By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
After five
years in the role as manager of the Republic of Ireland, Giovanni Trapattoni
has departed. The Italian’s
contract was terminated on Wednesday morning after a meeting to discuss his
future at the headquarters of the Irish Football Association.
Qualification
for next summer’s World Cup is all but over for the nation, following damaging
defeats in the last week to Sweden and Austria.
Only a set of freak results including Austria losing to the Faroe
Islands can push the Irish into second spot and seal a play-off position behind
runaway Group C leaders Germany.
Trapattoni’s
reign has to be seen as a success. He
took over after a dismal qualification attempt for Euro 2008 which included a
humbling 5-2 defeat to Cyprus. Irish
football had been in the doldrums ever since Mick McCarthy left the post towards the end of 2002. Neither Brian Kerr, nor
Steve Staunton were the right men to lead the country forward after McCarthy’s
successful reign.
Trapattoni
took Ireland to the brink of the last World Cup finals in South Africa, only to
be denied by the controversial Thierry Henry handball that robbed them of
victory in the play-offs against France in Paris. He did guide them to the European
Championships last summer, but Ireland returned home with just one goal, three
defeats and no points to show for their efforts.
So who is the
right man to lead the Republic into the qualification campaign for Euro 2016?
The favourite
with the bookies seems to be the former Aston Villa and Leicester City manager
Martin O’Neill (pictured). O’Neill has been out of
work ever since his fairly unsuccessful reign in charge of Sunderland came to
an end on Easter Saturday (March 30) this year.
He hasn’t been mentioned for many of the club jobs and a move into
international management could be a good move.
However fans
surely will take a mixed reception to O’Neill taking over, considering he is
actually of Northern Irish nationality.
Roy Keane has
been mentioned in some quarters. Keane
represented his country well on the field, but might not be a popular choice
with many of the Irish followers. He
hasn’t been properly forgiven for walking out on the squad before the 2002
World Cup finals, and for some scathing comments he made about the side’s poor
performances in Poland last summer. It
has to be imagined that he will remain an ITV pundit for the foreseeable future.
Another name
highly mentioned with the bookies is Brian McDermott. He would be a wise choice, although he
probably won’t want to walk away from Leeds United considering he only took
that role five months ago. McDermott
should be considered, but he might only want to take the role on a part-time
basis and it has to be stressed that international management needs 100 per
cent focus.
Then there is
Stuart Pearce, who is available following his parting of ways with the FA in
June. Pearce did a creditable job with
the Under-21s until this summer’s European Championships, will do even better
with allowing the next crop of Irish players to come through and knows the
international spectrum from both his junior job, and being the assistant to
Fabio Capello when the Italian was in charge of England.
Pearce would
be a serious contender if the federation were looking for a British successor
to Trapattoni. If they were looking at
international options, look no further than Marcelo Bielsa who is available after
leaving Athletic Bilbao and plays a great brand of attractive football, as
demonstrated by Chile at the 2010 World Cup.
Whoever takes
the job has to build on Trapattoni’s hard work over the past five years. It is a crucial appointment and one that must
be made correctly and in good time for the Republic of Ireland to continue progressing
in the longer term context of international football.
ODDS TO BE
THE NEXT REPUBLIC OF IRELAND MANAGER
5/6 – Martin O’Neill
12/1 – Mick McCarthy
16/1 – Brian McDermott
20/1 – Roy Keane
25/1 – Stuart Pearce (with William Hill)
33/1 – Harry Redknapp
33/1 – Chris Hughton
33/1 – David O’Leary
33/1 – Liam Brady
33/1 – Owen Coyle
40/1 – Neil Lennon
40/1 – Marcelo Bielsa (with SkyBet)
50/1 – Alex McLeish
66/1 – Brian Kerr
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