The final straw

LATE on Wednesday night, John Delaney was deep in conversation when he was approached by a couple of supporters in the lobby of Jury’s Hotel across the road from Croke Park.

The FAI chief executive could have been forgiven if he inwardly braced himself for a helping of vitriol, but the fans turned out to be politeness incarnate. Polite, that is, but firm. “Excuse me, John,” said one, whose Irish scarf identified him as a veteran of the 80s, “I just want to ask one thing — will you please ask him to go?” Delaney listened respectfully, as the guy’s sidekick added: “We’ve been going to all the games, home and away for years. That’s all we wanted to say.”

And, with that, they apologised for interrupting and left.

It might have been a small cameo on a night of ferocious theatre but it indicated expressions of disenchantment with Steve Staunton’s regime as Irish manager are not confined solely to the medium of screaming headlines or deafening boos. But it still amounted to the same thing: an undeserved draw at home to Cyprus was the final straw, even for those who might have been inclined to give the rookie manager every chance to atone for previous mistakes and learn on the job.

For what it’s worth, this writer had been one of a dwindling band of media observers who, admittedly with reservations, held to that position right up until kick off on Wednesday night. And not, I’d like to think, for reasons of ignorance or stubborn eccentricity. From the hideous lows of Nicosia and San Marino, Ireland under Staunton had shown signs of progress, with new players coming though, a positive spirit in the camp and a run of results which, in statistical terms at least, reflected favourably on the manager’s efforts.

Yes, there were still those baffling selection quirks and, yes, he hardly did himself any favours with some of his public utterances, but by the time Ireland returned to the European 2008 road in Slovakia and the Czech Republic — coming, you’ll remember, off the back of a hugely encouraging 0-4 away friendly win in Denmark — there were some solid reasons for hoping that a corner had been turned.

Kicking off that stiff back-to-back challenge with Andy Reid left to cool his heels on the bench might have been another mistake, but the results in Bratislava and Prague were a cause for disappointment rather than dismay. For just about the first time in 20 years, Ireland were within a minute of delivering a significant away victory against decent opposition in the former and, after going down to 10 men, were not far short of burgling a point against the group second favourites in the latter.

However negatively those results might have been viewed in certain hostile quarters, no-one could seriously claim that they were anything like a reversion to the calamitous nights in Cyprus and San Marino, even if those games continued to cast a baleful glow over all of Staunton’s time in charge.

Then, last Saturday against Germany, the Irish upped it another gear, both Staunton and his players emerging with credit after a performance full of gutsy endeavour and no little flair. Implicit in the generally positive reaction to that game, however, was the necessary belief that Ireland could kick on from there and finish their campaign on the kind of upward curve that would encourage optimism for next year’s World Cup mission.

Not so. Cyprus on Wednesday night blew all that right out of the water, and with it any lingering hope Steve Staunton might grow with this team.

As a principle, international managers should be given at least one full campaign in which to establish their credentials. Qualification should not be the sole barometer of success first time ‘round, otherwise the map of world football would be littered with the bodies of discarded gaffers year in, year out. But the minimum required is that things are demonstrably better at the end of term than they were at the beginning. Sadly for Steve Staunton, Cyprus book-ended his first campaign with two body blows which combined, finally, to make for a lethal double-whammy. Actually make that three. Nicosia was bad enough, San Marino almost worse and at Croke Park on Wednesday, all his chickens finally came home to roost in one of the most hapless performances by an Irish team seen on home soil in a long, long time. No manager could hope to withstand a series of crushing setbacks like that.

Sure, the players have to shoulder much of the responsibility but, in the first place, it was the manager who decided who should play and how they should go about their business. But only in his ill-advised selections was there any evidence that Staunton’s input had an actual effect on the game’s outcome. And we know how grimly that panned out: Wolves striker Andy Keogh, so visibly ineffectual going forward against Germany, once again struggled out of position on the right flank, while Joey O’ Brien, after a fine showing at centre-half against the Germans, looked exactly what he is: an accomplished young defender wholly out of his depth in midfield.

From Paul McShane and John O’Shea at the back to Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle up front, the failure of so many other players to respond to the demands either of the manager or the night, served only to diminish both. In the end, Cyprus, playing nearly all the composed and attractive football, could count themselves unlucky not have one by two or three, never mind having to endure the injustice of a last-minute equaliser from Steve Finnan.

FAIRNESS demands that we record that the absence of Lee Carsley and Richard Dunne was keenly felt on a night when leadership on the pitch, even by example, was lacking. This is not an entirely new problem — it also bedevilled Brian Kerr’s campaign — but it’s one which might be solved by handing the armband to Dunne, though he badly needs to eliminate his penchant for the self-destructive tackle.

It should also be self-evident by now that, for all the promise shown by some of the younger players in the squad, Ireland’s limited range of creative, game-changing players means that the national team can ill-afford to be without a footballer of the calibre of Damien Duff, or even Stephen Ireland. That doubts persist about the futures of both players at international level is one of the more depressing thoughts ahead of the World Cup campaign. And, need we add, the Irish team, like Manchester United, are still looking for a new Roy Keane.

And, one expects, will shortly be looking for a new manager. Steve Staunton has finally lost the support even of some of his most forgiving supporters, among them the FAI who are expected shortly to confirm his departure and begin, once again, the search for a new managerial messiah. John Delaney, who received unanimous backing from within the Association for driving the appointment of an inexperienced manager, was entitled to make his gamble but, even allowing for the unfortunate absence of Bobby Robson through illness, it ought be clear in Merrion Square that the punt has badly backfired.

The FAI is a much better run organisation under Delaney than it was before his time but it is in the nature of public perception that the health of the senior team is seen to reflect the health of the governing body and vice versa. Calling for Delaney’s head along with Staunton’s makes no sense other than as a emotional response to bad times but the chief executive, so closely linked in the public mind with Staunton’s reign, would do well to take a back seat in the process of finding his successor.

Meantime, the human dimension to all this ought not to be forgotten. While much of the criticism directed his way has been justified, Steve Staunton has also had to keep his dignity in the face of much highly personalised abuse over the past year. There ought to be no joy in anyone’s heart at the sight of a decent man and such a formidable player for his country being roundly booed at one of the most iconic Irish sporting venues.

But in football, as Staunton knows well, you are ultimately judged on results. A mix of the good with the bad can just about be absorbed and absolved by fans and media alike, but not the unsettling sense of another calamity lying around the next corner.

And Croker on Wednesday night was simply one calamity too many.

TIMELINE

January 12, 2006: Staunton is appointed Ireland manager.

March 1: the new manager’s first match ends in an impressive 3-0 friendly victory over Sweden.

May 23: but this is followed by a 1-0 defeat to Chile.

August 14: Staunton is confronted and threatened by a man with a gun outside the team hotel in Malahide.

August 16: his encounter with a rapid-fire machine gun proves portentous as the Holland shoot four past the Louth man’s side at Lansdowne Road two nights later; Ireland’s worst home reverse in 40 years.

September 2: Staunton’s first competitive match ends in a 1-0 defeat against Germany in Stuttgart.

October 7: Ireland suffer what was by common consensus the worst defeat in their history, being beaten 5-2 by Cyprus in Nicosia. Knives are sharpened.

October 11: however, a battling 1-1 draw against the Czechs, days later, sees the pressure on Staunton ease somewhat.

November 15: A 5-0 victory over San Marino marks the last night of football at Lansdowne Road.

February 7, 2007: a Stephen Ireland goal four minutes into injury team, snatches a 2-1 win against the worst team in Europe in the corresponding tie, piling more pressure on ‘the Gaffer’. March 24: Stephen Ireland scores again to beat Wales 1-0 as Croke Park opens its doors to soccer for the first time.

March 28: Kevin Doyle scores to sink Slovakia at GAA HQ .

August 22: Ireland’s morale is briefly raised with a 4-0 friendly win away to Denmark.

September 8: A late Slovak goal denies Staunton an away victory. Stephen Ireland breaks Grannygate after the 2-2 draw.

September 12: A 1-0 defeat in Prague all but ends hopes of seeing Austria and Switzerland.

October 13: A scoreless draw with Germany disappoints at Croker with Stan’s team selection again queried.

October 17: Staunton is booed of the pitch after another late strike robs Cyprus of a deserved win.