Who are the candidates for the Ireland job?

Lovely Bloke

so, with Trappatoni most likely gone from the end of his contract (or sooner), who are the realistic candidates?

Martin O'Neill - "The man on the street" probably would have O'Neill fairly high on his list. He did a decent job in the earlier years of his managerial career, Wycombe, Leicester and Celtic. Villa fans (and some Celtic fans) dislike him, blaming him for the finiancial situation - but is that a consideration for an International manager? People may also think he is a bit old fashioned in his thinking, maybe not as regressive as Trapp, but absolutely not progressive enough for people used to watching 4-2-3-1 passing games. Do Ireland even have the players for that system, some would say now. His English fluency is also a plus point. Currently out of work, so available.

Mick McCarthy - Some people think he's the best manager Ireland have had, and that he was treated shabbily after WC2002 - maybe he was, but at the time the clear majority wanted him gone. He could be the man for the job, with the job he did rebuilding the team after Jack left, it's possibly what's needed again. Would he come back? He's in a job at the moment, but managerial jobs in England are precarious positions.

Roy Keane - Love him or hate him, you can't question the mans drive to succeed. Whether or not he goes about it the correct way is a concern. He had a decent run with Sunderland, taking them from Championship relegation certainties to the Premier League, but then once getting them there floundered a bit. Has a record of falling out with players, not unlike Trappatoni. Probably wouldn't work with the FAI, with Delaney as his boss.

Pat Fenlon - Ex Shels and Bohs manager now managing Hibs in Scotland, his tenure there is balancing on a knife edge though, with fans thinking he should be getting more out of his team than he currently is. Is a pretty good man-manager, but can be a tad conservative in his approach to "bigger" teams. The last time an "LoI Man" took control of the national team, there was talk that the players didn't respect him enough, but that maybe isn't a concern any more as a decent percentage of the current squad has actually played LoI.

A foreign coach? I don't think the FAI would take that road straight after Trappatoni.

another concern is the wages. Trappatoni is on pretty big wages, can the FAI afford to keep paying a manager as much?

Is the squad actually better than what Trappatoni is getting from them?

Dickerty

I think O'Neill would be a good choice. Lots of experience, knows the English leagues well, would get a lot of credibility. But if a PL club sacked their manager in the coming months, wouldn't he be in the mix? Only out of Sunderland since March, did reasonably well at Villa (consistantly a top half team, qualified for the UEFA cup, and made the League Cup final. But at 61, would he want to take on the stresses of a likely PL survival struggle, and relocate the family again?

He's the best option for me, if he'd take it. He can't get us better players, but maybe he can play the best of them, and bring us up a notch...

ben.schlomo

O'Neill would be a Trap clone, an old long ball merchant, weve had enough of that, McCarthy all day long for me.

~Rebel~

Most likely certainly looks to be MON at this stage. I'm not a big fan of his, but I think this move might be the right option for all concerned. He doesn't look like he has the heart for the day to day game anymore, so the international setup would suit him nicely.

He's always been a good motivator, which is important in the international game when you have so little time with the players. Tactically, he doesn't play the nicest stuff, but what we have kind of suits his game - he's a fan of using wingers to carry the bulk of the attacking play, probably the best area in our team at the moment.

Just seems like the right option for all concerned at this stage. He's a fan of rolling contracts himself, which would probably suit us too. A 2 (and a bit) year deal for the remainder of this campaign, as well as the EC effort.

I like Mick, but I don't think he'd be willing to come back just yet.

Dont be at yourself

A few from left field:

O Leary
Quinn
Dalglish
Fergie
Meulenstein

listermint

Steve Mc Claren ?

Lovely Bloke

Dont be at yourself wrote: »

A few from left field:

O Leary
Quinn
Dalglish
Fergie
Meulenstein

wtf?

Neil3030

Ha! Could you imagine Fergie managing the Irish team :pac:

It'd be a funny situation to find himself in, managing a national team where more people in the country supported the club he managed previously.

SlickRic

Trapattoni

---

> Quinn

can you imagine?

Lovely Bloke

Quinn only ever managed as a stop-gap, he wouldn't even want it. What a bizarre name to throw in the mix.

Unless he meant Mickey Quinn.

Dickerty

listermint wrote: »

Steve Mc Claren ?

Interesting. A bit of an enigma - did well at Boro, got himself the England job which he wasn't ready for, but did incredibly at FC Twente. So he obviously has some coaching and motivation skills about him. Maybe.

Felexicon

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Quinn only ever managed as a stop-gap, he wouldn't even want it. What a bizarre name to throw in the mix.

Unless he meant Mickey Quinn.

I believe he was referring to supermarket entrepreneur Fergal Quinn

Lovely Bloke

McDermott is a name I forgot.

Hughton too.

jaykay74

I'd give it to Roy on a 2 year, one qualification run deal. It'll either work with him or not. If he fails at least we'll have the soundbites.

Lovely Bloke

Felexicon wrote: »

I believe he was referring to supermarket entrepreneur Fergal Quinn

Ah hello, I thought you'd disappeared.

Felexicon

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Ah hello, I thought you'd disappeared.

No, my employer has blocked boards.ie so I don't post as often

Lovely Bloke

You're shítting me - haha

Felexicon

Dickerty wrote: »

Interesting. A bit of an enigma - did well at Boro, got himself the England job which he wasn't ready for, but did incredibly at FC Twente. So he obviously has some coaching and motivation skills about him. Maybe.

It would be gas to Steve Irish himself up in the same way he became a slap stick Dutch man for Twente press conferences.

Felexicon

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

You're shítting me - haha

Unfortunately I am not.

ambid

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

...

Martin O'Neill - ... He did a decent job in the earlier years of his managerial career, Wycombe, Leicester and Celtic. ...

In fairness, O'Neill was far better than "decent".

He had Leicester competing in the top half of the Premier League and had Celtic competing for European trophies. Neither club has come anywhere close to that level of success since he left. He was far better than merely "decent" at each of those clubs.

linebacker52

I think we can forget about anyone with a job no way the fai are buying out any ones contract.

So that just leaves Martin O Neil not sure he is the man for the job there must be some young up and coming manager out there we can get rather that the same old names that have failed before.

NUTZZ

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Hughton too.

This is who I'd love to see, but there's pretty much no chance of it happening.

Lovely Bloke

Fair enough point, but it was 10-15 years ago, since then, not so much.

Lemmy Scott

whoever gets it needs to turn up at u21 games and keep an eye on whats happening at youth level and have a close relationship with the other underage coaches-lot of time involved here that's why o neil would be out-id give it to McDermott or fenlon-sunderland contacts told me o neill was barely around when he was there.

Seamu$

Hughton would be first choice for me but I would be very surprised to see him leave a Premiership job for it.
O'Neill is hot favourite & the bookies don't tend to be too far off the mark.

Neil3030

As a Villa fan, I can give you the reasons why MON will be the bespectacled Trap v2.0:

- Tactics: sit deep and hit teams on the counter attack. Rinse and repeat.
- Player rotation? Never. He'll soon decide upon his favourites and rarely ever deviate, sparing injuries etc.
- No movement will be encouraged off the ball. Teams with any form of decent shape will strangle us, force long balls and win back possession easily.
- Whatever moves we do try will be primarily down the wing.

But all of that is irrelevant, because the main reason I dread him getting the job would be that he'll somehow get Heskey to line out in green. Not sure how he will nullify his caps for England, or indeed prove his Irish ancestry, but mark my words he'll bloody do it.

He'd be an awful choice, imo. In the next Ireland manager we should be looking for someone who can build a team around the more talented players like Coleman, Brady, McCarthy, Hoolahan and Long, mixed with the few workhorse elder statesmen who can put in a shift, while blooding in new faces at other positions. Can't for the life of me think of who would fit the bill and be interested, but that's what we'd need.

homerjay2005

honestly no idea who its gonna be, there is a severe lack of options. what other managers are available, that are not Irish?

Would Alan Curbishley be a runner?

Terry Venables was high up the list the last time, would people be interested in him?

Hoddle has been mentioned, but am not sure if people would warm to him.

Moneymaker

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

so, with Trappatoni most likely gone from the end of his contract (or sooner), who are the realistic candidates?

Martin O'Neill - "The man on the street" probably would have O'Neill fairly high on his list. He did a decent job in the earlier years of his managerial career, Wycombe, Leicester and Celtic. Villa fans (and some Celtic fans) dislike him, blaming him for the finiancial situation - but is that a consideration for an International manager? People may also think he is a bit old fashioned in his thinking, maybe not as regressive as Trapp, but absolutely not progressive enough for people used to watching 4-2-3-1 passing games. Do Ireland even have the players for that system, some would say now. His English fluency is also a plus point. Currently out of work, so available.

Mick McCarthy - Some people think he's the best manager Ireland have had, and that he was treated shabbily after WC2002 - maybe he was, but at the time the clear majority wanted him gone. He could be the man for the job, with the job he did rebuilding the team after Jack left, it's possibly what's needed again. Would he come back? He's in a job at the moment, but managerial jobs in England are precarious positions.

Roy Keane - Love him or hate him, you can't question the mans drive to succeed. Whether or not he goes about it the correct way is a concern. He had a decent run with Sunderland, taking them from Championship relegation certainties to the Premier League, but then once getting them there floundered a bit. Has a record of falling out with players, not unlike Trappatoni. Probably wouldn't work with the FAI, with Delaney as his boss.

Pat Fenlon - Ex Shels and Bohs manager now managing Hibs in Scotland, his tenure there is balancing on a knife edge though, with fans thinking he should be getting more out of his team than he currently is. Is a pretty good man-manager, but can be a tad conservative in his approach to "bigger" teams. The last time an "LoI Man" took control of the national team, there was talk that the players didn't respect him enough, but that maybe isn't a concern any more as a decent percentage of the current squad has actually played LoI.

A foreign coach? I don't think the FAI would take that road straight after Trappatoni.

another concern is the wages. Trappatoni is on pretty big wages, can the FAI afford to keep paying a manager as much?

Is the squad actually better than what Trappatoni is getting from them?

That is a grim, grim list.

Hiddink, Bielsa, Hughton, van Marwijk should all be considered. Whether they are realistic or not, depends on Dennis O'Brien probably.

jaykay74

homerjay2005 wrote: »

honestly no idea who its gonna be, there is a severe lack of options. what other managers are available, that are not Irish?

Would Alan Curbishley be a runner?

Terry Venables was high up the list the last time, would people be interested in him?

Hoddle has been mentioned, but am not sure if people would warm to him.

Whens the last time the 3 of those have worked in football though outside a tv studio. Not for me anyway but then again the FAI are a strange bunch!

Lovely Bloke

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Would Alan Curbishley be a runner?

Hopefully not

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Terry Venables was high up the list the last time, would people be interested in him?.

NO!

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Hoddle has been mentioned, but am not sure if people would warm to him.

That's an interesting idea.

gimmick

Kevin Keegan.

~Rebel~

Unlikely as it is, I'd love to see King Kenny give it a shot. Don't think he'd be up for managing any country other than Scotland though.

Also anything to be said for Brian Kerr?

GavRedKing

jaykay74 wrote: »

Whens the last time the 3 of those have worked in football though outside a tv studio. Not for me anyway but then again the FAI are a strange bunch!

One of the Cork radio stations last night got a txt in from a guy saying Souness would be a good shoice and he was basing it off his time working with the RTE panel that he'd know the players.

Not sure I'd want a guy thats being out of the game for the best part of a decade.

homerjay2005

jaykay74 wrote: »

Whens the last time the 3 of those have worked in football though outside a tv studio. Not for me anyway but then again the FAI are a strange bunch!

i think the issue is theres no real alternatives. would people leave a club job, for an international one? i dont think so.

i think Roy Keane will become a real front runner now,has he ever ruled himself out of the job?

from a PR respective, it would be good for the FAI.....i think.

what other foreign managers are currently unemployed?

LightningBolt

Neil Lennon a possibility for the following reasons:

1) He's on a yearly rolling contract with Celtic meaning he won't need to be bought out if the FAI could wait it out until next year to formally appoint him whilst at the same time giving him the chance to continue to manage Celtic in the Champions League.

2) Fan Support. Attendances have been dwindling with the style of football played. With Lennon's Celtic connection, there's a possibility that the FAI may see his appointment as a way to boost attendance figures.

3) Style of play. We've been lacking fight these last couple of years, Lennon's teams tend to battle very well in fairness to him even when odds are against them.

I wouldn't like to see Lennon appointed myself but could see the FAI looking to hire him based on the above even if it seems a bit far stretched.

A mate mentioned ex Man Utd first team coach and recently axed Anzhi manager René Meulensteen. He's available, wouldn't cost much and would try to have us play football somewhat.

mike65

McClaren would probably be a sound choice, he is readily acknowledged as a fine coach and that's what Ireland needs.

jaykay74

LightningBolt wrote: »

A mate mentioned ex Man Utd assistant manager and recently axed Anzhi manager René Meulensteen. He's available, wouldn't cost much and would try to have us play football somewhat.

Just to clarify he was never assistant manager. He was the first team coach, he does however have about 2 weeks experience of managing Anzhi i suppose.

ebbsy

Keane - I would'nt watch them and would hope they finish bottom.

Keegan - no backbone, no commitment.

O'Neill - A worthy choice. Probably get only one campaign out of him though.

King Kenny - I'm a Liverpool fan but think this would end in disaster.

Kerr - Clueless.

Chris H - See Kerr.

McCarthy - worth a punt.

Lennon - that would be interesting, inspirational if nothing else.

ShiverinEskimo

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i think Roy Keane will become a real front runner now,has he ever ruled himself out of the job?

Hell will freeze over before Keane works under Delaney and Co.

SlickRic

McDermott and Hughton wouldn't take it yet.

MON is a runner IMO, even though I wouldn't particularly like it. a campaign or 2 from him would be ideal.

we have to understand that it isn't the most attractive job in the world.

i'd love McCarthy back, but i don't see that happening. not yet anyway. i'm sure he's engulfed in the Ipswich job.

stesaurus

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

Hell will freeze over before Keane works under Delaney and Co.

I would have thought the same about him doing punditry or working alongside Quinn.

RoryMac

LightningBolt wrote: »

Neil Lennon a possibility for the following reasons:

1) He's on a yearly rolling contract with Celtic meaning he won't need to be bought out if the FAI could wait it out until next year to formally appoint him whilst at the same time giving him the chance to continue to manage Celtic in the Champions League.

2) Fan Support. Attendances have been dwindling with the style of football played. With Lennon's Celtic connection, there's a possibility that the FAI may see his appointment as a way to boost attendance figures.

3) Style of play. We've been lacking fight these last couple of years, Lennon's teams tend to battle very well in fairness to him even when odds are against them.

I wouldn't like to see Lennon appointed myself but could see the FAI looking to hire him based on the above even if it seems a bit far stretched.

A mate mentioned ex Man Utd assistant manager and recently axed Anzhi manager René Meulensteen. He's available, wouldn't cost much and would try to have us play football somewhat.

Not a hope of Lennon leaving Celtic while they prepare for the Champions League

Edit: I see you said that in your post!

Can't see the Irish job appealing to Lennon for a few years yet.

Fr Tod Umptious

Manager needs to know how to get the most out of average squad.
MON fitted that bill with the likes of Wycombe and Leicester but no so much in the years since.
I have always though that they could take a shot at Sean O' Driscoll, he is a decent football league manager that did very well at Doncaster if I recall, he has bounced around a bit since Doncaster though
But I just see now that he is struggling with Bristol City.

McClaren is a good shout too I think.

5starpool

It'll probably be O'Neill unfortunately.

homerjay2005

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

Hell will freeze over before Keane works under Delaney and Co.

Keane has regressed on many things -didnt he say he would never be a pundit or said its for fools or something to that effect?

pay him enough and he would take it.

Lovely Bloke

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Keane has regressed on many things

football management being one of them.

Then you have complete idiots who'd want the Ireland team to fail simply because of his Man U connections.

Plebs like that can gtfo though.

Pierce_1991

[Deleted User] wrote: »

He's still only 32 or something.... player manager!

On a serious note I'd like Hughton to get it, just so you have a stroke Ed

MON will get it if he wants it IMO, will he want it though? I wouldn't !

We'll probably get big Ron after his stint on celebrity big brother, imagine that?

roanoke

One thing in McLaren's favour is that he at least tries to master the language of whereever he is.

"Hoofball and Conor Sammon? Ders more to Oirlend den dis!"

SlickRic

a Big Ron/El Tel Dream Team.