FAI...New Manager Hunt continues

[SHEEDY]

Seen Alan browne is getting abuse on twitter, anyone doing this would need to have a word with themselves, definitely not representative of the vast majority of Ireland fans.

[From the Bunker]

When you think back to 88,only 8 teams qualified for the euros. How far away from that are we now? Is it now 24 teams? Far too many. 16 is perfect.
While it was disappointing last night I do feel there is hope out there. A few good players coming through, kennys style of football and a solid defence

8 teams then, qualified... 24 teams now, can't even get to playoff final!  Why has every other 'small nations' standards improved while Ireland's has dropped? Ireland not alone of course Scotland hadn't made much headway either during those periods

More Scottish, Irish, Northern Irish and Welsh players played in the Top tier of English football. Clubs like Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, were full of players from the 'Home' countries. The 1986 starting Liverpool FA Cup team that secured the Cup/League double.

GK   1   Zimbabwe Bruce Grobbelaar
RB   4   Scotland Steve Nicol
CB   2   Republic of Ireland Mark Lawrenson
CB   6   Scotland Alan Hansen (c)
LB   3   Republic of Ireland Jim Beglin
RM   8   England Craig Johnston
CM   10   Denmark Jan Mølby
CM   11   Scotland Kevin MacDonald
LM   5   Republic of Ireland Ronnie Whelan
SS   7   Scotland Kenny Dalglish
CF   9   Wales Ian Rush

The game has become more global and opportunities for 'Home' country players are not what they used to be. Today they compete with lads from all over the world to play for the most average of clubs. And the world is a big place!

[imtommygunn]

Was Craig Johnston not Ozzie or am I thinking of someone else?

[From the Bunker]

Was Craig Johnston not Ozzie or am I thinking of someone else?

He was born in South Africa to Aussie Parents, but played for England. Work that one out?

[SHEEDY]

Was Craig Johnston not Ozzie or am I thinking of someone else?

He was born in South Africa to Aussie Parents, but played for England. Work that one out?

don't think Craig Johnston ever played for England, not at senior level anyway.

[mouview]

Pretty astounded at some of the negativity here. That was a pretty good performance by Ireland and certainly the most attractive style I've seen in a seriously long time. Slovakia aren't a top tier side but they're no mugs and we were just the better side I felt. Not by a lot but certainly after Kenny made the switches we got better and better. Yes - they were missing a couple of players but we were missing Coleman and who knows whether Idah or Connolly could have nicked a goal in the last 20 minutes if they were available. Seems some have made their minds up about Kenny already which I don't understand. When he was appointed I had my doubts - saw it as the FAI trying the curry favour with the "grass roots" after all the crap that has gone on and I'm still not convinced. That's not to say he can't get a tune out of the players and last night was very much evidence in Kenny's favour. I really find it hard to see how anyone could think McCarthy would have done better.

Anyway - I'm glad that I'll look forward to the next Ireland game. For too long in my mind there's been a sense of dread as they approach and I don't think i'm alone in that. Part of that is the emergence of some good young talent but nice to see good, crisp passing last night. Need to develop a cutting edge. For all the brilliant work McGoldrick does (and some of it is really, really good) he just doesn't score. And sometimes in attacking areas we are a little too conservative in general. Thought O'Dowda was an exception when he came in.....really tricky player who I might have underrated.

It was nice to see us being less dire than normal, but I wouldn't go overboard with positivity either. It's a long time since I've seen us being less mediocre than even former Eastern Bloc opposition, and the Slovaks were definitely more absence-weakened than we were. Duffy and Doherty in particular are still very ordinary players and our keeper isn't even a first choice at his club. At the other end goal-scoring is still a major issue, hopefully Idah and Connolly can alleviate this going forward but both have a fair development curve ahead yet. I'm glad Kenny has gotten a chance as manager but the cynic might say, after MON/Keane and Big Mick, the FAI are going for the 'fail cheap' rather than '..dear' option. It could be that the next ROI manager benefits from Kenny's work now.

[Milltown Row2]

When you think back to 88,only 8 teams qualified for the euros. How far away from that are we now? Is it now 24 teams? Far too many. 16 is perfect.
While it was disappointing last night I do feel there is hope out there. A few good players coming through, kennys style of football and a solid defence

8 teams then, qualified... 24 teams now, can't even get to playoff final!  Why has every other 'small nations' standards improved while Ireland's has dropped? Ireland not alone of course Scotland hadn't made much headway either during those periods

More Scottish, Irish, Northern Irish and Welsh players played in the Top tier of English football. Clubs like Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, were full of players from the 'Home' countries. The 1986 starting Liverpool FA Cup team that secured the Cup/League double.

GK   1   Zimbabwe Bruce Grobbelaar
RB   4   Scotland Steve Nicol
CB   2   Republic of Ireland Mark Lawrenson
CB   6   Scotland Alan Hansen (c)
LB   3   Republic of Ireland Jim Beglin
RM   8   England Craig Johnston
CM   10   Denmark Jan Mølby
CM   11   Scotland Kevin MacDonald
LM   5   Republic of Ireland Ronnie Whelan
SS   7   Scotland Kenny Dalglish
CF   9   Wales Ian Rush

The game has become more global and opportunities for 'Home' country players are not what they used to be. Today they compete with lads from all over the world to play for the most average of clubs. And the world is a big place!

I'm not disputing that and that's why I brought it up, why has the 'home' countries allowed their standards to drop? We don't produce players like that for a reason. The development academy systems obviously are poorly run and don't make the grade.

[trileacman]

For whatever reason the quality of Irish players coming through has dropped off a cliff. We regularly lined out with at least 1 European Cup winner in the side. Now we don't even have players who in their entire career have played at that level.

[An Watcher]

I think you just have to look at the reduction in the number of local soccer teams around the country. Kids these days are more interested in computers and have no real interest in playing soccer. I remember playing 4 games over a weekend which was ridiculous but nowadays you couldn't do that even if you wanted. The teams and leagues aren't there any more

[From the Bunker]

When you think back to 88,only 8 teams qualified for the euros. How far away from that are we now? Is it now 24 teams? Far too many. 16 is perfect.
While it was disappointing last night I do feel there is hope out there. A few good players coming through, kennys style of football and a solid defence

8 teams then, qualified... 24 teams now, can't even get to playoff final!  Why has every other 'small nations' standards improved while Ireland's has dropped? Ireland not alone of course Scotland hadn't made much headway either during those periods

More Scottish, Irish, Northern Irish and Welsh players played in the Top tier of English football. Clubs like Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, were full of players from the 'Home' countries. The 1986 starting Liverpool FA Cup team that secured the Cup/League double.

GK   1   Zimbabwe Bruce Grobbelaar
RB   4   Scotland Steve Nicol
CB   2   Republic of Ireland Mark Lawrenson
CB   6   Scotland Alan Hansen (c)
LB   3   Republic of Ireland Jim Beglin
RM   8   England Craig Johnston
CM   10   Denmark Jan Mølby
CM   11   Scotland Kevin MacDonald
LM   5   Republic of Ireland Ronnie Whelan
SS   7   Scotland Kenny Dalglish
CF   9   Wales Ian Rush

The game has become more global and opportunities for 'Home' country players are not what they used to be. Today they compete with lads from all over the world to play for the most average of clubs. And the world is a big place!

I'm not disputing that and that's why I brought it up, why has the 'home' countries allowed their standards to drop? We don't produce players like that for a reason. The development academy systems obviously are poorly run and don't make the grade.

I don't know about falling behind. A lot of countries have caught up. We (Ireland) were never great at qualifying for tournaments. We narrowly missed out here and there before Big Jack came along. Wales always had a terrible qualification record. Scotland never qualified for Euros but used to be ok at getting to World Cups. And Northern Ireland were in 2 world cups in the 80's!

Any good player now a days hedge their bets before declaring for Ireland. Jack's teams were hugely based on digging through the diaspora for players. 

[Capt Pat]

I always thought Johnston would have played for Australia. He had 2 caps for England at under 21 but no senior A caps.

[From the Bunker]

I think you just have to look at the reduction in the number of local soccer teams around the country. Kids these days are more interested in computers and have no real interest in playing soccer. I remember playing 4 games over a weekend which was ridiculous but nowadays you couldn't do that even if you wanted. The teams and leagues aren't there any more

There is also the interference of Gaelic Football. Gaelic football had a 100% stranglehold on every Parish up to 1970. Many country areas still look with disdain on Soccer. There is no real culture. Good athletes will always be pressurised to play Gaelic football. Anyway we never have 100% homegrown teams.

[Milltown Row2]

So all that being said, why did Ireland have so many good teams? Players that didn't just play in division one teams but stared!!

We've had GAA for hundreds of years, but still managed to (at a time) develop a mainly home grown set of players that competed in top teams in England

The list is endless! Can't remember a the last player who actually made an impact across the water, well I can, but it's flipping years!!!

[From the Bunker]

So all that being said, why did Ireland have so many good teams? Players that didn't just play in division one teams but stared!!

We've had GAA for hundreds of years, but still managed to (at a time) develop a mainly home grown set of players that competed in top teams in England

The list is endless! Can't remember a the last player who actually made an impact across the water, well I can, but it's flipping years!!!

Probably because Irish players are not scouted here like they used to be in the past. There is a lot of luck in making it as a Top professional footballer. Ask Jamie Vardy!

[Milltown Row2]

So all that being said, why did Ireland have so many good teams? Players that didn't just play in division one teams but stared!!

We've had GAA for hundreds of years, but still managed to (at a time) develop a mainly home grown set of players that competed in top teams in England

The list is endless! Can't remember a the last player who actually made an impact across the water, well I can, but it's flipping years!!!

Probably because Irish players are not scouted here like they used to be in the past. There is a lot of luck in making it as a Top professional footballer. Ask Jamie Vardy!

Jamie Vardy is a bit like Vinnie Jones, came through  the ranks. Luck is everything but that shouldn't dampen the development, countries should be using models that bring about progression not regression.

As an example Belfast teams struggle to compete in Hurling in Antrim... been this way for as long as I can remember, the difference being committed coaches dedicated players and some luck, though if you train hard you make you're own luck.

My basic point is a lad starting up soccer in Birmingham or Limerick should be coached and developed the same, that's if you want to produce top teams, if The current FAI staff  are just paying lip service to it then it will falter..

Dublin football (GAA) is a prime example of putting the money/time/coaching behind a plan. Works