Records and Humiliation

Last  month The Republic of Ireland forced fans to sit through what was believed to be the worst performance for many years with last minute goals required to defeat Kazakhstan (one of Footballs minnows). We were told then that this was expected due to the fact that the former Soviet Nation is now emerging as a force in world football.

Of course in the same breath our manager told us that he had help our nation by climbing to, "19th in the world".  We are not 19th in the FIFA rankings, we are in fact now 28th in the latest rankings. Last night made it clear to everybody that not only was Giovanni Trapattoni mistaken in his world rankings assessment but he was even more mistaken in his assessment of  our opponents in recent matches.

Steve Staunton

Five years ago when the national side lost 4-0 to the Netherlands it signaled the end of the dismal reign of Steve Staunton. Under Staunton's guidance we witnessed some woeful displays including that infamous game against Cyprus. After that game the country was left humiliated and a heavy defeat against the Dutch resulted in his sacking by the FAI.

Now we find ourselves in a very similar position and if the words of Ronnie Whelan are anything to go by then we are in an even worse place then we were at the end of the Steve Staunton era. At the full time whistle of last nights record 6-1 home defeat to Germany Whelan stated that, it had been "the worst performance he had seen in his lifetime".
Dietmar Hamann, who played under Trap at Bayern Munich revealed that he believed the "Association would be considering today." Even long-time advocate of Trap, and former assistant to the Italian, Liam Brady stated that "any other manager would be getting a phonecall in the morning or having a meeting" after that game.

Chris McCann

The simple fact is that Trap is the cause of our on-field problems due to his rigid and uninspired tactics and his dictatorial personality. He refuses to attend games in England. He refuses for some unknown reason to consider some of our best players for call-ups. Wes Hoolahan, Anthony Pilkington both of Norwich city were amongst the Premier Leagues better performers last season. It took over a year of media and public pressure for him to include Seamus Coleman in his squad. Burnley captain Chris McCann has never appeared under Trap either. Perhaps the more insulting exclusion by Giovanni is that of Ian Harte, whom he believed to not even be Irish. There are of course others who have not got a look in under him either but this is meant to be an article not a list.

John Delaney

But the problems with national side go deeper than that. The fact that FAI Chief Executive  John Delaney and his colleagues awarded Trapattoni a new 2 year contract worth nearly €3million before he even showed us what he could do in a major finals is joke. Now the FAI find themselves in a catch-22. They can't sack Trap after these humiliating defeats, which include Euro 2008, due to a lack of finances. But they also can't allow him to continue in his role as there are no signs that the future will be brighter under the aging coach.

Last week the English FA officially opened St.Georges Park. The new centre of excellence for all aspects of English Football to improve in the future. Now I'm not about to say that the FAI should be building such an expensive centre here, but as things stand these improvements cannot even be considered whilst the Association continue to pay such an extortionate amount to such an undeserving man.

The problems are easy to see but unfortunately the real solutions would involve an extreme overhaul of the FAI as a whole. Though as this is unlikely to happen anytime soon it would appear that the best we can now hope for is to continue until what's left of the national team pride that once brought this country to a standstill under Jack Charlton is completely null and void. And when that happens we will likely still find ourselves n the doldrums of international football.