don't get promoted. If said keeper is performing for Southampton then Bazunu could find it hard to win his place back next season once fit.

Kerr was obviously brought in as an insurance policy to cover the interim post in case O'Shea walks. Him babysitting John for a couple of meaningless friendlies never made much sense to me.

Janne Andersson's contract finished in November 2023 and they hired the new manager end of Feb 2024.

The FAI are a running joke. As is the appointment of the senior manager. It should have been done months ago, then it was supposed to be this week. Now we've to wait at least another 4 months. Those in charge aren't up to the job.

Let’s leave aside the fact that we still don’t a manager for a moment. It’s hard to attract the perfect candidate, and so on.

What we have learned is that you cannot believe what the FAI say, they make it up as they go along. This is very damaging as we saw at the Oireachtas, the government won’t give funding to a dishonest shambles of an organization.

They always said the manager search was going very well. They said February, then they said March. Then they said early April. Then they said mid-April. Then they went silent again. Now they say September, but we all know this is just a meaningless timeframe.

Who would give this organization €863m and trust them with it ?

Remember how insulting that redacted email was to the Oireachtas, handed in late and only 45 minutes before the actual hearing.

They also breached their bailout conditions.

The manager search pales into insignificance among all their problems.

Think they'll more likely try to find themselves someone with experience that's maybe available on a free or brought in on loan. Don't think they'll spend big another young keeper.

Also wouldn't surprise if this long term injury to Bazunu see's Kelleher stay at Liverpool next season. With Bazunu out he's probably guaranteed the number 1 spot. So give it one more crack at Liverpool with there going to be some upheaval there this summer.

Think if Sagnol is their guy then they need to have a deal done for him before the Euros start. Can't wait till August to get a deal done as he'll have options after the Euros. Though like Lennon and Robbie Keane hiring Sagnol is gonna bring them some backlash after his comments about African players.

Yeah I dont getvhow the idea of we are waiting for this summers managerial changes to pick a new manager.

Sure theres a manager merry go round but Ireland isn't gunna be winning a manager when dozens of clubs will be offering far better deals. Sagnol will have better options than us.

The money on offer must be terrible, no one wants the job

I just find it hard to get upset about a 9 month period with no competitive games… like, yeah, it'd be nice if they were in place sooner and got to try out a few things in the couple of friendlies, but we are where we are. We'll only know once the appointment is made whether it was worth the wait. But whatever about anything else, I'm definitely happy we're at least not going to just settle for O'Shea for the sake of it as some wanted.

Money is a huge restraint on appointing a new manager and team, people expecting them to go and splash the cash when they are 60+ million in the red, don't own a stadium, a HQ. They're are the poor relations of the GAA, always were from the off and always will be. I'm old enough to remember the "ban on foreign games " when in school . Despite football being globally a huge sport it is still behind the parochial GAA , the length and breadth of the country . Its not even called football outside of the pale, soccer FFS . Unfortunately they were also starved of top drawer administrators from the off and here we are, yet some people, lots in fact are surprised.

Money is a huge restraint on appointing the kind of manager we would love to have.

Neil Lennon would have taken the job by the sounds of it, and it's that level manager we will be getting on our budget (not that I want him in the job)

The issues are bigger than any manager at this stage, it will be a viscous circle until we find form and success over a sustained period of time. How that happens, God knows

Limited budget → mediocre manager → mediocre team → mediocre performance→ disgruntled fans → low turn out → financial hit and rinse and repeat

 it will be a viscous circle until we find form and success over a sustained period of time.

Sticky situation alright…

The forthcoming Nations League in September is of crucial importance for our ranking, seeding, etc. To offer a new manager no time to prepare for those games is disgraceful. I utterly reject the shrug shoulders attitude to this. Have people here learned nothing over the past few years on the importance of this competition?