Angry Fans
VENABLES yes or no? Make your views heard at our anti Venables petition/blog . . . http://gettherightman.wordpress.com
LIAM, I am writing to register my discontent over the current situation regarding the vacant position of Irish football manager. Rumours persist that Terry Venables is being primed for the position.
I, for one, am appalled that Venables is even being considered for the role. His track record at both club and international level in the past 12 years is atrocious. He has achieved nothing of note within that timeframe. Can we be sure that Venables will take this job seriously? My gut feeling is that he will treat this as a holiday. Where was he in the first half of the England-Croatia game when England were two goals down — he was in the royalty box chatting to Prince William. He was meant to be assistant manager to England. For this alone, I would not even consider him for the position. It is a disgraceful attitude to have even if he did have a supposedly strained relationship with McClaren. He is meant to be a professional.
I accuse the FAI of succumbing to mediocrity once again. It is time for them to stand up and be counted. The Irish fans now demand the best that is available. All the evidence clearly indicates that this is not Venables. We are tired of our team under-achieving. I personally am tired of this “small nation” mentality that we employ to plaster over our shortcomings. It’s a poor excuse; with the correct infrastructure we should be challenging for trophies every tournament. We need to instil a winning mentality into the players, the FAI and the majority of fans. For example, why did 100,000 turn out in Phoenix Park after the World Cup in 2002? What did we win? Nothing. We only won a single game against a poor Saudi Arabia team and yet we all celebrated our “glorious failure.” In reality, if we had the correct mentality we could have reached the semi-finals. Its time we started demanding more. Success should be deemed by trophies not by glorious failures.
I accuse John Delaney of choosing a selection committee that favours Venables. This is an incredibly unbalanced committee. All members of this committee have overt connections to Venables. Givens played under Venables at QPR, Howe was his assistant manager. This is an incredibly biased committee. Delaney has once again put his own per sonal agenda to the fore. The FAI need to prevent interference from Delaney. Delaney has a record of making appalling decisions, prime example, the appointment of one Stephen Staunton.
I accuse sections of the media of venerating Terry Venables to prepare the public consciousness for his arrival. I must warn the media that they face a public backlash if they think we’ll just sit back and accept the situation. We are no longer prepared to stand idly by and watch our team be managed by a character whose interest in Irish football is highly dubious.
I cannot understand how journalists can support Venables. His track record leaves a lot to be desired and it seems that his non-football misdemeanours have been conveniently overlooked. How dare the media treat the supporters with such contempt? We are not puppets. I assume that if Venables is appointed, the media will give us the “let's all get behind the lads” speech. No, I refuse to accept this argument. Why should we get behind them when it’s clear that the FAI don’t have the team's best interest at heart as they accept mediocrity, once again. It's time we decided to instil a winning mentality in this country.
So who should become manager then? For me, the two principle nominees are Arie Haan and Roy Hodgson. Both have a far superior international track record than Venables. Both are available. Both are capable of over achieving on limited resources. It's time we did what’s best for Irish football and got a manager that will do his utmost to bring forward Irish football and not a manager that John Delaney wants as a buddy.
HOW about 'Jury's out on O'Tel'?
HOW can the FAI possibly compete with the multi-million pound packages being offered by relegation-haunted clubs like Wigan (according to some reports six million to Steve Bruce to keep them in the Premiership, even Paul Jewell chose Derby County ahead of the Irish post!!!!) if they are to attract a candidate capable of giving Ireland a serious chance of World Cup qualification? Is John Delaney going to push out the boat in financial terms in order to attract a José Mourinho type or will we just end up with some' old has been' looking for a cushy retirement package? After Sunderland’s performance at Goodison recently perhaps Roy would fit the bill?
I CANNOT believe the FAI considered Andy Townsend for the panel to pick the next Irish manager. It is just typical Merrion Square. Anybody who watches ITV’s coverage of the Champions League will agree that Townsend’s comments are only a mirror image of the same day’s tabloids; he has no mind for creative thinking. Let’s hope somebody on this infamous panel has the wits to pick somebody decent.
Don’t agree with him but Samuel Kingston gets our Letter of the Week for his articulate speech from the heart. "Venables yes or no?" I take it that, like Samuel, a petition which styles itself "anti-Venables" has already made up its mind. Of course, if Venners gets a four year term of office, the headline will write itself: "Four Seasons O' Tel". Really, what's not to like?
I’M GETTING kind of sick of refs screwing Spurs over, especially when it comes to Robbie Keane. That tosser Mike Riley last week and bigger moron Phil Dowd this week. How he could send Keano off against Birmingham is beyond me. Not only that, he has to ask king of the clueless Uriah Rennie what he thought! Talk about a case of dumb and dumber. How the Premier League allows him near a football field is way over my head! And what is Joanne Cantwell doing giving match reports on the Premiership for? It’s bad enough having to listen to Ray Houghton analysing without having some Camogie wash-in telling us how a football match went. Is nothing sacred? And if I want to read crap journalism I’ll buy the Star. I shouldn’t be forced to read a bunch of crap from Jon West. Who is he anyway! Since when is Robbie Keane not revered by the fans and then the stupid asshole gives Phil Dowd 7 out of 10. What lucky bag did ye pull him out of?
Let's all hold hands and sing for poor Patrick: "Don't worry, be happy." There, doesn't that feel better?
POOR old Spurs. You know you’re in trouble when Uriah Rennie holds your fate in his hands. 16th in the league and still falling. It’s difficult not to smile this morning.
Crikey just when it looked like I'd never get rid of that red card this week, the post turns up a spare one from Uriah Rennie with best wishes and a request to forward it to Cork Blue. Done and, as they say, dusted.
I’VE witnessed the gathering bandwagon against Terry Venables. This is just a bit of a laugh got up by “Tabloid Eamonn” Dunphy to fill up his column and his TV shows. Ireland’s not exactly the best job on offer at the moment. There are the little matters of the vacancies of England and Scotland to take into account. Ireland could do a lot worse than Venables. Structure his pay for getting us to the World Cup. Easy.
‘Ell’s bells. O’ Tel’s just swell. I thang yew.
