Staunton sacked by Ireland

[johnp]

Hasn't he changed his name to Omar Troussier??

He did.

I'd take him, he was supposed to be in line when Kerr took over, and was even offered as a number 2, but Kerr said no.

[Nic83]

Wasn't it Switzerland?

Yes that's right

Now I recall we had to travel there on the last matchday and would have qualified if we'd have won. We were without Cunningham who was a massive loss at the time.

All in all, I thought we performed really well in that group and were very unlucky. I thought Kerr's style of football was probably the most attacking style we've had since pre Charlton aswell. It was still a little cagey but away from home, I think it's half down to the players. Their mentality tells them to drop deep if winning late on, no matter who the manager is!

[Maestro]

Sacking Brian Kerr was a mistake too, in my opinion. He should have gotten two more years to finish what he had started. Sacking Staunton two years into a rebuild, is a joke in my opinion. It's the public telling the FAI how to do their job, which should never happen. Granted a mistake was made initially, but sacking him, and wasting a few million, and getting in someone who is not an awful lot better is madness.

We have to start realising that we're a nation with only a few top class players and a load of average players. The way the media and a lot of the crowd(****s) treated Staunton is not going to help us get a new manager either. I'm not optimistic about the future(despite a decent crop of youngsters).

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but you're overstating Staunton's worth to the Irish team. Staunton is not a manager. At the end of his campaign, we or he were no closer to knowing his best XI or his tactics. He was unable to get any cohesion to a group of players who could easily have qualified out of a poor group. There was no indication in my eyes that this was going to improve...he HAD to go.

Yes, the media played too large a role in this, but that doesn't disguise the fact that Staunton's job was beyond saving.

I agree with your comments in regards to Ireland's standing as a football nation, but you also have to take into account the qualifying group you are in. A place in the Euros was Ireland's for the taking, at the expense of a poor Czech Republic side who were in transition. The players have a lot to answer for, of course, but the buck stops with Staunton and the FAI.

I agree about Kerr. He made various tactical mistakes, but he was only a whisker away and had the Irish team playing as a cohesive unit at their level.
Kerr should definitely have been allowed to continue.
I feel Kerr was a lot more hard done by than Staunton was, considering the years of hard graft - much of which paid handsome dividends - he put in for the FAI.

At the end of the day, once again, it's those *******s in the FAI who get away scot free.