Loew’s lesson in longevity for Trap

Ireland boss would do well to follow the example of Germany’s long-time coach, argues Miguel Delaney

Whatever happens tonight, Germany will remain behind San Marino and Denmark. For Ireland, meanwhile, there’s also Liechtenstein and Latvia ahead of them.

At least in one sense. And, barring any ructions, it’s likely to remain that way for the rest of the 2014 campaign.

Because, were it not for the managers of those four countries, the Aviva Stadium would tonight see a match between the two longest-serving international coaches in Europe.

Jogi Loew has been in his job since 2006, Trapattoni since February 2008. As for the others, Latvia’s Aleksandrs Starkovs beats the Italian by a few months while Hans-Peter Zaugg has been in charge of Liechtenstein since December 2006. The likes of Denmark’s Morten Olsen and San Marino’s Giampaolo Mazza, then, aren’t just on the other side of Loew but on the other side of the millennium. The Dane was appointed in 2000, the Sammarinese in 1998.

It’s an interesting mix: two minnows, an also-ran and, as regards Denmark, a unique case. The rest of Europe hasn’t been anywhere near so patient. As such, it’s also a mix, and a match, that raises a broader discussion about the optimum amount of time a modern international manager should spend in a job. At what point is change worth it? Over the last decade on the continent, the average has been two years and 10 months. Clearly, Trapattoni and Loew are two of the few greatly tipping that on one side.

And, historically, that’s in keeping with Ireland’s generally tolerant approach. Up until Brian Kerr, every single manager since John Giles was given at least five years. Not even Trapattoni is quite there yet.

But that’s actually the curious thing about both the Italian’s time in charge and his immediate boss. Relatively speaking, John Delaney has been quite trigger-happy. Kerr was dismissed after exactly two years and eight months while Steve Staunton failed to even see out a full campaign.

Of course, it took some historically poor results for that to happen. And, on the other side, Trapattoni did deliver a historically rare achievement to justify his own new contract: qualification.

That, however, is also the point. The majority of other national associations routinely change after a tournament, often regardless of performance. Six of Euro 2012’s 16 did.

To a certain extent, it makes perfect sense since it tallies with the general evolution of teams. Legendary Benfica manager Bela Guttmann’s rule of two years is well known. The Hungarian, who guided the Portuguese side to the 1961 and ’62 European Cups, argued that “the third year is fatal” because the same messages can simply no longer have the same effect on the same group of players.

That tends to be even more pronounced in international football for three reasons. Firstly, tournament campaigns only last two years so they are themselves a natural cycle. Secondly, the disparate amount of times international squads meet up don’t allow the same level of integration as in the club game. Finally, beyond the big countries, international managers are far more likely to be nomadic foreign coaches such as Guttmann who just work with what they’re given. Inevitably, they won’t have the same feel for a larger squad and who’s coming through.

Of course, that’s not going to be the case with every manager. There are obvious exceptions. Even they, though, acknowledge the limited lifespan of any nucleus of players.

“I always believe a four-year cycle is probably the most you can achieve,” Alex Ferguson has said.

To a degree, we’ve already seen evidence of that with Ireland. There is a strong argument that the superb performance in 2009 represented the peak of Trapattoni’s team. A core were at exactly the right age and stages of their career. Had they enjoyed better fortune or finishing against France, there is the tantalising possibility they may have produced a much more rousing tournament performance in 2010 than that which we saw in Poland. Instead, with the team on the wrong side of their prime and in the wrong group in Euro 2012, we witnessed a disaster.

For Trapattoni it is now about navigating the next step.

Loew, after all, has lasted so long because he has successfully overseen the introduction of a core of new players in every campaign. It’s easy to forget now that Michael Ballack played under him in 2008 before being discarded. Despite Spain’s quality, meanwhile, Vicente Del Bosque has spent four years adjusting in order to keep them fresh.

As for Trapattoni, time will certainly tell.