The next Ireland manager

1

Seeing as the other Ireland thread has gone off topic and into an Eircom League debate. Who would be your next Irish manager? Johnny Giles has called for Stan to go today and the press are really keeping up the campaign of criticism so maybe, just maybe, Stan might get the boot.

There are 6 weeks between now and the next match for us to get ourselves sorted. What would your realistic solution be?

Personally, I don’t think it should be rushed, I’d be fine with a caretaker manager for the Wales/Slovakia games and as far as I can remember we’re not out again until September then and who knows who will be available in the summer. I think Roy Keane could be persuaded to take on the caretaker role for those two games, it’d take f**k all of his time, his employers are Irish so would no doubt facilitate and he’d be capable of giving the players the kick up the arse they need. I think he’d love to be involved in the Croker buzz too.

Looking long term, we need a tough manager who is not afraid to stand up to the players, not afraid to drop the lads that are underperforming. I reckon part of our problem, apart from being sh!t, is that there are players that know they will be picked no matter how badly they play, (JOSH, Robbie, Duffer etc.) and hence couldn’t give a fk, we need a man who has the balls to stand up to these fkers. I’m having difficulty coming up with a realistic name, we have no chance of landing my dream ticket Guus Hiddink, so I think we’re stuck in looking at the likes of El Tel, Kenny Dalglish etc., have seen Klinnsman mentioned on another board but don’t think he’d touch it with a barge pole.

2

Aldridge no?

What about O’Leary?

3

I’d be relatively happy with Aldridge. He’s not a top class manager but he produced a very good cup team at Tranmere without the benefit of a transfer market which is similar to what he’d have to do with Ireland.

No candidates jumping out from the Eircom League though Stephen Kenny might have been a good shout.

4

If you’re going to go with someone inexperienced then at least go for someone with flair, someone who’s been a talisman for the country and can bring the players and support along with them. In that respect Klinsmann and Van Basten seemed to fit the bill for their countries. You could hardly say that about Stan now and everyone said it at the time too. He’s always been a dour fook.

For that reason I wouldn’t mind Keane getting it. Would the job necessarily have to be full-time? There’s probably only 40 or so players that can realistically figure for us so I’m sure that with a decent back up team he could still pursue his club ambitions and manage Ireland too. Wasn’t the great Guus Hiddink managing PSV to a Champions League semi-final while managing Australia?

Other than that we’ll have the usual failed English managers like Bryan Robson, Peter Reid and the likes.

Then you’ll have the unproven ex-players like Kevin Moran and the relatively unproven ones like Aldridge, Stapleton and Whelan.

I wouldn’t go near O’Leary. His demise has been more startling than anyone could have imagined when Leeds were in a Champions League semi in 2000 or thereabouts. All his players at both Leeds and Villa absolutely hated his guts.

We saw the Eircom League experiment fail with Kerr so as well as Fenlon, Kenny et al have done there’s a huge difference between coming up with a game plan to combat Klose and Podolski rather than Glenn Crowe and Jason Byrne.

Nobody other than Keane for me.

5

I agree with the Strachan quote. That’s why Naka has the license to come infield and make Cel(tic) tick. His autobiography is an excellent read and I cam away having a great deal more respect for him and his footballing philosophy than before.

Getting back to Keane and your 3 questions, I’d say:
Yes.
Possibly not but wouldn’t rule him out.
No, but he’s doing better than I expected.

Not saying he’s an exceptional manager or anything like that but when I try to think of realistic targets who are also decent then he’s first in my mind.

6

I even heard of one die-hard Celtic supporter who wouldn’t go to Celtic games while he was playing last season.

7

Couldnt see Keane touching it on a full time basis. I acknowledge the fact that Hiddink managed PSV while managing Australia, but Australia hardly face a daunting qualifying campaign. Win a play-off and they are in the World Cup, and its only every 4 years. Quite different to our campaigns major finals every two years.

Realistically youre looking at OLeary and Aldridge. Does OLearys Villa record look all that bad given the slump in form theyve had under ONeill? Couldnt see the players taking to him anyway. That brings me to Aldo, not the dream candidate but better than Stan.

8

Ireland have moved up three places to 46th in the latest FIFA rankings after the impressive victory away to San Marino.

All you wanting Stan out should be ashamed of yourselves. We’ve even overtaken the might of the Occupied 6 again.

9

Decided to do a little digging around on young Irish prospects. The one thing I did agree with Stan on is that this campaign should be used to build towards 2010 rather than qualification for 2008. Clearly though Stan is not the man to lead us through the transitionary period. Anyway, with 2010 in mind, here’s a few players that we may see more of.

Paul McShane - 21, West Brom, Centre-half, superb on his debut against the Czechs and I was very impressed with the story about him shouting at the rest of the team when they were all high fiving each other at half time but has struggled a wee bit since.

Darren O’Dea - 20, Celtic, Centre-half (think he plays left back too), don’t know much about him so await the Celtic fans’ opinions. Clearly we’ve a problem at left-back so if he could fill this void it would be great.

Kevin Foley - 23, Right Back, I’ve seen this guy a few times and have always been impressed.

Glenn Whelan - 23, Sheffield Wednesday (Captain), Creative central midfielder, touted by Roy Keane as the man to replace him for Ireland.

Owen Garvan - 19, Ipswich, Creative central midfielder. Haven’t seen him but based on hearsay he is the future. Think Tinnion knows a bit about this guy.

Anthony Stokes - 18, Striker, seen a fair bit of him, hugley impressed, this guy will be a great and will overtake Robbie Keane as all-time top goalscorer, disappointed he chose Sunderland.

Kevin Doyle - 23, Reading, Striker, needs no introduction, very intelligent footballer, cool finisher and selfless, has slightly disappointed me for Ireland so far but not helped by a lack of creativity in midfield.

Shane Long - 20, Reading, Striker, has done well for Reading since profiting from Doyle’s injury but likely to find himself out of the side with Kitson back and Lita and Doyle’s good form. Disappointed me away to San Marino and looked nervous which surprisedme given the fact that it was a small crowd and San Marino are shi’it

Billy Clarke - 19, Ipswich, Striker, not a great strike rate this season but apparently was linked to Liverpool. With the other strikers mentioned above he’s possibly unlikely to make the grade.

Jamie McCarthy - 16, Hamilton Academical, Central midfielder, too scared to judge players at this age but has allegedly attracted attention from a ridiculous amount of teams including Liverpool and Barcelona. Unlikely to get a full call-up anytime soon. 2010 may be too early for him.

Aiden McGeady - 20, Celtic, Right or left winger, this guy is sheer class imo and has been under-utilised by Stan, should be automatic first choice from now on.

Dare I say that if managed properly the future could well be bright. With senior players like Given, Finnan, Dunne, Duff and Keane about, I think 2010 represents a really good chance for qualification. Perhaps one might worry about the lack of physicality in the players mentioned particularly at central midfield. I’m not sure Stevie Reid is the answer but I suppose he may have to do until someone better emerges. O’Shea and Kilbane need to be dropped.

10

Good post Clarkey.

On O’Dea I can’t see him ever becoming a full back again, he’s simply too slow. He has a decent enough left foot on him but I think it’s centre half or nothing for him.

There’s a couple of guys a few years older than that generation who could also figure - Joey O’Brien, Paddy McCarthy etc. Also I think Stephen Ward at Wolves might make it. Himself and Keogh started up front for Wolves yesterday (Ward scored) which is good to see - two under 23 Irish strikers playing together at a reasonable championship side.

Others coming through at Celtic are Jim O’Brien (currently on loan at Dunfermline) - a pacy striker or winger; Diarmuid O’Carroll (striker, now at loan at Morton I think), Cillian Sheridan (another striker, discussed elsewhere).

11

Interesting post CC.

Apparently McShane’s playing very well for West Brom lately. But he’s playing right back. As an aside Tony Mowbray seems to be doing a great job there. I hope they catch Birmingham as that Steve Bruce annoys the fook out of me.

I saw Owen Garvan get sent off for a wild 2 footed challenge for Ipswich last week and then the lad they got from Cork City, O’Callaghan came in for his first start to replace him against Watford on Saturday, and got sent off too. Haven’t seen much of Garvan/Clark but the reports are decent.

I really like the attitude of the Reading lads and that’s why I was also a little surprised that Long seemed a bit on edge for his Ireland debut but then again the set-up is a shambles so it’d be harsh to blame a kid making his debut. Hunt definitely deserves a few games also based on his form this season.

Not sure about Glenn Whelan. Think he’ll be a solid Championship player. I saw him play twice this season and he looked more an energetic, get around the park type player rather a passing playmaker but again, haven’t seen enough of him.

The only thing that might hold Stokes back is pace. He’s a big enough lad but he lacks a little bit of speed. An excellent finisher though but he was on the bench again for Sunderland the other day.

Some people say the same about McGeady, that he lacks that extra little bit of gas to be a really quality winger but the way Strachan’s got Celtic playing he doesn’t necessarily need to beat players on the outside with pace all the time. He likes the wide players to come infield to allow the full backs to overlap much the way Wenger played with Pires/Ljungberg in the past and Rosicky/Hleb now. Every so often he’ll beat a man with skill on the outside but he’s added better awareness, one touch passing and workrate to his game since Strachan arrived. He has the tools to be a really sensational player if he keeps working at it.

O’Dea seems to have an excellent attitude and is very competitive and determined for a youngster. The problem is he too lacks pace to play as a full back and lacks a bit of height for centre back - he’s only 6 foot. I think centre back is his best position and the height thing doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t play there. There’s been some excellent centre backs who’ve been smaller than 6 foot.

The yonger Quinn at Sheffield United also might be worth watching. I have yet to see him play to be honest. I also think a lot of these players don’t really have that much of a physical presence so a powerful guy like Steven Reid would fit the bill in the centre of the park.

Quality goals by Keane (x2) and Ireland yesterday too.

Finally, I do disagree with your point about building for 2010. I think the next tournament should always be the priority and if you publicly start writing off your chances before the qualifying commences then it can have a detrimental effect on the players and can also fook up your seeding for the next one.

Sure, have an eye on 2010 but the best way to have a team ready for a World Cup then is to get a good, young squad together who have already qualified for Euro 2008 before then and have some tournament experience. There’s obviously going to be young lads like Stokes coming in for debuts but there’s still the core of an experienced squad there and it’s experienced enough that it should be challenging rather than languishing.

12

Raven, tis due due to the fact that I don’t have a good enough knowledge, in fact I have very little, of the Eircom League to know who is coming through here. Been indirectly keeping tabs on Stephen Bradley at Drogs for a bit but don’t think he’s going to make it as he’s not even an automatic selection for the U21 Irish squad at the moment.

Did you see O’Callaghan’s sending off Banadge? It was a fooking disgrace. One of many ridiculous sendings off this weekend.

13

Was the sending off a disgraceful decision or a disgraceful act by O’Callaghan?

14

Robbie Keane, please.