Next Senior Men's Team Manager - Runners and Riders

[ifk101]

Was listening to a Swedish football podcast this morning, and Janne Andersson (former Swedish manager) said that if everything falls into place, he expects to be appointed as an international manager next week. Very doubtful it's Ireland, as results wise he's as much as a failure as Kenny, but it's been all wild guessing with the names up to now so who knows ...

[irishfan86]

Was listening to a Swedish football podcast this morning, and Janne Andersson (former Swedish manager) said that if everything falls into place, he expects to be appointed as an international manager next week. Very doubtful it's Ireland, as results wise he's as much as a failure as Kenny, but it's been all wild guessing with the names up to now so who knows ...

Comparing him to Kenny is pretty dubious. He had a very successful first half of his time with Sweden, bringing them to the quarter finals of a World Cup. If you look through his results — his Swedish teams beat a lot of top nations in key matches as well over the years. In comparison with some of the other names floated, I think we could do a lot worse than Andersson.

[Eirambler]

I don't think it can be him though, as what reason would there have been to hold off until April? We're told that our man has existing contractual commitments which would seem to rule out Andersson.

(Incidentally as Sweden manager he qualified them for both the Euros and the World Cup, leading them to the knockouts both times, including the World Cup quarter finals, as well as winning a Nations League B group before it went wrong on him. That's more of a Jack Charlton record than it is a Stephen Kenny one!)

[zero]

Interesting how several players and other irish football people have been bigging up o'shea anad saying he could do the job full time. Fair enough he's a new manager and that's part and parcel of media duties, and maybe it's the way it's been reported but I've read comments from at least Coleman, Nathan Collins, Killian Phillips and now Crawford - https://m.independent.ie/sport/socce...605538878.html - praising josh.

[Razors left peg]

The contractual thing until April might not mean what we think it does. Instead of someone being employed until now, what if it is someone who was fired and in order to receive payoff they couldnt be in employment for a year or something like that.

[Razors left peg]

The contractual thing until April might not mean what we think it does. Instead of someone being employed until now, what if it is someone who was fired and in order to receive payoff they couldnt be in employment for a year or something like that.

Like laughing at your own jokes, replying to your own post is weird, but.... I looked it up. Graham Potter fired April 2nd last season. Not saying anything else other than it's just a new theory

[John83]

He was on something like ten million a year. For all that he's now on no million a year, I think it's a stretch.

[Razors left peg]

I'm not gonna make an argument for him, it's probably not... but we would have also said no hope of Trapattoni

[seanfhear]

Poyet seems more realistic !

[Razors left peg]

Poyet seems more realistic !

Far more realistic, but I'm just clinging to any hope it's not him

[NeverFeltBetter]

Even if it never happens, Potter is being talked about for jobs like the Manchester United one, which presumably come with a salary in the many millions. Him becoming Ireland manager would be a stunner.

I'm thinking O'Shea or Poyet now. O'Shea is probably super cheap and there appears to be a certain kind of groundswell forming for him, so all it would take for the tipping point to be reached might be a win on Saturday against Belgium's second team.

[Eirambler]

We've already been told it's not O'Shea, so it's not O'Shea unless Canham wants to be seen as a total joke figure.

There was no need for them to be as clear cut as they were about it a few weeks back. If there was any doubt at all they wouldn't have come out and said what they said about a manager being finalised. So I think we can safely rule out O'Shea. I wouldn't read anything into people saying nice things about him, what else would they say really, it doesn't mean anything.

[pineapple stu]

This all has the feel of an Agatha Christie whodunnit, strangely.

Red herrings aplenty. Plenty of random speculation. The obvious suspect startlingly ruled out just as it looked like he was about to be unveiled. So we turn to another name - maybe we need to read between the lines on some of the clues a bit ("The contractual thing until April might not mean what we think it does.") It must be Poyet; the commitments until end of March is a clue! A name we thought had been ruled out comes back in.

If this doesn't end with a press conference where the FAI take us through the process in the style of a Hercule Poirot denouement (with John O'Shea looking shocked as he's accused of being the man, only for the FAI to switch tack at the last and announce someone we never suspected all along), I'll be sorely disappointed.

[Eirambler]

Sagnol's Georgia are through to the Euros playoff final, after beating Luxembourg this evening. They'll play Kazakhstan or Poyet's Greece, who's game against each other kicks off in a few minutes.

Might be time to start looking up the Kazakhstan manager's contract situation at this stage!

[Razors left peg]

The guys that are coaching in the playoffs are the obvious ones to look at, but they also could win and go to the Euros, so how could we get a guarantee for an early April appointment for any of them. That's why I suggested it could be a different type of contractual obligation they are currently under

[Olé Olé]

Hopefully it's an attractive job for a decent manager. There are a number of players that are improving before our eyes at club level or just on an upward trajectory:

Bazunu - turned club situation around, incredibly young
Kelleher - performing at the top level
Scales - regular at Celtic, level debatable but going better than could have been expected
Omobamidele - breaking through at Forest in PL
Collins - not as steep an improvement but keeping his place in PL is good enough for a defender of that age
O'Shea - regular in PL
Ebosele - plenty more game time in Serie A
O'Brien - regular in Ligue 1
Knight - back to Championship and going well
Johnston - lighting it up at top end of Championship at WBA following spell out of Celtic team and uneventful spell abroad
Ogbene - flying in his first PL season
Smallbone - regular for Southampton, motoring along nicely now
Azaz - upwards move to Boro from Plymouth, yet to kick on there but on the up

Arguable ones would be:
Idah - in a better place than where he was at beginning of season
Ferguson - not ideal last few months but no concern and some memorable moments this season early on, will come again
Connolly, Parrott and Armstrong - hard to know where they'll get to but 23/24 better than 22/23 regardless. Not at the level of being options yet

[MylesNotMiley]

Sagnol's Georgia are through to the Euros playoff final, after beating Luxembourg this evening. They'll play Kazakhstan or Poyet's Greece, who's game against each other kicks off in a few minutes.

Might be time to start looking up the Kazakhstan manager's contract situation at this stage!

Greece 4-0 up at half-time. We're on course for a Sagnol vs Poyet showdown on Tuesday - loser gets to manage Ireland.

[Eirambler]

That's a serious scoreline from the Greeks. Kazakhstan have been much improved the last few years so, while Greece were probably favourites, a thumping like that would not have been expected at all.

[Fixer82]

Is there a reason Chris Hughton is no longer in the conversation?

[Razors left peg]

Is there a reason Chris Hughton is no longer in the conversation?

Yes....cos everyone but JRG thinks he's shyte