Mon to manage Republic of Ireland?

[eamonn]

Ireland are unfortunate in some ways because of their seeding. I mean if for example England were placed in a group with Germany, Austria and Sweden, we'd struggle to qualify. We'd certainly not finish top. We're actually quite fortunate to have the ranking we do as well. We generally have easy groups.

Trap started off okay, in that they were tough to beat, but hes run out of steam, ideas, and players. Will MON do much better? In as much as that initial burst you get when O Neill comes in. The problem is, can he carry that spark from now until next winter when the next round of tournament qualifiers start?

I don't understand the seeding. In some cases it's nuts - Spain and France are in the same group yet another is a sea of mediocrity - Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia and Iceland. I don't even know who the top two seeds are meant to be there. Switzerland drew all their games at the 2006 World Cup 0-0, whoopty-fucking-do. 

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Look at Group G: Bosnia, Greece, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Liechtenstein.

Either Bosnia or Greece (possibly both) could be going to the World Cup, without having to get past one of the "big teams".

[eamonn]

Yeah, I think that one is slightly more understandable. Bosnia are a fine side and I imagine Greece's status is still propped-up by the jump in co-efficient score (that's how all this works, right) after winning Euro 2004.

[dave.woodhall]

Ireland are unfortunate in some ways because of their seeding. I mean if for example England were placed in a group with Germany, Austria and Sweden, we'd struggle to qualify. We'd certainly not finish top. We're actually quite fortunate to have the ranking we do as well. We generally have easy groups.

Trap started off okay, in that they were tough to beat, but hes run out of steam, ideas, and players. Will MON do much better? In as much as that initial burst you get when O Neill comes in. The problem is, can he carry that spark from now until next winter when the next round of tournament qualifiers start?

I don't understand the seeding. In some cases it's nuts - Spain and France are in the same group yet another is a sea of mediocrity - Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia and Iceland. I don't even know who the top two seeds are meant to be there. Switzerland drew all their games at the 2006 World Cup 0-0, whoopty-fucking-do. 

It's a convoluted calculation based on past performance, column inches and potential TV audience.

[Louzie0]

How the f*ck did we manage to get 4 pages on this in less than 24 hours? It appears mention of his name on here = light the blue touch paper!

Inevitable, really:

Christian Benteke nominated on the 'insignificant Villa players' thread.
An absence of MON
Peace love harmony and mutual understanding breaks out in 'Off Topic'.

(OP on the 'Unlikely things to read on H&V next season' thread)

[Damo70]

Ireland are unfortunate in some ways because of their seeding. I mean if for example England were placed in a group with Germany, Austria and Sweden, we'd struggle to qualify. We'd certainly not finish top. We're actually quite fortunate to have the ranking we do as well. We generally have easy groups.

Trap started off okay, in that they were tough to beat, but hes run out of steam, ideas, and players. Will MON do much better? In as much as that initial burst you get when O Neill comes in. The problem is, can he carry that spark from now until next winter when the next round of tournament qualifiers start?

I don't understand the seeding. In some cases it's nuts - Spain and France are in the same group yet another is a sea of mediocrity - Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia and Iceland. I don't even know who the top two seeds are meant to be there. Switzerland drew all their games at the 2006 World Cup 0-0, whoopty-fucking-do.

I wonder if TSM has spent any of his time out of the game studying Swiss coaching methods.

[LeeB]

Seeding is organised cheating.

[rob_bridge]

Part time job - it will suit him down to the ground.

[brontebilly]

Disagree on low expectations tbh. A major issue that people had with Trap was that the football at home was awful to watch, while the away form was actually pretty impressive. Another was him playing the same team come what may. Ring any bells?

Replacing trap with mon would smack of change for change's sake, rather than any meaningful action to improve things. That said, that's why i'm so nervous that those twats in the FAI will actually approach him.

of course they will approach MON, that odious w*nker John Delaney lives for populist stunts (when not buying cans for fans) and MON would have a good reputation in Ireland still. The FAI depending on the largesse of another truly odious character Denis O'Brien are more than happy to fund a "big name" manager while the domestic league is in perennial turmoil, the organisation itself is up shit creek in debt and of course hardly a player of note coming through. Delaney, O'Brien and MON - peas in a pod for sure.

The next Euro's lamentably has 24 teams so our chances of qualifying are decent. MON is finished as a club manager and this is the kind of part time gig that suits him. May even catapult him back into the frame of a decent club job if he achieves the miracle of qualifying for the next euros.

Its not an easy job by any means but I think people overestimate a lot of the teams that end up in the playoffs. The last two campaigns we were up against the likes of Armenia, Slovakia, Sweden and Austria. All eminently beatable.

MON is arguably a better manager than McCarthy but not by much. The game has passed them both by. But McCarthy would care more about the future of Irish football than MON and is likely to get involved in the underage setup if asked. The forelock tugging by the Irish media towards the great MON is going to be vomit inducing but the job is certainly his if he wants it.

[Colin B]

I wondered about the seedings too and there is a wikipedia page about it.

They used the Fifa July world rankings in 2011(according to this page) which meant teams like Croatia Norway and Greece were in pot 1

Switzerland were actually in pot 3 - Slovenia were in pot 2

Also Montenegro were not only in pot 2 but were ranked second behind France.

[eastie]

@MatKendrick: Paul Lambert on Martin O'Neill being linked with the Republic of Ireland manager's job - "He could do it standing on his head."

[eamonn]

Sounds like Lambert has been dropped on his head.

[Clampy]

Lambert and MON go back a long way so it's obvious that they're going to say positive things about each other.

[eastie]

Pat murphy is one of mons big journalist mates , his take is this -

@patmurphybbc: Think MON doesn't want Sunderland to be possibly his last club experience,feel he's as hungry as ever.Certain he'll be int manager one day

@patmurphybbc: FAI bound to contact O'Neill 'ere long.No immediate rush,he's available.Believe he has dilemma if asked.Still unfinished business at 1/3

@patmurphybbc: 2/3 level after Sunderland experience & IMO would miss day-to-day management if opts for condensed,intermittent international version 2/3

@patmurphybbc: 3/3 Would he get back into club management after a few yrs with Ireland? At 61,believe fire still burns & could do international job later

[eamonn]

Interesting to hear Niall Quinn give a bit of radio silence before dodging the question when asked on Ireland's Today FM what he thought of MON, Roy Keane and Dolly O'Dreary as candidates. A pity we didn't get his personal opinion on the three men.