The killer there was the Macedonian equaliser in injury time that sent us into the play offs.
I was never as disappointed after a football match.
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I was at that match. Spent the 90 mins getting bricks thrown at us from a load of Skopje’s finest runts.
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I’d forgotten Quinns opener in this one, really lends credibility to Barry Muphys “Frank Stapleton” pisstake of Quinn only scoring more goals for Ireland than him because of the length of his legs being like having an extra leg.
But But But Carsley wouldn’t touch the Ireland job:rofl:
The commentary on this version 
Ok I think you’ve made your point. Or what was your point originally?
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I referenced it on this very thread yesterday. Please pay closer attention to my incisive & informative posts.
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He doesn’t exactly have a stellar record - you could argue that Kenny’s was better.
Lennon hangs his hat on beating Barcelona & qualifying for the CL last 16. But his Celtic spell was littered with some terrible cup results & performances while whatever version of Rangers had their players looking for footballs in bushes at the side of pitches in division 3 or 4. Now he won a number of cups too but there was some awful games where Celtic didn’t show up & were turned over by the likes of Hearts, Kilmarnock & so on. No side is immune to a cup upset but it happened too often given the disparity in financial resources. International qualification campaigns are like a series of cup ties so I’m not bothered they’ve looked beyond him. I’d probably have him ahead of Carsley but would prefer an alternative to both.
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His playing career means he won’t automatically have the ex pros against him which will be a big help. I suppose the demands of managing the England u21s in the sense that it’s international football small window to work etc would be more similar than managing Portsmouth the play off contention or the likes. It’s an absolute shot in the dark but sure fuck it. If we couldn’t get the perfect candidate in Roy Keane he’s next best.
It wasn’t the killer though. We were still in the competition. We would probably have got through had Carsley not handled the ball. We were better than the Turks.
Anyway we qualified for the following World Cup and we might not have done that had we qualified for Euro 2000 because we could have had a hangover after that tournament, instead the team was laser focussed going into the big away games at the start of the World Cup campaign which set us up to qualify. So it worked out alright in the end.
Who would’ve been your ideal choice? I’d have loved to see a Ralph Hassenhuttl or Rafa Benitez but realistically both were beyond our means. A box office Roy Keane appointment would have been intriguing too. Although it’s 13 years now since he was sacked by (Ipswich) so his time has probably come and gone.
I have a vague notion that talk permeated out of Manchester City that they were impressed with Carsley as a coach a few years back. Similar to noise around Brian Barry Murphy in recent years. I was cautiously optimistic about Carsley’s appointment given his success with the England U21’s but the forums concerns around his credentials are worth noting. We’re usually a good 2 years ahead of Dan McDonnell and his cronies in OTB. He doesn’t exactly have that oomph factor. There was genuine excitement following the unveiling of Trap 2007-08 or MON 2013-14.
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And even Kenny there was a bit of hope of a new dawn. Maybe we just needed a league of Ireland type fella all along. Now we know that’s a waste of time. I suppose if a fella with carsleys credentials got the Welsh job or something we’d be saying it was a shrewd appointment so let’s get behind lee. I remember I lived with a Donegal lad in college in the late 90s who loved him. ‘get stuck in cyarsley sir!’
To be fair a European U21 winning coach isn’t an awful appointment. He also has a calm authority in interviews which is a huge upgrade on the mumblings of Stephen Kenny.
A far cry from 16 years ago when we were choosing between the most illustrious manager in Italian football history, a former FA Cup and La Liga winning manager who’d taken England to a Euro semi’s 12 years previous (Euro 2012 in a 2024 timeframe) and er yer man who took Bradford and Wigan up to the Prem.
I’m sure Lee Carsley was a major figure in one of our most memorable ever 1-1 victories, against the Czech Republic in October 2006. What a night that was.
Carsley seemed to get better as he went along. By the time he had kind of figured top level football, his legs were probably going.
Pep, Xabi Alonso, Lee Carsley; all played midfield in the top division.
There is an underrated manager. Unlucky to be sacked from Southampton.
You’d hope Carsley’s time watching Championship and underage football, as well as his own background, would be beneficial in unearthing some Plastic Paddies to join the cause. Certainly more useful in this regard than Roy Keane
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As did Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Bryan Robson and Graeme Souness.
They were all pashun merchants mate