Going to Tblisi, talking to Lawrie and fanning the flames: Or what equates to another fortnight in the bog

Dia dhuit once again everyone, plenty of news coming out from our place this week, particularly regarding the saga of who’s getting the managerial post, while our fixtures for the upcoming campaign were announced earlier today, so it’s probably best to have a look at where it’ll all fall down once again. Anyhow, onwards and upwards….

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The fixtures. Sorted out today in Bulgaria, and to be honest, we’ve got a fairly good deal out of it, certainly it could have been a hell of a lot worse if the right man was given the chance to make a mess of it.

Here’s the list in full

Sep 6 v Georgia (a)
Sep 10 v Montenegro (a)
Oct 15 v Cyprus (h)
Feb 11 v Georgia (h)
Mar 28 v Bulgaria (h)
Apr 1 v Italy (a)
Jun 6 v Bulgaria (a)
Sep 5 v Cyprus (a)
Oct 10 v Italy (h)
Oct 14 v Montenegro (h)

The start is being called difficult by the BBC, tricky by RTE and doubtless everyone will be prophesising the end before those two matches even start. Simply put, that’s a definate 4 points, and it should be 6, if we get our act together. Yeah, Georgia is a tricky place at the best of times (Ask Scotland) and Montenegro are to an extent the unknown quantity. But the squad has enough talent within it to win those first two, and the next three while we’re at it, given that after that we have the Cypriots, Georgians and Bulgarians at home. That could well be 15 points there and then. If we play to the standard that the players can, it should be 15 points, no joke. No, in fact, it needs to be 15 points, because after that it actually does begin to get nasty.
Those four games afterwards, with three away games in a row, in Rome/Milan, Nicosia and Sofia look a bit daunting, but that’s what distinguishes the qualifiers from the also-rans. If we can get 5 points from those three games, and then pick up at least three more at home in our final two games, then we’ll make the play-offs, no sweat. But that’s asking a hell of a lot, because it entails an unbeaten campaign for a side in with the World Champions and with an away record that rivals a few of the poorer sides around the continent, (Our last away win against decent opposition in World Cup Qualifying? We’ve been waiting for the first one for the last 80 years, dammit) so perhaps it’s best that I don’t get ahead of myself. However, if we appoint a decent manager who knows how to grind out results when it matters, then there’s no reason why we can’t get through, what is actually a pretty poor group in terms of ability, removing Italy from the picture. Play-offs should be the minimum at least. If we can’t make some inroads in this group, then we might as well not bother…

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The trauma of finding a new manager remains a hot topic at the moment, with a few new twists in the last fortnight. Sam Allardyce was shown the door at Newcastle, and will probably be contacted by the FAI at some point, although the liklihood is he’ll have a good chuckle before putting the phone down. More realistically, Lawrie Sanchez has also heard from the two men (And Ray Houghton) left to find the new gaffer for the national side. Sanchez will sit down with the two (And Ray Houghton) at some point later on, be it towards the end of this week or the start of next for a formal interview. The only other man up to this point who has confirmed that he was interviewed for the post was Roy Hodgson, but fortunately he decided to try and save the sinking ship that is Fulham.
As far as Sanchez goes….I’m not totally opposed to it. Yeah, he had a frankly dreadful few months at Fulham, and probably deserved his P45 for all the money he spent, and all the points his side frittered away, but Sanchez knows what he’s doing at international level. He was the catalyst for Norn Iron’s turnaround in fortunes, and it remains to be seen whether Nigel Worthington will be able to continue the good work done by his predecessor, (Don’t hold your breath) but in any case the plateau for a strong Northern Irish side was set up by Sanchez, and he could do a similar job with a better set of players. It’s a bit of a gamble on a man whose repuation took a pretty bad beating in the last few months, but it’s what he knows, and it might well be what we need. I’m still not totally convinced, but I can think of a hell of a lot worse right now to replace Stan than Lawrie. This one could run and run…

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Meanwhile, at the start of the year, IFA chief Howard wells rejected the proposals within certain newspapers that a unified league between North and South would start later in the year. In fact, the matter was pretty much rejected out of hand by Wells for the time being, but not totally dismissed, with the Norn Iron chief exec saying that informal discussions had taken place between a few people, but that did not constitute an All-Ireland league any time soon. I suppose this should be taken as a sign of optimism in some respects from my side, given my own opposition to the concept of a unified league, but the more I think about it, the more inevitable it may well be, given the relative success of the Scandinavian League over the last few years as a side competition within the Nordic countries, and considering how much sense it would make financially for two leagues who struggle for revenue at the best of times.
Chances are Delaney and Wells will sit down before too long and come to an understanding over a league of some sort to begin at a later date, whenever that is, I’m not sure, provided they can get the backing of the necessary groups in order to proceed with the move. It will need he support of the League of Ireland clubs along with Irish League clubs from the North, with the structure in place for a long-term, financially suitable TV deal from either RTE, BBC or Setanta, with all the other parameters which need to be fufilled met by the correct bodies. If this can be arranged, then expect to see a league begin at some point. Might be in a years’ time, might be in 10 years’ time, but the liklihood is that it will happen. Problem is, I think this falls down on two accounts from our side. Firstly, it renders the decision to go through the entire process of devising a new league structure within the Republic totally pointless, because it will be the sides that are in place to inaugurate the league who will stand to benefit, who will make the money, and who may well breakaway from the national structure if it eventually makes sense for them to do so. The rich get rich and the poor are left behind, where have I heard that before?
Secondly, it would probably mean that our clubs would have to switch back to a winter schedule, despite having just acclimatised to the concept of a summer league, with the benefits being reaped to a certain degree in European results recently. It’s still not great, the best claim to fame thus far from any League of Ireland side would probably be Drogheda’s win over Djurdgarden’s in the UEFA Cup preliminaries, that or Derry City shutting Brooks Mileson and Gretna up good and proper, but that’s really about it. However, with the notable exception of Shelbourne’s run to the third qualifying round and being 0-0 in the Riazor with 40 minutes left in the tie, that’s about it. The signs are that this record could improve though. With a more competitive league in recent times (Three different winners in the last three seasons, although put that down to Shelbourne’s heavy points deduction last season if you wish) and a new schedule which seems to suit all, the league could well continue to progress in leaps and bounds in years to come. Making the decision to abandom all of this and start up a new league sounds like folly, but if it makes money, then it’ll be enforced before the three-year plan to reformat the League of Ireland is through. Much like the saga of the gaffer, this could run and run…

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In other brief news, we have another friendly in the pipelines, it’s in Oslo against Norway on August 20th. Again, another chance for the new manager to have a look at a few players before the campaign gets underway soon afterwards. Norway themselves are getting back to some form of old, and they have a strong base of players, so it should at least be a decent standard of a game, but on that same vein, it will only be a friendly…

Otherwise, it’s been a quiet enough week. Expect an announcement on the identity of the manager either late next week or early the week after, because if Delaney actually wants someone in charge for the Alamo job against Brazil, then he’s going to have to get the two men (and Ray Houghton) in charge of finding their man to get their act together and appoint someone. To be frank, I just want to see someone in the job now, and end this whole sorry affair before it drags on any further. Find someone, talk to them, appoint them, as long as it’s not Terry Venables. Or Howard Kendall. Or John Aldridge. Or Liam Brady. Or….

I’ll leave it at that for now. Expect another update sometime over the next few days, but until then, have a good weekend everyone. Talk to you again soon.

Slainte Chugat.
Eugene