Which squad member? Youâve spoken to every squad member since jack left?
Backroom staff
You mug
Oâ Neill had a grand era sure. Beat Germany and Italy, win away to more talented Austrian and Welsh teams. Knocked out Bosnia too. Trap was a handball away from qualifying for consecutive major tournaments.
Sure heâd serve them when they come into the yacht club after training
I think its pretty clear that players of that era are quite defensive of Trap when it would be easy to have a go at him if they felt like it
A few of them werenât fit going in to that tournament
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Liam Brady?
We were very lucky to qualify for Euro 2012 really. Got a very easy group with Russia the only really strong team and we duly finished behind them.
We got poxed to draw Estonia then in the playoffs. Fuck knows how they got there. Theyâve never qualified for a major tournament and thatâs by far and away the closest theyâve come.
Given definitely wasnât and shouldnât have played. Cost us big time
You could say we were lucky then, but we then got a group with 3 of the best teams in the tournament.
How lucky is that compared to MON though? Got lucky twice with the changing system of the Euros. First, finishes third in the qualifying (only due to Scotland falling apart), thatâs a complete failure for any manager previous to him, then finishes third in the group in the Euros itself which wouldnât have qualified previously.
Dela pulled a few lovely strokes back in those days rigging a few draws and changing the qualifying system a few times to suit Ireland.
Who did we have for World Cup 2010 apart from the Italians?
Georgia were there anyway and possibly Armenia?
Was he missing the day we got Spain, Italy and Croatia in the group? Or when they changed the rules to make France seeded in 2009?
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Ah we were fucked whichever way it worked out in 2012. Shur we could have ended up with Germany, Portugal and Holland just as easy. England and France were together too.
He might have taken the eye off the ball in 2009 but at least he made up for it in the following years.
He plucked Estonia and Bosnia out of the hat twice in Play Offs. Denmark too was a winnable tie. We are going to be fucked in with Germany and Italy now every group for the next decade.
Niall Quinn and these fellas will be laughed at by the Big Wigs in UEFA.
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Bosnia were the highest ranked team in the draw when we were drawn to play them mate
Not only was Dela great at rigging the draws, he was a great man to organise the fixture schedule.
He had a thing about long distance travel and would make sure weâd go to Georgia/Armenia and these places in September or October when players were fresh.
He hated the idea of crucial away games taking place in faraway places in June when players were tired after long hard seasons. Weâd always get a home game or two in June.
Dela knew weâd take them over two legs.
He always managed to get the crucial second leg at home too vs Estonia/Bosnia/Denmark.
Unless you have proof that his injuries were due to his physical shape then iâd drop that suggestion. Lots of players are plagued by injuries - Owen, McGrath, Van Basten, etc.
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Trap was a joke. A lot of players were too old for Euro 2012 but Trap had no interest in giving the younger players a chance. McClean and Coleman never got a look in. Instead Cox and Green. Remember when Green came on, a man without a club, and he immediately gave a goal away. Jokeshop, 100% the managerâs fault.
As regards the match in Paris, it only happened because the players got together and decided to ignore Trapâs tactics and just go for it.
Stephen Ireland, Wes Hoolihan.
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