Stan will have to earn his laurels

With the draw for the European Championship qualifiers and a match with Sweden looming, Steve Staunton will have to learn fast, writes Liam Mackey.

IF there is such a thing as a pre-natal baptism of fire, then Steve Staunton has just been through it.

The new manager of the Irish football team won’t be officially unveiled until Monday in Dublin but from the moment his imminent appointment was leaked last weekend, a storm has been raging about the FAI’s solution to the three-month old problem of finding a successor to Brian Kerr.