In the dugout

THERE has been some criticism recently about Pat Devlin’s role in Steve Staunton’s back-up team, the suggestion being that an eircom League boss hardly has the required experience to sit beside the senior national team boss.

Three points on this.

First, Staunton’s de facto right-hand man is actually Senior Team Coach Kevin McDonald. Second, Bobby Robson’s health problems have required the kind of delicate handling which means that it would have been insensitive to go searching for a replacement. And, third, there has hardly been a raised eyebrow about Roy Keane’s appointment of the unheralded Tony Loughlan as his right-hand man at Sunderland.