Being one of the greats isn’t enough — Trap must show he can change

Even though John Delaney is being extremely well paid to excel in the area of leadership, we’ve often wondered has he ever dedicated a tiny chunk of his time and salary to study a course or even read a book on the subject?

We first had our doubts that he had when he explained the rationale behind the appointment of Steve Staunton as international team manager. “We picked Steve because he is a strong character and a motivator and I know he has a huge, unrivalled knowledge of the dressing room,” stated Irish football’s chief executive at the time. “We wanted a man to get passion back into the side. I’m certain Steve Staunton is the ideal character to get the players doing that.”

Eighteen months later, of course, John wasn’t so certain. To be fair to him and to Staunton, the Gaffer was a strong character. As even Stan’s most ardent critic, Eamon Dunphy would concede, Staunton was a great football man, even a great man. But that was the crux of the problem. Too often in sport, and especially in Irish soccer, people in power subscribe to what’s known as the Great Man theory of leadership.