Lining up for Trap succession stakes
Yes, we can feel their pain as they try to keep tabs on every half-baked rumour, scour for clues from around the world and marvel at the ability of the bookies to dictate ever changing headlines, all the time haunted by the fear that one of their colleagues has a direct line to the heart of the matter and will get to unveil the new Ireland rugby coach before anyone else.
No fun that, if you’re left playing catch-up. Well do I remember the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach upon seeing the back page of what we professionals like to call “a rival organ”, on the very first morning after Brian Kerr had been stood down as Ireland manager. ‘FAI chase dream ticket of Fergie and Keane’ was the gist, a truly jaw-dropping headline which cast my own coverage that day – doubtless something sensational about someone nursing a groin strain – in a somewhat unfavourable light.
By the time the rather different double act of Steve Staunton and Bobby Robson came to be actually installed in the post, the Fergie-Keano line was long forgotten of course but, as a one-day wonder that had everything to do with aspiration and very little to do with reality, it had entirely served its purpose for the 24 hours it takes newsprint to turn into fish and chip wrapping paper.
But even as we wish our rugby brothers and sisters well (while giggling behind their backs), we football hacks can’t afford to be complacent, not with Old Trap apparently teetering “on the brink” for pretty much every game which comes along. In truth, the white flag has been raised since the Euros and, if we’re not quite “off” even now, it’s only after a succession of false starts, from Kazakhstan away through Germany in Dublin to, most recently, the sucker punch of that late equaliser for Austria at the Aviva.
The wily Trap remains in his post but sooner or later he will be gone. The later deadline is easier to define: after all that’s gone before, not even winning the World Cup in Rio would probably be enough to see him offered a new contract and since that scenario is about as likely as a Ferguson-Keane management ticket is now – or ever was – we can say with certainty that the Trapattoni era will be over by, at the very latest, July of next year.
But while it would be a hoot to see him confound all his increasingly hysterical critics by leading Ireland to a second successive tournament, it’s much more likely that, barring a couple of catastrophic results in May/June — when his charges play a high-profile friendly against England and a World Cup qualifier against the Faroes — Trap will see things out until the Autumn before finally bidding us all ciao.
In the meantime, there has already been some jockeying for position in the unofficial succession stakes, mainly in the form of tic tac about future intentions – none of the contenders being impolite enough, of course, to suggest Trapattoni might only be keeping the seat warm for them.
But even a Trap loyalist like Liam Brady was speaking openly in Dublin recently about who might one day take the Italian’s place, identifying Chris Hughton, Mick McCarthy and Owen Coyle as the leading lights but adding that he didn’t think Brian McDermott was the right man for the job.
Both McCarthy and Coyle have declared a definite interest (hypothetically speaking, of course), while the former Reading manager has long made known his burning desire to manage Ireland, talking up his credentials and ambitions even before the Euros kicked off last summer. Speaking to RTÉ Radio at the time, he also took the unusual step of admitting that playing for England as a youth had been a mistake.
“My mum is from Clare and my dad is from Sligo,” he said at the time. “Growing up in England I supported Sligo Rovers. It was Don Howe that suggested I play for the English youths... A couple of years later I realised it was a big mistake. I live in England, and I’m not ashamed of that, but being Irish is in my blood. Since then it has been a goal of mine to manage Ireland.
“It was an error on my part to line out for England, and I have told my friends that. You have career paths in life – and I’m determined to realise my long-held ambition.”
We’ll take that as an early application, so. And, given that it’s widely believed his candidacy would have support at a senior level in the FAI, the potential significance of the sight of McDermott sitting in the Aviva Stadium to watch the Austria game was not lost on anyone, even if he was there in a private capacity and was not a guest of the association on the night.
McDermott would probably be a reasonably popular choice while Coyle, McCarthy and especially Hughton would command support to varying degrees too, but Sunderland’s sacking of Martin O’ Neill has suddenly thrown someone with real wow factor into the potential mix. If he was available and interested, O’Neill would surely be the outstanding candidate for the job, albeit that his recent struggles on Wearside currently find him at a dip rather than a high point in his managerial career.
But what they say about form being temporary and class being permanent applies to managers as well as players and, of all the current runners and riders, my view is that O’Neill ticks more of the important boxes than anyone else.
Not that the succession stakes is under way, you understand. At least not officially. But one thing’s for sure: unlike the Grand National of 20 years ago – the infamous ‘race that never was’ — sooner or later, this race, false starts and all, will definitely be run.
