Stan Finds his Level
It’s funny the way things go. Days after making the ludicrous claim on Sky Sports News that his time in charge of the Irish team was a success, Steve Staunton takes the post of assistant manager of Leeds. This also puts into stark relief the inanity of his appointment as Irish manager. Are we saying that the level we require is that of an assistant manager at a third division club?
Trappatoni is now in the frame for to succeed Stan and, though I would never question the managerial record of the great man, I sincerely question his passion for the role of Ireland. Firstly, he is seventy on his next birthday and has barely a word of English. Ok, I know that Stan had very little English but we should be looking to improve the lines of communication between manager and playing staff. His only other experience of international management came as manager of Italy during the 2002 World Cup. He was sacked after their exit at the hands of South Korea. Of course, we should look at that as a political exit as they had 3 goals disallowed in that match so that the co-hosts could go as far as possible in the competition.
Right, why are we suddenly singing the name of Giovanni Trappatoni? I’m not going to go through what is a glowing CV as far as club management is concerned because everyone can use Google these days but I will say that I don’t agree that he should be our manager. The man is at the very end of his career and he’s simply picking up another pay packet. Like Venables, I can’t see him having any passion for the job. I don’t think he’d be quite the disaster that Venables would be but he’s not going to give us the long term stability we need. We need young, hands on manager who won’t suffer egos or fools - normally the same thing - easily. We need a no-nonsense manager who won’t be afraid to tell the criminally inept FAI to keep their noses out of his affairs and won’t be afraid to strip Robbie Keane of the captaincy. In fact, he shouldn’t be afraid to drop Robbie if his poor international form continues. It is for these reasons that the likes of Venables and Trappatoni should not be considered for the Irish job.
I really doubt that we’re going to find any stability given the corruption that is rife within the FAI but we shouldn’t stop criticising Delaney and his clowns.
